Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Topics: Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.

Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.

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...

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.

I confess, I do not believe in time.

I confess, I do not believe in time.

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

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

There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal...

There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal...

Let the credulous and the vulgar continue to believe that all mental woes can be...

Let the credulous and the vulgar continue to believe that all mental woes can be...

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

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...

I cannot conceive how anybody in his right mind should go to a psychoanalyst.

I cannot conceive how anybody in his right mind should go to a psychoanalyst.

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.

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...

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...

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.

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...

Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something...

Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something...

My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.

My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.

Genius is an African who dreams up snow

Genius is an African who dreams up snow

Put your talent into your work, but your genius into your life

Put your talent into your work, but your genius into your life

Common sense is genius in homespun.

Common sense is genius in homespun.