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

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Topics: Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like...

I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like...

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 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.

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,...

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...

I would like to spare the time and effort of hack reviewers and, generally, persons...

I would like to spare the time and effort of hack reviewers and, generally, persons...

I confess, I do not believe in time.

I confess, I do not believe in time.

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.

Caress the detail, the divine detail.

Caress the detail, the divine detail.

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...

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.

Solitude is the play field of Satan

Solitude is the play field of Satan

All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain...

All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain...

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...

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.

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...

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...

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

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

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 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...