“If sex is the sermon made of art, love is the lady of that tower.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Beauty plus pity -- that is the closest we can get to a definition of art. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I discovered in nature the non utilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“What can be sadder than a discouraged artist dying not from his own commonplace maladies, but from the cancer of oblivion?” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both truth and art. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story there is a shimmering go-between. That go-between, that… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Great sleepless artists who had to die for a few hours in order to live for centuries.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
To play safe, I prefer to accept only one type of power: the power of art over trash, the triumph of magic… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
do what only a true artist can do ... pounce upon the forgotten butterfly of revelation — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“For me a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss, that is… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Neither in environment nor in heredity can I find the exact instrument that fashioned me, the a.non.y.muse roller that passed upon my… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Beauty plus pity-that is the closest we can get to a definition of art. Where there is beauty there is pity for… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“We are liable to miss the best of life if we do not know how to tingle, if we do not learn… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Neither in environment nor in heredity can I find the exact instrument that fashioned me, the anonymous roller that pressed upon my… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Chess problems demand from the composer the same virtues that characterize all worthwhile art: originality, invention, conciseness, harmony, complexity, and splendid insincerity — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The contemplation of beauty, whether it be a uniquely tinted sunset, a radiant face, or a work of art, makes us glance… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A creative writer must study carefully the works of his rivals, including the Almighty. He must possess the inborn capacity not only… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Although I am capable, through long dabbling in blue magic, of imitating any prose in the world (but singularly enough not verse—I… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“All we have to do when reading Bleak House is to relax and let our spines take over. Although we read with… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Eystein had also resorted to a weird form of trickery: among his decorations of wood or wool, gold or velvet, he would… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“That man, especially when he slept, when his features were motionless, showed me my own face, my mask, the flawlessly pure image… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
There are gentle souls who would pronounce Lolita meaningless because it does not teach them anything. I am neither a reader nor… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“He suggested I play golf, but finally agreed to give me something that, he said, "would really work"; and going to a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“The kind of poem I produced in those days was hardly anything more than a sign I made of being alive, of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Literature under despotism: “The personality of the artist should develop freely and without restraint. One thing, however, we demand: acknowledgement of our… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Poor L. We are sorry that you left so soon. We are even sorrier to have inveigled our Esmeralda and mermaid into… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I was crazy about goal keeping. In Russia and the Latin countries, that gallant art had been always surrounded with a halo… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“... one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as a storyteller, as a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
And what is death, if not a face at peace - its artistic perfection. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“A writer is lost when he grows interested in such questions as 'what is art?' and 'what is an artist's duty?” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“what makes a work of fiction safe from larvae and rust is not its social importance but its art, only its art” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I see nothing for the treatment of my misery but the melancholy and very local palliative of articulate art. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“...under no circumstances would he [Humbert Humbert] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Ami azt illeti, Vannak kezdtek nagyon tetszeni a fák is, a csodák is meg az Adák is.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“It isn’t possible. I cannot imagine it. Come on over here, you foolish little doe, and tell me on what day I shall die.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Precautions to be taken in the case Of freak reincarnation: what to do On suddenly discovering that you Are now a young and vulnerable… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
![“That man, especially when he slept, when his features were motionless, showed me my own face, my mask, the flawlessly pure image of my corpse […] in a state of perfect repose, this resemblance was strikingly evident, and what is death, if not a face at peace – its artistic perfection? Life only…” quote by Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b98/vladimir-nabokov-198_art_that-man-especially-when-he-slept-when-h_1266786.jpg)
![“Poor L. We are sorry that you left so soon. We are even sorrier to have inveigled our Esmeralda and mermaid into a naughty prank. That sort of game will never again be played with you, firebird. We apollo [apologize]. Remembrance, embers ans membranes of beauty make artists and morons loose all…” quote by Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/7b2/vladimir-nabokov-198_art_poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soo_2180328.jpg)
![“...under no circumstances would he [Humbert Humbert] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” quote by Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0f0/vladimir-nabokov-198_children_under-no-circumstances-would-he-humbert_16228.jpg)
