Vladimir Nabokov

"Reading should be done in a state of grace, a state of wonder."

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

"My life is a hymn to the joy of movement."

"Perfect happiness is a serious matter; it demands sincerity and courage."

"The real life of a novel is not in its plot but in its prose."

"Beauty is difficult and it's a sacred trust."

"One must be absolutely modern; one must live one's age."

"Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with books."

"The pages of a great book conceal treasures that reward the careful reader."

"Genius is the ability to transform ordinary experience into spiritual insight."

"A writer's joy is writing; a reader's joy is reading."

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

"Love is a great beautifier."

"Our existence is nothing but a film, shot and projected for a god."

"The supreme good is achieved through the subordination of the individual to the collective will."

"Between the existing world and us there is always the pane of glass."

"One should match internal match external reality."

"Art requires patience; the artist must wait for inspiration."

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."

"Speak, Memory speaks through our dreams."

"We are all monsters, but some of us know it and some do not."

"Believe nothing you hear and half what you see."

"The only certainty is change itself."

"A person is, inter alia, a material thing."

"Literature must not be subordinate to ideology."

"To love is to play a game of deception."

"The mind works like a river, flowing around obstacles."

"Inspiration is for amateurs; professionals simply get to work."

"The soul requires a degree of respect we rarely give to it."

"Morality is the pride of most people."