Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.

I think there's an innocence to me.

I do not consider myself a literal genius.

It may be a movement towards becoming like little children to admit that we are generally nothing else.

Be willing to be a child and be the Lilliputian in the world of Gulliver.

I'm equal part genius, equal part buffoon.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.

I never said I was a genius.

Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.

I may be a bit innocent but I don't think I am that dumb.

I'm not a rock star writing poetry. I don't feel like a rock star and I don't know what one is, actually. I'm a goalie/poet or a hotel guest/poet or a father/poet.

I think I'm a little less naive than SpongeBob can sometimes seem to be.

I'm not a mad genius.

I learned at a very young age how to be simplistic and sincere.

I never had a preconceived notion about what I should do or what I should take up… I am not that intelligent.

I was born and raised in a small village, and I didn't even think I was especially pretty.

I'll always just be stupid boy, and I'm happy with that.

One of the most responsible things you can do as an adult is to become more of a child.

And that's what innocence is. It's simple and trusting like a child, not judgmental and committed to one narrow point of view. If you are locked into a pattern of thinking and responding, your creativity gets blocked. You miss the freshness and magic of the moment. Learn to be innocent again, and that freshness never fades.

Marvelous are the innocent.

The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest.

The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.

Intelligence is: (a) the most complex phenomenon in the Universe; or (b) a profoundly simple process. The answer, of course, is (c) both of the above. It's another one of those great dualities that make life interesting.

I would love to be fooled. The innocence of child for the first time, seeing something and being in wonder is something that I long for because I'm tainted.

Aside from a cold appreciation of my own genius I felt that I was a modest man.