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45 Vladimir Nabokov Quotes About Life (WRITING)

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Top 10 Most Famous Vladimir Nabokov Quotes (BEST)

“Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars.”

Vladimir Nabokov
It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.
It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.
I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes.
I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes.
Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.
Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.
Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.
Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.
Loneliness as a situation can be corrected, but as a state of mind it is an incurable illness.
Loneliness as a situation can be corrected, but as a state of mind it is an incurable illness.
The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.
The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.
Life is just one small piece of light between two eternal darknesses.
Life is just one small piece of light between two eternal darknesses.
See you soon my strange joy, my tender night.
See you soon my strange joy, my tender night.
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.

8 Vladimir Nabokov Quotes About Life

“…in my dreams the world would come alive, becoming so captivatingly majestic, free and ethereal, that afterwards it would be oppressive to breathe the dust of this painted life.”

Vladimir Nabokov
Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.
Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.
We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.
We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.
Our imagination flies - we are its shadow on the earth.
Our imagination flies – we are its shadow on the earth.
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
Let all of life be an unfettered howl. Like the crowd greeting the gladiator. Don't stop to think, don't interrupt the scream, exhale, release life's rapture.
Let all of life be an unfettered howl. Like the crowd greeting the gladiator. Don’t stop to think, don’t interrupt the scream, exhale, release life’s rapture.
Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.
Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.
And the rest is rust and stardust.
And the rest is rust and stardust.

10 Vladimir Nabokov Quotes on Love

“All at once we were madly, clumsily, shamelessly, agonizingly in love with each other; hopelessly, I should add, because that frenzy of mutual possession might have been assuaged only by our actually imbibing and assimilating every particle of each other’s soul and flesh; but there we were, unable even to mate as slum children would have so easily found an opportunity to do so.”

Vladimir Nabokov
I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would not be forever Lolita.
I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would not be forever Lolita.
He broke my heart. You merely broke my life.
He broke my heart. You merely broke my life.
We loved each other with a premature love, marked by a fierceness that so often destroys adult lives.
We loved each other with a premature love, marked by a fierceness that so often destroys adult lives.
Perhaps, somewhere, some day, at a less miserable time, we may see each other again.
Perhaps, somewhere, some day, at a less miserable time, we may see each other again.
Most of all I want you to be happy, and it seems to me that I could give you that happiness — a sunny, simple happiness — and not an altogether common one…
Most of all I want you to be happy, and it seems to me that I could give you that happiness — a sunny, simple happiness — and not an altogether common one…
Why should I tolerate a perfect stranger at the bedside of my mind?
Why should I tolerate a perfect stranger at the bedside of my mind?
Oh, don't cry, I'm so sorry I cheated so much, but that's the way things are.
Oh, don’t cry, I’m so sorry I cheated so much, but that’s the way things are.
Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.
Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.
I simply want to tell you that somehow I can’t imagine life without you…
I simply want to tell you that somehow I can’t imagine life without you…

5 Vladimir Nabokov Quotes that will Make You Think

“The contemplation of beauty, whether it be a uniquely tinted sunset, a radiant face, or a work of art, makes us glance back unwittingly at our personal past and juxtapose ourselves and our inner being with the utterly unattainable beauty revealed to us.”

Vladimir Nabokov
You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity.
There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity.
One is always at home in one's past...
One is always at home in one’s past…

9 Vladimir Nabokov Quotes on Writing

“Happy is the novelist who manages to preserve an actual love letter that he received when he was young within a work of fiction, embedded in it like a clean bullet in flabby flesh and quite secure there, among spurious lives.”

Vladimir Nabokov
A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.
A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.
I need you, the reader, to imagine us, for we don't really exist if you don't.
I need you, the reader, to imagine us, for we don’t really exist if you don’t.
Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.
Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.
A masterpiece of fiction is an original world and as such is not likely to fit the world of the reader.
A masterpiece of fiction is an original world and as such is not likely to fit the world of the reader.
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.
Turning one's novel into a movie script is rather like making a series of sketches for a painting that has long ago been finished and framed.
Turning one’s novel into a movie script is rather like making a series of sketches for a painting that has long ago been finished and framed.
The more gifted and talkative one's characters are, the greater the chances of their resembling the author in tone or tint of mind.
The more gifted and talkative one’s characters are, the greater the chances of their resembling the author in tone or tint of mind.

3 Vladimir Nabokov Quotes on Literature

“Literature was not born the day when a boy crying “wolf, wolf” came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels; literature was born on the day when a boy came crying “wolf, wolf” and there was no wolf behind him.”

Vladimir Nabokov
Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.
Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.
There is only one school of literature - that of talent.
There is only one school of literature – that of talent.

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