xy

“Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“… for the human brain can become the best torture house of all those it has invented, established and used in a millions of years, in millions of lands, on millions of howling creatures.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“My God died young. Theolatry i found
Degrading, and its premises, unsound.
No free man needs God; but was I free?”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

“There is nothing more atrociously cruel than an adored child.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

“How small the cosmos (a kangaroo's pouch would hold it), how paltry and puny in comparison to human consciousness, to a single individual recollection, and its expression in words!”

Vladimir Nabokov book Speak, Memory

“We hasten to alienate the very fates we intended to woo.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

“Look at this tangle of thorns.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

“What surprises you in life? The marvel of consciousness -- that sudden window swinging open on a sunlit landscape amidst the night of non-being.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“All religions are based on obsolete terminology.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

“do what only a true artist can do… pounce upon the forgotten butterfly of revelation”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

“I adore you, mon petit, and would never allow him to hurt you, no matter how gently or madly.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“In and out of my heart flowed my rainbow blood.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

“It is late now, I am a bit tired; the sky is irritated by stars. And I love you, I love you, I love you – and perhaps this is how the whole enormous world, shining all over, can be created – out of five vowels and three consonants.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“Genius is finding the invisible link between things.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“There is no science without fancy and no art without fact.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“Who can say what heartbreaks are caused in a dog by our discontinuing a romp?”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

“There is an old American saying 'He who lives in a glass house should not try to kill two birds with one stone.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pnin

“Lolita is famous, not I. I am an obscure, doubly obscure, novelist with an unpronounceable name.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

“The square root of I is I.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Bend Sinister