“Just as the universal family of gifted writers transcends national barriers, so is the gifted reader a universal figure, not subject to… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
After the dreadful frustrationsFreudians have experienced with my other books, I am sure they will refrain from inflicting upon Waltz a sublimation… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
It was an interesting thing to do. Why did I write any of my books, after all? For the sake of the… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
At a very early stage of the novel's development I get this urge to collect bits of straw and fluff, and to… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Uncle alone in the house with the children said he'd dress up to amuse them. After a long wait, as he did… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Usually I read several books at a time - old books, new books, fiction, nonfiction, verse, anything - and when the bedside… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“In this course I have tried to reveal the mechanism of those wonderful toys — literary masterpieces. I have tried to make… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“If you want to make a movie out of my book, have one of these faces gently melt into my own, while… — 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
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
“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
“ Lolita is famous, not I. I am an obscure, doubly obscure, novelist with an unpronounceable name.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Even while writing his book, he had become painfully aware how little he knew his own planet while attempting to piece together… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I grew, a happy, healthy child in a bright world of illustrated books, clean sand, orange trees, friendly dogs, sea vistas and… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“the good reader is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense–-” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“A first-rate college library with a comfortable campus around it is a fine milieu for a writer. There is, of course, the… — 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
“The theme of the book is simple: a man is dying: you feel him sinking throughout the book; his thought and his… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I do not begin my novel at the beginning, I do not reach chapter three before I reach chapter four, I do… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
After the first shock of recognition - a sudden sense of "this is what I'm going to write" - the novel starts… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“It is interesting to ponder the fact that there is no real difference between what the Western Fascists wanted of literature and… — 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
