Failure makes success so much sweeter, and allows you to thumb your nose at the crowds.
Wilbur Smith Quotes
1933–2021 South Africa
Wilbur Addison Smith (9 January 1933 – 13 November 2021) was a Northern Rhodesian-born British-South African novelist specializing in historical fiction about international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries.
- South Africa
- Novelists
21 quotes
Something always dies when the lion feeds — and yet there is meat for those that follow him.
When the Lion Feeds (1964)
Rage (1987)
War is the game played by old men with the lives of the young.
River God (1993)
Beware of your most implacable enemy — yourself.
The Leopard Hunts in Darkness (1984)
We are all mere insects caught in the web that the gods spin for us.
Desert God (2014)
The branch breaks that will not bend with the wind. You must learn to bend.
The Triumph of the Sun (2005)
It's an old chestnut, but those set to guard a treasure, are too often those who loot it.
History is a river that never ends. Today is history, and I am here at the fountainhead.
Should five slaves dictate to a king? If five baboons bark, must the black-maned lion tremble?
No profit was too small to despise; no loss was too small to abhor.
Elephant Song (1991)
Golden Fox (1990)
Robin Hood was also a terrorist ― but he had some style and a little class.
Interview with Hilly Janes (2003)
The most effective way to kill any animal is for it to die before it even knows you are there.
Interview with Hilly Janes (2003)
Those in Peril (2011)
It's a melancholy and moving thing to hunt an elephant. It's like shooting an old man.
Interview with Hilly Janes (2003)
Attribution
Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Wilbur Smith (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.