The mistake the apartheid government made was they gave the black people nothing, so they had nothing to lose. But now a lot of the former freedom-fighters are big-time capitalists. They’ve been given directorships in every major company. They’re billionaires! Wilbur Smith Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
I have been blessed in many ways, and one of those is to have been born in Africa, for me a great treasure house of stories. I have been researching it since my infancy; reading about it, talking to men and women who have spent their lives in this land, living it as I have and loving it as I do. I write almost entirely from my own experience. Wilbur Smith Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
The first story I ever sold was to ‘Argosy’ magazine, which no longer exists. That issue also contained work by several other more celebrated writers, like Ray Bradbury – so I felt I had at least one toe on the ladder. Wilbur Smith Read Quote
The really disturbing thing about Somalia is that in a country where there are few economic opportunities, pirates are perceived as glamorous and are held in awe by young boys who aspire to their lifestyle. Wilbur Smith Read Quote
