Rex Stout quotes

It is impossible for any Sherlock Holmes story not to have at least one marvelous scene. (Rex Stout)
Every book takes me from 35 to 41 days to write. I don't know why that is. I've tried to get it down to 30 or 31, depending on the length of the month, but it won't work. I don't drink while I'm writing because it fuddles my logical processes, but when I finish a book I go down to the kitchen and pour myself a big belt. View quote
Rex Stout
I don't approve of open fires. You can't think, or talk or even make love in front of a fireplace. All you can do is stare at it. View quote
Rex Stout
I'm not a collector. I don't keep letters, or books, or souvenirs. But I do keep one copy of each translation of my books into a foreign language. Have you ever seen a murder story printed in Singhalese? Wow! View quote
Rex Stout
Of course the modern detective story puts off its best tricks till the last, but Doyle always put his best tricks first and that's why they're still the best ones. View quote
Rex Stout
What do I believe in? Belief means faith, and there's only one damn thing in the world I have any faith in. That's the idea of American democracy, because it seems to me so obvious that that's the only sensible way to run human affairs. View quote
Rex Stout
There are damn few great writers and I'm not one of them. While I could afford to I played with words. When I could no longer afford that I wrote for money. View quote
Rex Stout
I really mean what I say. A Dickens character to me is a theatrical projection of a character. Not that it isn't real. It's real, but in that removed sense. But Sherlock Holmes is simply there. I would be astonished if I went to 221½ B Baker Street and didn't find him. View quote
Rex Stout
Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth. View quote
Rex Stout
The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books. View quote
Rex Stout
One trouble with living beyond your deserved number of years is that there's always some reason to live another year. And I'd like to live another year so that Nixon won't be President. If he's re-elected I'll have to live another four years. (Rex Stout)
[A] pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant. View quote
Rex Stout
The more you put in your brain, the more it will hold -- if you have one. View quote
Rex Stout
Bosh. I find a rival - but no, I won't flatter myself that Tecumseh Fox would consider himself a rival of Dol Bonner - I find an eminent detective in your apartment, and that alone is enough, without adding that he is concealed in your bedroom while I am discussing my business with you... View quote
Rex Stout
A person who does not read cannot think. He may have good mental processes, but he has nothing to think about. You can feel for people or natural phenomena and react to them, but they are not ideas. You cannot think about them. View quote
Rex Stout
The incredible thing happens at the beginning of the story always, you notice, not the end. A Sherlock Holmes story is never a trick story. View quote
Rex Stout
There are two kinds of characters in all fiction, the born and the synthetic. If the writer has to ask himself questions - is he tall, is he short? View quote
Rex Stout
There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure you're going to make a living - cook books and detective stories. View quote
Rex Stout
There isn't a generation gap between you and me - there's two. View quote
Rex Stout
There are various ways to call a man a liar. One way is just to scream it at him, which doesn't prove anything. Another is to establish facts by long and patient investigation. Still another way is not to call him a liar at all - let him do it himself. View quote
Rex Stout
Genius is fine for the ignition spark, but to get there someone has to see that the radiator doesn't leak and no tire is flat. (Rex Stout)
There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up. View quote
Rex Stout
To read of a detective's daring finesse or ingenious stratagem is a rare joy. View quote
Rex Stout
The only difference between me and most people is that I'm perfectly aware that all my important decisions are made for me by my subconscious. My frontal lobes are just kidding themselves that they decide anything at all. All they do is think up reasons for the decisions that are already made. View quote
Rex Stout
We are all vainer of our luck than of our merits. View quote
Rex Stout