Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know.

Vladimir Nabokov

• Mean
• Teacher
• Discussion
• Cocky

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Quotes to Explore

• I have a romantic conception of the writer's life, and the sort of writer's life that I admire is probably a childless life, possibly a marriageless life, certainly a travelling life - I'm in awe of how much D.H. Lawrence managed to get around. But that's never been something I'm capable of doing.

  

  Rachel Cusk
  • Life
  • Doing
  • Romantic

• For many years, even as users became more sophisticated, personal computers took too much effort to use without problem-solving, keeping alive the yearning for greater simplicity. Microsoft's dominant Windows platform, in particular, was a home for all manner of bugs and problems that required IT people to straighten out.

  

  Walt Mossberg
  • People
  • Home
  • Effort

• Born with blue spectacles, you would think the world was blue and never be conscious of the existence of the distorting glass.

  

  T. E. Hulme
  • World
  • Blue
  • Born

• The idea of going on tour for the rest of my life with old works is not that exciting. As an artist I definitely think the work in future is going to be better than the work in the past, otherwise why do it?

  

  Damien Hirst
  • Life
  • Work
  • Why

• I don't live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free.

  

  Taylor Swift
  • Live
  • Free
  • Me

• I'm going to be acting all my life. But, while doing that, I will try to avoid the trappings of fame.

  

  Randeep Hooda
  • Life
  • Acting
  • My Life

• I went to my mum at about seven or eight and said I want to start acting, but the week before, I had said I wanted to do ballet. She said if I took acting classes for a full year, she would look further into it, and that's how it started.

  

  Hailee Steinfeld
  • She
  • Start
  • Year

• Different directors offer you different things, and it's not necessarily the most obvious things.

  

  Malcolm McDowell
  • Different
  • You
  • Things

• At its core, banking is not simply about profit, but about personal relationships.

  

  Felix Rohatyn
  • Relationships
  • Personal

• Government does not create jobs, but it can help set the table for economic growth with the right policies.

  

  Sam Graves
  • Help
  • Government
  • Growth

• Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.

  

  Harriet Martineau
  • May
  • Help
  • Creative

• Dismissals of poetry are nothing new. It's easy to dismiss poetry if one has not read much of it.

  

  Natasha Trethewey
  • Poetry
  • Easy
  • Nothing

• Like all of Latin America, Mexico after independence in 1821 turned its back on a triple heritage: on the Spanish heritage, because we were newly liberated colonies, and on our Indian and black heritages, because we considered them backward and barbaric. We looked towards France, England and the U.S., to become progressive democratic republics.

  

  Carlos Fuentes
  • America
  • Black
  • Spanish

• I've been on stage since I was 7. That's where I'd rather be than anywhere else. Just because you can do a bunch of things doesn't mean you are a bunch of things. I can act. I can sing. But I am a dancer.

  

  Bebe Neuwirth
  • Stage
  • Act
  • Sing

• I'm the easiest person to make fun of.

  

  T. J. Miller
  • Fun
  • Person
  • Make

• We'd all like to believe that perhaps people could stop killing each other.

  

  Ralph Fiennes
  • People
  • Believe
  • Stop

• I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.

  

  Damien Hirst
  • Life
  • Live
  • Trying

• I've always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.

  

  T. Boone Pickens
  • Important
  • Failure
  • New

• A man's kiss is his signature.

  

  Mae West
  • Man
  • Romantic
  • Kiss

• I look at the world through a green lens now, but you can't make yourself crazy. That feeling of green guilt can be really inhibiting. It's about a changing mind-set, remembering to turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth.

  

  Rachel McAdams
  • World
  • Mind
  • Feeling

• I always wrote music for my friends, but my focus was on playing piano. I didn't think I'd be quite good enough to be a soloist, but I believed that if I worked hard enough, I could work as a player, a teacher.

  

  John Williams
  • Good
  • Work
  • Music

• Our most valuable teachers are our enemies.While our friends can help us in many ways, only our enemies can provide us with the challenge we need to develop tolerance, patience, and compassionthree virtues essential for building character, developing peace of mind, and bringing us true happiness.

  

  Dalai Lama
  • Mind
  • Character
  • Friends

• Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know.

  

  Vladimir Nabokov
  • Mean
  • Teacher
  • Discussion