As far as I can recall, the initial shiver of inspiration [for Lolita] was somehow prompted by a newspaper story about an ape in the Jardin des Plantes, who, after months of coaxing by a scientist, produced the first drawing ever charcoaled by an animal: this sketch showed the bars of the poor creature's cage.

The more gifted and talkative one's characters are, the greater the chances of their resembling the author in tone or tint of mind.

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.

Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.

in a sense, all poetry is positional: to try to express one's position in regard to the universe embraced by consciousness, is an immemorial urge. The arms of consciousness reach out and grope, and the longer they are the better. Tentacles, not wings, are Apollo's natural members.

Was she really beautiful? Was she at least what they call attractive? She was exasperation, she was torture.

Resemblances are the shadows of differences. Different people see different similarities and similar differences.