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. – Wilbur Smith
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
People don’t really know themselves until they’re 30. Like most people nowadays, I went to university, got a degree and wandered for a bit. I trained to be a chartered accountant, which I didn’t much enjoy, and it was only slowly that the idea of becoming a creative writer gelled. – Wilbur Smith
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
I shot my first lion at the age of 14 when a pride threatened my father’s livestock while he was away on holiday. – Wilbur Smith
I don’t know how many lions and leopards I’ve shot. I’ve shot two elephants, which was enough – never again. It’s a melancholy and moving thing to hunt an elephant. It’s like shooting an old man. – Wilbur Smith
My family wasn’t terribly affluent and looked upon money very carefully as something that had to be saved, not spent. My father built the ducting that took air into the copper mines and made about 6 d a yard in the Thirties, which was good money back then. – Wilbur Smith
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. – Wilbur Smith
I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes. – Wilbur Smith
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
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
My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench. – Wilbur Smith
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
It’s probably true that everyone has a book in them, although it may not be a very good one. – Wilbur Smith
Many people have compared me to the Victorian adventure writer, Rider Haggard. I accept that as a compliment. As a boy growing up in Central Africa I read all Haggard’s African novels. – Wilbur Smith
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
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. – Wilbur Smith
I think money is essential to happiness and right now I wouldn’t want to be anyone other than Wilbur Smith – I’ve had a fantastic life, rewarded far more heavily than I deserve. Maybe I’d like to be J. K. Rowling, but I’ll settle for second best. – Wilbur Smith
Usually halfway through a book I have a serious depression, so I go on safari on my ranch in South Africa, or fishing off my island in the Seychelles. When I come back and re-read it, I think: ‘What was all that about, Smith? It’s fine, just get on with it.’ – Wilbur Smith
I used to own an island in the Seychelles and had a big boat there and one day I came across some Somali pirates who were passing by on their way to re-provision their boat. They didn’t even acknowledge me – which is unheard of among sailors – and it was like looking into the eyes of a black mamba. – Wilbur Smith
I’ve been associated with Macmillan for over 45 years. I’d like to thank them for their continued commitment to my backlist and I look forward to continuing to work with them as they publish my next novel, ‘Vicious Circle’ in 2013. – Wilbur Smith
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
Write for yourself, not for a perceived audience. If you do, you’ll mostly fall flat on your face, because it’s impossible to judge what people want. And you have to read. That’s how you learn what is good writing and what is bad. Then the main thing is application. It’s hard work. – Wilbur Smith
They say if you drink Zambezi water with your mother’s milk, you are always a slave of Africa, and I am. – Wilbur Smith
This first print run of the first edition of my first novel, ‘When The Lion Feeds.’ back in 1964, is so rare it can fetch several thousand pounds at auction. I always wanted to be an author, and I decided to write about what I knew. – Wilbur Smith
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
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. – Wilbur Smith
