Vladimir Nabokov Quotes About Genius

Quotes about: Genius

• Sleep is the most moronic fraternity in the world, with the heaviest dues and the crudest rituals. It is a mental torture I find debasing... I simply cannot get used to the nightly betrayal of reason, humanity, genius.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Betrayal, Sleep, Humanity

  Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1989). “Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited”

• A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine. It is there that occurs the telltale tingle.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Wise, Book, Heart

  Vladimir Nabokov (2017). “Lectures on Literature”, p.6, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• Genius is an African who dreams up snow.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Dream, Educational, Snow

  Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Scammell (1963). “The gift”

• Genius is finding the invisible link between things.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Genius, Links, Invisible

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

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Children, Writing, Thinking

  Strong Opinions (1973) foreword

• There are teachers and students with square minds who are by nature meant to undergo the fascination of catagories. For them, 'schools' and 'movements' are everything; by painting a group symbol on the brow of mediocrity, they condone their own incomprehension of true genius.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Teacher, School, Squares

• It's a pity one can't imagine what one can't compare to anything. Genius is an African who dreams up snow.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Dream, Snow, Genius

  Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Scammell (1963). “The gift”

• I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.... My hemmings and hawings over the telephone cause long-distance callers to switch from their native English to pathetic French. At parties, if I attempt to entertain people with a good story, I have to go back to every other sentence for oral erasures and inserts.... In these circumstances nobody should ask me to submit to an interview if by "interview" a chat between two normal human beings is implied.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Children, Distance, Party

• Genius still means to me, in my Russian fastidiousness and pride of phrase, a unique dazzling gift. The gift of James Joyce, and not the talent of Henry James.

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Mean, Pride, Unique

  "What Is the Sangha?: The Nature of Spritual Community" by Sangharakshita, (p. 136), 2001.

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin