“For me a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss, that is a sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm.”
More from Vladimir Nabokov
“Rowdies are never revolutionary, they are always reactionary. It is among the young that…”
“The distortion of a remembered image may not only enhance its beauty with an added…”
“I have no purpose at all when composing my stuff except to compose it. I work hard, I work…”
“Learn to distinguish banality. Remember that mediocrity thrives on 'ideas.'”