Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin; 22 April 1899c – 2 July 1977) was a Russian-American novelist. His first nine novels were in Russian, and he achieved international prominence after he began writing English prose...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth23 April 1899
CitySaint Petersburg, Russia
CountryUnited States of America
aesthetic affords art call connected exists fiction insofar shall states work
For me, a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss, that is a sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm.
love memories thinking
I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.
yesterday names foul
Our best yesterdays are now foul piles of crumpled names.
heart broke my-heart
He broke my heart. You merely broke my life.
writing sitting-still reactions
It is a singular reaction, this sitting still and writing, writing, writing, or ruminating at length, which is much the same, really.
sleep night insomnia
He was afraid of touching his own wrist. He never attempted to sleep on his left side, even in those dismal hours of the night when the insomniac longs for a third side after trying the two he has.
regions
Nymphets do not occur in polar regions.
writing sheep reader
Readers are not sheep, and not every pen tempts them.
responsibility answers doe
My answer to your question'Does the writer have a social responsibility?' is NO.You owe me ten cents, sir.
vulgarity-is philistines vulgarity
Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.
life honor age
Age indomitably, in the European manner. Do not finish your labours young. Be a planet, not a meteor. Honor the working day. Sit at your desk.
life fashion fire
Burn pedants in pale fire. Accept no fashions. Be your own fashion. Do not rely on earlier triumphs. Be new at each appearance.
life hero use
Use unlikely materials. Who would choose Pnin as hero, but how did we live before Pnin?
life country butterfly
If possible, be Russian. And live in another country. Play chess. Be an active trader between languages. Carry precious metals from one to the other. Remind us of Stravinsky. Know the names of plants and flying creatures. Hunt gauzy wings with snares of gauze. Make science pay tribute. Have a butterfly known by your name.