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

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Topics: Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

Treading the soil of the moon, palpitating its pebbles, tasting the panic and splendor of...

Treading the soil of the moon, palpitating its pebbles, tasting the panic and splendor of...

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...

There is only one school of literature - that of talent.

There is only one school of literature - that of talent.

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

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

I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory,...

I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory,...

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

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

Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it.

Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it.

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.

The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense.

The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense.

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...

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...

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.

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...

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being...

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being...

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

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...

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...

Caress the detail, the divine detail.

Caress the detail, the divine detail.

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.

It's a pity one can't imagine what one can't compare to anything. Genius is an...

It's a pity one can't imagine what one can't compare to anything. Genius is an...