Caress the detail, the divine detail.

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Topics: Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.

A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.

To play safe, I prefer to accept only one type of power: the power of...

To play safe, I prefer to accept only one type of power: the power of...

No author has created with less emphasis such pathetic characters as Chekhov has.

No author has created with less emphasis such pathetic characters as Chekhov has.

Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm...

Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm...

Genius is an African who dreams up snow

Genius is an African who dreams up snow

Turning one's novel into a movie script is rather like making a series of sketches...

Turning one's novel into a movie script is rather like making a series of sketches...

Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order...

Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order...

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

Happy is the novelist who manages to preserve an actual love letter that he received...

Happy is the novelist who manages to preserve an actual love letter that he received...

Life is a great surprise. I don't see why death should not be an even...

Life is a great surprise. I don't see why death should not be an even...

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

I have often noticed that after I had bestowed on the characters of my novels...

I have often noticed that after I had bestowed on the characters of my novels...

A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to...

A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to...

A masterpiece of fiction is an original world and as such is not likely to...

A masterpiece of fiction is an original world and as such is not likely to...

Complacency is a state of mind that exists only in retrospective: it has to be...

Complacency is a state of mind that exists only in retrospective: it has to be...

You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.

You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.

Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an...

Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an...

Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.

Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.

Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.

Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.

The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is...

The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is...