Wilbur Smith
Wilbur Smith
Wilbur Addison Smithis a South African novelist specialising in historical fiction about the international involvement in Southern Africa across three centuries, seen from the viewpoints of both black and white families...
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth9 January 1933
CityKabwe, Zambia
alone people
Of all the people involved, he and he alone did the right thing.
casey gun people unlike within
It was because of Casey they got the gun within 24 hours. Casimiro Rodriguez, unlike the other people involved, was remorseful.
apartheid former gave given government major people
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!
people
To me, my characters are more real than most people I meet.
people
There are people out there with an eye on my hard-earned cash who think that I am a pushover. I am not!
adage coming good latest mile money offer people quick races sounds tips
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.
hate ignorant involved last people politics time waste
I hate politics. I like to write about it, but to get involved in it, to try and make a lot of ignorant people do what you want them to do, waste of time. Go and write a book. It's more important and it'll last longer.
thinking speak-your-mind people
Quite frankly, I think political correctness is the worst form of censorship. You're not allowed to speak your mind unless you're black, or unless you're a terrorist, or unless you're an Arab or a minority people. Then you can say what you like. But if you are like a lot of us you are not supposed to say certain things.
ideas people creative
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.
absolutely believe body breeds insists regular younger
I believe that a healthy body breeds a healthy mind. I am 74 years old now and my wife, Niso, is 38 years younger than me. She absolutely insists that I take regular exercise with her.
charged chased continue crocodiles god lions money shot three tiger
I have done everything I have ever wanted to do. I have swum with tiger sharks, been charged by lions and elephants. I have been shot three times, chased by crocodiles and, God be praised, I've made enough money that I can continue to do all the things I want to for as long as I am able.
almost blessed born entirely experience great house lives living loving men reading since spent talking treasure women
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.
smile speaks word
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.
advent african country europeans foreign future historical return view
I'm not a prophet; I can only use historical reality to come to a view of the future, and my view is that Africa will return to being African and not European. The advent of colonialism was foreign to the country itself, but it will return to what it was before the Europeans arrived.