Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.

Vladimir Nabokov

• Writing
• Character
• Tree
• Jobs

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• As I'm writing, certain things become clear to me and certain things begin to feel right and make sense. The pieces start to fall into place.

  

  Candace Bushnell
  • Feel
  • Right
  • Sense

• I don't know how old I was when I started writing books. But, I was born in 1931, and I wrote my first book in 1961.

  

  Ed Emberley
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Know

• Well, I must tell you I write the scripts very close to the bone. So I'm writing episode seven now and couldn't tell you what happens in episode eight.

  

  Aaron Sorkin
  • Writing
  • You
  • Now

• I don't talk about Amy Winehouse as a 'singer.' She's a pioneer. I listened to her endlessly when I started writing.

  

  Laura Mvula
  • Writing
  • Talk
  • Singer

• I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before.

  

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • People
  • Writing
  • Political

• When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.

  

  W. Somerset Maugham
  • Character
  • Friends
  • Personality

• The demand in India is to have a hit, which becomes a promotion for the movie and makes people come to the theater. You have five songs and different promotions based on those. But when I do Western films, the need for originality is greater. Then I become very conscious about the writing.

  

  A. R. Rahman
  • People
  • Different
  • Writing

• Because I find writing painful, I try to get it over with as fast as possible. But I write every day, or I lose the thread.

  

  Patrick Modiano
  • Writing
  • Day
  • Everyday

• That's the way I do things when I want to celebrate, I always plant a tree. And so I got an indigenous tree, called Nandi flame, it has this beautiful red flowers. When it is in flower it is like it is in flame.

  

  Wangari Maathai
  • Beautiful
  • Red
  • Tree

• I didn't necessarily have a total idea when I was writing the movie of where everything was going. I just wanted to have really realistic dialogue and write like people I knew talked. I tried to keep it very real.

  

  Zach Braff
  • People
  • Writing
  • Real

• There's always something more to be accomplished with a character. Theater is a human experience. There's nothing shellacked or finished off about it. I guess that's why it always draws me back.

  

  Sada Thompson
  • Character
  • Experience
  • Always

• A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.

  

  Saint Basil
  • Love
  • Man
  • Friendship

• One is made by all the things around one. There are many things that have made one. For a writer to go around looking for things that have made him is asking for trouble. It's like giving a character to yourself. Can't do it. Can't do it. These things are just there. Is that enough?

  

  V. S. Naipaul
  • Character
  • Giving
  • Yourself

• I'm very physical. When I'm writing, I'm playing all the parts; I'm saying the lines out loud, and if I get excited about something - which doesn't happen very often when I'm writing, but it's the greatest feeling when it does - I'll be out of the chair and walking around, and if I'm at home, I'll find myself two blocks from my house.

  

  Aaron Sorkin
  • Writing
  • Home
  • House

• When I graduated high school, I bought a guitar and, at first, didn't really think I'd get into the songwriting thing as much as I did. But after learning a few songs of other people's to play on the guitar, I got bored with that and just started writing songs on my own, and that's kinda how it came about.

  

  Sam Hunt
  • People
  • Writing
  • School

• As an actor, we always want people to write about us and talk about us. And when they are actually writing, then we say, 'Don't write about this.' I am an actor; I am a public property. I don't own myself; public owns me.

  

  Ranbir Kapoor
  • People
  • Writing
  • Myself

• I didn't have a desk to write 'Red Queen' on, so I got a nice writing desk.

  

  Victoria Aveyard
  • Writing
  • Nice
  • Red

• To work our way towards a shared language once again, we must first learn how to discover patterns which are deep, and capable of generating life.

  

  Christopher Alexander
  • Life
  • Work
  • Deep

• I think in France, for example, we can say whatever we want about the French, but going out and dining is more about the intellectual moment to share with the people you dine with than trying to figure out what the chef did with that little piece of salmon or lobster and all that.

  

  Daniel Boulud
  • People
  • Trying
  • Moment

• I've accepted the fact that there's a beginning and end to everything. All species are born, evolve, and then die off. We're going through the 6th great extinction and the large mammals are going first and, you know what - we're large mammals!

  

  Yvon Chouinard
  • Great
  • Die
  • Beginning

• With directing, you have to wake up early, which stinks, but you get to hang out with the crew, you're laughing, you're active, and you're working with the actors. It's just more fun than writing. Writing is very hard.

  

  Amy Sherman-Palladino
  • Up
  • Writing
  • Fun

• If you look at it, 'The Lion King' is very similar to 'Hamlet.'

  

  Kelly Asbury
  • King
  • Lion
  • Hamlet

• The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.

  

  Vladimir Nabokov
  • Writing
  • Character
  • Tree