“to play a solitary game of chequers, to read, to write – what should I do?” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“We are absurdly accustomed to the miracle of a few written signs being able to contain immortal imagery, involutions of thought, new… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“When I hear a critic speaking of an author’s sincerity I know that either the critic or the author is a fool” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“The pale organisms of literary heroes feeding under the author's supervision swell gradually with the reader's lifeblood; so that the genius of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“One evening at a remote provincial college through which I happened to be jogging on a protracted lecture tour, I suggested a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A masterpiece of fiction is an original world and as such is not likely to fit the world of the reader. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“The day, a compunctious Sunday after a week of blizzards, had been part jewel, part mud. In the midst of my usual… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“There are, however, at least two varieties of imagination in the reader's case. So let us see which one of the two… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
No author has created with less emphasis such pathetic characters as Chekhov has. — 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
“... 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
“It is childish to study a work of fiction in order to gain information about a country or about a social class… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Thus, in pornographic novels, action has to be limited to the copulation of clichés. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“There exist few things more tedious than a discussion of general ideas inflicted by author or reader upon a work of fiction.… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“...I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no purpose than to get… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative… — 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
