Quotations From VLADIMIR NABOKOV

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• 71.

  Tell me, how many hands have palpated the pulp that has grown so generously around your hard, bitter little soul?

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Invitation to a Beheading, ch. 13 (1959).
• 72.

  I would like to spare the time and effort of hack reviewers—and, generally, persons who move their lips when reading.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. The Defense, foreword (1964).
  
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• 73.

  Little Marthe did it again today.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Invitation to a Beheading, ch. 2 (1959).
  
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• 74.

  "Where, where..." M'sieur Pierre mimicked him. "You know where. Off to do chop-chop."

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Invitation to a Beheading, ch. 19 (1959).
• 75.

  ... the compensation for a death sentence is knowledge of the exact hour when one is to die. A great luxury, but one that is well earned.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Invitation to a Beheading, ch. 1 (1959).
  
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• 76.

  The tiny madman in his padded cell.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born-U.S. novelist, poet. Humbert Humbert describing an embryo, in Lolita, pt. 1, ch. 11 (1955).
• 77.

  I think it is a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Strong Opinions, ch. 2 (1973).
  
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• 78.

  A novelist is, like all mortals, more fully at home on the surface of the present than in the ooze of the past.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Strong Opinions, ch. 3 (1973).
  
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• 79.

  Lolita, 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 Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Humbert Humbert (narrator), in Lolita, pt. 1, ch. 1 (1955). Opening paragraph of novel.
  
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• 80.

  I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Strong Opinions, foreword (1973). On writing.
  
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