"Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words." ― Vladimir Nabokov Topic(s): Poetry More From Vladimir Nabokov "A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist." "Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much." "Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know." More In Poetry "To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry."― John Andrew Holmes "And inasmuch as the bridge is a symbol of all such poetry as I am interested in writing it is my present fancy that a year from now I’ll be more contented working in an office than ever before."― Hart Crane "Well, the great thing for me about poetry is that in good poems the dislocation of words, that is to say, the distance between what they say they’re saying and what they are actually saying is at its greatest."― Harry Mathews