Wilbur Smith Quotes

It's a strange paradox that a man gifted with too many talents can fritter them all away without developing a single one to its full.

I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes.

It's probably true that everyone has a book in them, although it may not be a very good one.

Failure makes success so much sweeter, and allows you to thumb your nose at the crowds.

They do say that socialism is the ideal philosophy-just as long as you have capitalists to pay for it.

I think one of the most poignant things is unrequited love and loneliness.

When I vacate this sack of old bones I won't care what you do with it. Bury or burn it but don't make much fuss.

Litigation only makes lawyers fat.

Sometimes it is best for men not to attempt to interfere with destiny. Our prayers can be answered in ways which we do not expect and do not welcome.

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?

You don't turn out as many books as I did then by sitting around, being cozy with the family.

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.

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

What I like about writing is the sense of godlike power it gives you.

I love the sea as much as I love the veldt of Africa.

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.

Despite the fact that I spend a lot of time in London, Switzerland and New York, Africa is the place I know and love best, and my heart will always lie here.

There's nothing so aphrodisiacal for a woman as money and success.

The best cure for racism is to have somebody shoot at you. Man, it does not matter then what color the arse is that comes to save yours-black or white, you're ready to give it a big fat kiss.

I grew up in Rhodesia on my father's ranch and every year he used to take us on safari in some remote area of the wilderness.

I read a lot of biographies and books with an African background.

I shot my first lion at the age of 14 when a pride threatened my father's livestock while he was away on holiday.

A cynic had defined aid as simply the system by which poor white people in rich countries gave money to rich black people in poor countries to put into Swiss bank accounts.

I want to be seen as a good storyteller. I'm a manipulator as well.

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.

I am a closet birdwatcher. I can identify Southern African species, but it irks me I can barely tell a jay from a blackbird in the U.K.

I have never had too much trouble for creative ideas to spring up in my mind.

I put my soul into every book I write.

beware of your most implacable enemy-yourself.

History is a river that never ends. Today is history, and I am here at the fountainhead.

My mother-in-law speaks not a word of English. I speak not a word of Tajiki. So I smile at her ingratiatingly and she fixes me with a beady eye.

If I have to die, then it's best to do so before I see everything I love, the land, the animals, the people, all of it destroyed.

Patriotism is a myth conceived by those old rogues to draw us into the infernal game. Let them fight as they will, but we want no part of it.

It's not the dying but the manner of it.

More than weapons, we need a leader.

They have been taught nothing but destruction and learned nothing except that a man's desires can be achieved simply by killing anybody who stands in his way.