A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual. Vladimir Nabokov on art
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. Vladimir Nabokov on art
Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one. Vladimir Nabokov on death
Genius is an African who dreams up snow. Vladimir Nabokov on dreams
A novelist is, like all mortals, more fully at home on the surface of the present than in the ooze of the past. Vladimir Nabokov on home
Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much. Vladimir Nabokov on imagination
A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist. Vladimir Nabokov on imagination
Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one. Vladimir Nabokov on life
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. Vladimir Nabokov on music
It is hard, I submit, to loathe bloodshed, including war, more than I do, but it is still harder to exceed my loathing of the very nature of totalitarian states in which massacre is only an administrative detail. Vladimir Nabokov on nature
Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words. Vladimir Nabokov on poetry
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. Vladimir Nabokov on power
A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual. Vladimir Nabokov on society
Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know. Vladimir Nabokov on teacher
It is hard, I submit, to loathe bloodshed, including war, more than I do, but it is still harder to exceed my loathing of the very nature of totalitarian states in which massacre is only an administrative detail. Vladimir Nabokov on war
A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual. Vladimir Nabokov on work