942 Quotes by Vladimir Nabokov

Why did I hope we would be happy abroad? A change of environment is that traditional fallacy upon which doomed loves, and lungs, rely.

A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.

Life is short. From here to that old car you know so well there is a stretch of twenty, twenty-five paces. It is a very short walk. Make those twenty-five steps. Now. Right now. Come just as you are. And we shall live happily ever after.

Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring.

Let all of life be an unfettered howl.

Our imagination flies -- we are its shadow on the earth.

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

It's a pity one can't imagine what one can't compare to anything. Genius is an African who dreams up snow.

The artist, like the scientist, in the process of evolution of art and science, is always casting around, understanding a little more than his predecessor, penetrating further with a keener and more brilliant eye—and this is the artistic result.