Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

American - Novelist | April 22, 1899 - July 2, 1977

Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.

Vladimir Nabokov

GreatStyleIdeasBookStructure

Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it.

Vladimir Nabokov

PastNothingSmellOnceAssociated

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.

Vladimir Nabokov

FunnyWorldMediocrityBathGroup

Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.

Vladimir Nabokov

ManLiteratureTwoButterfliesKnown

Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.

Vladimir Nabokov

HateI AmHappyPeopleFeelHarm

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

Vladimir Nabokov

MusicSimpleStupidityOppression

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

Vladimir Nabokov

UpMotionStayOnlyLikeWhile

It is a short walk from the hallelujah to the hoot.

Vladimir Nabokov

WalkShortHootHallelujah

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

HomePastPresentMoreSurfaceLike

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

Vladimir Nabokov

WordsPoetryThroughRational

A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.

Vladimir Nabokov

WorkArtSocietyImportantWhatever

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

PowerArtMagicPlayTrashAccept

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