Vladimir Nabokov: 10 quotes on his birthday

Vladimir Nabokov, writer, metaphysician, lepidopterist, and chess aficionado, was born on April 22, 1899. In his fiction, marked always by shimmering prose, he abjured the commonplace and portrayed madness, solipsism, sexual deviance, and individual consciousness in highly innovative and indelible ways. The influence of the Russian-born writer on American culture is perhaps most readily observed in the ways in which "nymphet" and "Lolita" have gained fresh meaning in our lexicon. As the author once said, "I am probably responsible for the odd fact that people don't seem to name their daughters Lolita any more." Below are 10 quotes to mark Nabokov's birthday.