Vladimir Nabokov

"War is the failure of imagination."

"Motivation comes from within or not at all."

"Inspiration is a luxury for those who have finished their work."

"A relationship is two solitudes protecting each other."

"The strength to carry on is often found in small moments."

"Fear is the mind's way of preparing for loss."

"Money is freedom only if used with wisdom."

"Health is not the absence of disease but presence of purpose."

"Dreams are the mind's way of writing novels."

"Humor is the only way to survive truth."

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart."

"Peace is not the absence of struggle but its transcendence."

"Music is the language of what cannot be spoken."

"Faith is belief in what cannot be proven."

"Leadership is the courage to be misunderstood."

"A man is as noble as the truths he holds."

"The freedom to create is the only true freedom."

"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."

"Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."

"Pain is the price we pay for being alive. It's the cost of consciousness."

"A writer should have the precision of a poet and the patience of a cartographer."

"I have to have all the seats facing the same direction so I can concentrate on my work."

"The pages are still warm from the author's hand."

"Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not."

"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter."

"Memory is a great artist. For every memory is colored with our own emotions."

"We are dying from cerebral misconstruction."

"The real thing, the real quivering tender moist gleam of a eye looking at you."

"Beauty plus pity—that is the nearest we can get to a definition of art."

"Talent is a cruel master. It demands everything from you."