The first novel I wrote was a monster – clocking in at 180,000 words – but it died a death, a death it deserved. It was called The Gods First Make Mad. It was a good title, but it was the only good thing about the book. I didnt let that put me off. – 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 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. Its more important and itll last longer. – Wilbur Smith
Im 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. – Wilbur Smith
The Jewish festival of freedom is the oldest continuously observed religious ritual in the world. Across the centuries, Passover has never lost its power to inspire the imagination of successive generations of Jews with its annually re-enacted drama of slavery and liberation. – Jonathan Sacks