Derivative writers seem versatile because they imitate many others, past and present. Artistic originality has only itself to copy. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I will contend until I am shot that art as soon as it is brought into contact with politics inevitably sinks to… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I notice I may have somehow mixed up two events, my visit with Rita to Briceland on our way to Cantrip, and… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I do not see any essential difference between abstract and primitive art. Both are simple and sincere. Naturally, we should not generalize… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoievsky as much as Americans do, and that most of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Cannot it actually be that in a wildly literal sense, unacceptable to one's reason, he meant disappearing in his art, dissolving in… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The commentator may be excused for repeating what he has stressed in his own books and lectures, namely that "offensive" is frequently… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I'm thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art, And this is the only… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Imagination without knowledge leads no farther than the back yard of primitive art, the child's scrawl on the fence, and the crank's… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The social or economic structure of the ideal state is of little concern to me. My desires are modest. Portraits of the… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I hope you will love your baby. I hope it will be a boy. That husband of yours, I hope, will always… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Although I do not care for the slogan "art for art's sake", there can be no question that what makes a work… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“It is not the artistic aptitudes that are secondary sexual characters as some shams and shamans have said; it is the other… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Reality is neither the subject nor the object of true art which creates its own special reality having nothing to do with… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
In this crazy mirror of terror and art a pseudo-quotation made up of obscure Shakespeareanisms (Chapter Three) somehow produces, despite its lack… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual, and only the individual reader… — 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
![“...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)
