Caress the detail, the divine detail.

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Topics: Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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,...

It is hard, I submit, to loathe bloodshed, including war, more than I do, but...

It is hard, I submit, to loathe bloodshed, including war, more than I do, but...

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...

The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in...

The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in...

I confess, I do not believe in time.

I confess, I do not believe in time.

Solitude is the play field of Satan

Solitude is the play field of Satan

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.

Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.