Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" Every time one of my books sells a million copies in paperback, Pan Macmillan gives me a gold statuette of Pan. I have about 20 of them. "
Wilbur Smith
Million
Time
Books
Related Quotes:
" Literature throws us many great heroes. Real life invariably outdoes them. "
Wilbur Smith
Heroes
Life
Real
" I have done everything I have ever wanted to do. I have swum with tiger sharks, been charged by lions and elephants. I have been shot three times, chased by crocodiles and, God be praised, I've made enough money that I can continue to do all the things I want to for as long as I am able. "
Wilbur Smith
Money
Enough
God
" I've eaten lion, leopard, crocodile, python. I don't recommend lion. It tastes exactly like when a tomcat comes into your house and sprays. Snake and crocodile are great - a cross between lobster and chicken. "
Wilbur Smith
House
Like
Lion
" I don't want children. Why should I let some strange little monster into my life to destroy what to me is a perfect set-up? "
Wilbur Smith
Life
Me
Perfect
" All my characters have got a big slice of me in them. A big piece of me, because it's my dialogue and this is the way I think and talk. "
Wilbur Smith
Think
Me
Talk
" I'm not perfect and I know it. I've done all sorts of things that are frowned upon these days - big-game hunting, fishing. I still enjoy fishing but I don't kill warm-blooded animals any more - I make an exception with birds sometimes. "
Wilbur Smith
Birds
Not Perfect
Know
" My absolute favorite pieces are 'Rhapsody in Blue' and 'Begin the Beguine.' I play these when I am working. "
Wilbur Smith
Blue
Play
Pieces
" I hate politics. I like to write about it, but to get involved in it, to try and make a lot of ignorant people do what you want them to do, waste of time. Go and write a book. It's more important and it'll last longer. "
Wilbur Smith
People
Book
Time
" I know it's politically incorrect but I enjoy things like the kick boxing and cock fighting. "
Wilbur Smith
Like
Fighting
Enjoy
" My father was my god. His approval was so valuable to me. "
Wilbur Smith
Valuable
Father
His
" There are people out there with an eye on my hard-earned cash who think that I am a pushover. I am not! "
Wilbur Smith
People
Cash
Eye
" You know that feeling when you finish a final exam and you think, 'I never want to do that again'? Well I have the same feeling when I finish a novel. Each time I say, 'I think I may retire now' and then after six months the ideas start to churn again. I could never stop. "
Wilbur Smith
Start
Ideas
Know
" I read a lot of biographies and books with an African background. "
Wilbur Smith
Books
Read
African
" I never set out to write literature; I set out to tell stories. And some of my work may be very raunchy and very bloodthirsty - but life, for me, is a violent thing. "
Wilbur Smith
Work
Me
Never
" Cape Town's beaches are superb and while the water on the Atlantic side is damn cold, it's very pleasant on the other side. Bring your golf clubs if you play - Cape Town has some fabulous golf courses. "
Wilbur Smith
Fabulous
You
Golf
" Herbert, my father, was born in Britain but went out to Africa in his teens to join his father and built up an 18,000-acre ranch in what was then Northern Rhodesia, providing work for the locals. He was my hero when I was a boy. "
Wilbur Smith
Boy
Work
Hero
" I believe that a healthy body breeds a healthy mind. I am 74 years old now and my wife, Niso, is 38 years younger than me. She absolutely insists that I take regular exercise with her. "
Wilbur Smith
Believe
Wife
Mind
" I think one of the most poignant things is unrequited love and loneliness. "
Wilbur Smith
Love
Think
Loneliness
" Authors can only soft sell the environment. Create a wonderful story around the environment involving the characters that leaves a lasting impression on the reader's mind. "
Wilbur Smith
Story
Create
Environment
" The whole structure of African government, as far back as we know, was based on tyranny. One guy ran the show. Chiefs like Chaka and Mzilikazi committed terrible atrocities. That is the tradition from which modern African rulers spring. It won't change easily overnight. "
Wilbur Smith
Government
Tyranny
Know
" Politicians all over the world cater to domestic vote banks. They will spend only on what their constituents want. So unless there is a grass root green movement in a nation the politicians will not be willing to spend money on curbing emissions. More awareness is needed amongst the people to effect the real change in how governments spend. "
Wilbur Smith
Green
Change
Money
" I'm not a prophet; I can only use historical reality to come to a view of the future, and my view is that Africa will return to being African and not European. The advent of colonialism was foreign to the country itself, but it will return to what it was before the Europeans arrived. "
Wilbur Smith
I Can
Reality
Future
" I work on my novels wherever I have a PC, and I have four or five places around the world where I do have a PC. These days you can just slip a little flash drive into your top pocket, fly for 12 hours, come to another place, plug it into a computer and you are away again. "
Wilbur Smith
You
Work
World
" My mama loved books; I became fascinated by the wonderful stories that came out of these things she held in her hand - and started to make them up myself. "
Wilbur Smith
Wonderful
Myself
She
" For the past few years my fans have made it very clear that they would like to read my novels and revisit my family of characters faster than I can write them. For them, I am willing to make a change to my working methods so the stories in my head can reach the page more frequently. "
Wilbur Smith
Reach
Family
Page
" You don't turn out as many books as I did then by sitting around, being cozy with the family. "
Wilbur Smith
Cozy
Family
Sitting
" They say I'm worth either €200 million, €100 million, €50 million or €10 million, but that's something between God, the HMRC and myself. "
Wilbur Smith
God
Myself
Worth
" At the age of 12 I won the school prize for Best English Essay. The prize was a copy of Somerset Maugham's 'Introduction To Modern English And American Literature.' To this day I keep it on the shelf between my collection of Forester's works and the little urn that contains my mother's ashes. "
Wilbur Smith
Mother
Best
American
" There is no quick way of making money. People come to you with tips for the races or offer the latest Ponzi scheme, but I can see them coming a mile off. I just go with the adage that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. "
Wilbur Smith
Good
Money
People
" I live in Cape Town but my favourite holiday destination is Hermanus, a little seaside town about a 90-minute drive away, over the pass and down to the sea, on the sunshine coast. It's where I love to escape to with my wife for a weekend every now and again. "
Wilbur Smith
Sea
Love
Sunshine