To play safe, I prefer to accept only one type of power: the power of art over trash, the triumph of magic over the brute

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Topics: Magic Quotes

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,...

Solitude is the play field of Satan

Solitude is the play field of Satan

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...

I confess, I do not believe in time.

I confess, I do not believe in time.

The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.

The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.

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.

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.

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

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

Caress the detail, the divine detail.

Caress the detail, the divine detail.

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

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

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...

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 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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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...