“No matter how many times we read "King Lear," never shall we find the good king banging his tankard in high revelry,… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Of all my Russian books, the defense contains and diffuses the greatest 'warmth' which may seem odd seeing how supremely abstract Chess… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Stilletos of a frozen stillicide [...] In the lovely line heading this comment the reader should note the last word. My dictionary… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The more gifted and talkative one's characters are, the greater the chances of their resembling the author in tone or tint of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“When, on a Sunday evening in May 1876, Anna throws herself under the freight train, she has existed more than four years… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and,… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
There was a time in my demented youth When somehow I suspected that the truth About survival after death was known To… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
…She was, obviously, one of those women whose polished words may reflect a book club or bridge club, or any other deadly… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Ever since the days when such formidable mediocrities as Galsworthy, Dreiser, Tagore, Maxim Gorky, Romain Rolland and Thomas Mann were being accepted… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I am aware of many things being quite as important as good writing and good reading; but in all things it is… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine.… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“She is a great gobbler of books, but reads only trash, memorizing nothing and leaving out the longer descriptions.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Great novels are above all great fairy tales . . . literature does not tell the truth but makes it up.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
We had been everywhere. We had really seen nothing. And I catch myself thinking today that our long journey had only defiled… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“No, I have as yet said nothing, or, rather, said only bookish words... and in the end the logical thing would be… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.... My hemmings and hawings over… — 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
“I will not mention the name (and what bits of it I happen to give here appear in decorous disguise) of that… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Many accepted authors simply do not exist for me. Their names are engraved on empty graves, their books are dummies, they are… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
To begin with, let us take the following motto...Literature is Love. Now we can continue. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in the book, but with the mind that… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“. . . and in the end the logical thing would be to give up and I would give up if I… — 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
