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Authors:
Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

Vladimir Nabokov quotes about writing

American Novelist, Writer April 22, 1899 – July 2, 1977

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Quotes

My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three, and, save for a pocket of warmth in the darkest past, nothing of her subsists within the hollows and dells of memory, over which, if you can still stand my style (I am writing under observation), the sun of my infancy had set: surely, you all know those redolent remnants of day suspended, with the midges, about some hedge in bloom or suddenly entered and traversed by the rambler, at the bottom of a hill,... Vladimir Nabokov
I am aware of many things being quite as important as good writing and good reading; but in all things it is wiser to go directly to the quiddity, to the text, to the source, to the essence—and only then evolve whatever theories may tempt the philosopher, or the historian, or merely please the spirit of the day. Readers are born free and ought to remain free. Vladimir Nabokov
My loathings are simple. stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting Vladimir Nabokov
Even while writing his book, he had become painfully aware how little he knew his own planet while attempting to piece together another one from jagged bits filched from deranged brains. Vladimir Nabokov
If someday I make a dictionary of definitions wanting single words to head them, a cherished entry will be "To abridge, expand, or otherwise alter or cause to be altered for the sake of belated improvement, one's own writings in translation. Vladimir Nabokov
a man who has decided upon self-destruction is far removed from mundane affairs, and to sit down and write his will would be, at that moment, an act just as absurd as winding up one’s watch, since together with the man, the whole world is destroyed; the last letter is instantly reduced to dust and, with it, all the postmen; and like smoke, vanishes the estate bequeathed to a nonexistent progeny. Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov quote: "The pleasures of writing correspond exactly to the pleasures..."
The pleasures of writing correspond exactly to the pleasures of reading Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov quote: "I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author,..."
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child. Vladimir Nabokov
Corny trash, vulgar clichs, Philistinism in all its phases, imitations of imitations, bogus profundities, crude, moronic and dishonest pseudo-literature—these are obvious examples. Now, if we want to pin down poshlost in contemporary writing we must look for it in Freudian symbolism, moth-eaten mythologies, social comment, humanistic messages, political allegories, overconcern with class or race, and the journalistic generalities we all know. Vladimir Nabokov
... It is a singular reaction, this sitting still and writing, writing, writing, or ruminating at length, which is much the same, really. Vladimir Nabokov

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