My only grudge against nature was that I could not turn my Lolita inside out and apply voracious lips to her young matrix, her unknown heart, her nacreous liver, the sea-grapes of her lungs, her comely twin kidneys.
Vladimir NabokovRead
The pleasures of writing correspond exactly to the pleasures of reading
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing and reading bring the same joy and satisfaction to individuals.
This quote by Vladimir Nabokov highlights the intrinsic connection between writing and reading, suggesting that both activities provide similar pleasures. The act of writing can be as enjoyable as reading, as both involve creativity, imagination, and a deep engagement with language, enabling individuals to explore ideas and express themselves artistically.
Themes
WritingReadingPleasureCreativityArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, as inspiration strikes, one might share Nabokov's quote to encourage participants.
More from Vladimir Nabokov
All quotes βLolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Vladimir NabokovRead
A change of environment is the traditional fallacy upon which doomed loves, and lungs, rely.
Vladimir NabokovRead
But that mimosa grove-the haze of stars, the tingle, the flame, the honey-dew, and the ache remained with me, and that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since-until at last, twenty-four years later, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another.
Vladimir NabokovRead
...in my dreams the world would come alive, becoming so captivatingly majestic, free and ethereal, that afterwards it would be oppressive to breathe the dust of this painted life.
Vladimir NabokovRead
I believe the poor fierce-eyed child had figured out that with a mere fifty dollars in her purse she might somehow reach Broadway or Hollywood - or the foul kitchen of a diner (Help Wanted) in a dismal ex-prairie state, with the wind blowing, and the stars blinking, and the cars, and the bars, and the barmen, and everything soiled, torn, dead.
Vladimir NabokovRead
Similar quotes
Suffice to say that the theme (the WHAT of the movie) is going to determine the style (the HOW of the movie).
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It can happen that a book, unlike its authors, grows younger as the years pass.
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Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.
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Experience was my only teacher; I knew little of the modern art movement. When I first saw the works of the Impressionists, van Gogh, van Dongen, and Fauves, I admired it. But I had to seek the true way alone.
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Music from my fourth year began to be the first of my youthful occupations. Thus early acquainted with the gracious muse who tuned my soul to pure harmonies, I became fond of her, and, as it often seemed to me, she of me.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
Through care taken over trends, the desire to be novel and affectation knowledge, we repudiate our art, our instinct, our own way of doing things; it is absurd and stupid
Giuseppe VerdiRead