Rex Stout Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• I love to make a mistake. It is my only assurance that I cannot reasonably be expected to assume the responsibility of omniscience.

  Rex Stout

  Mistake, Responsibility, Assuming

  10 Copy quote

• A man may debar nonsense from his library of reason, but not from the arena of his impulses.

  Rex Stout

  Men, Library, May

  Rex Stout (2010). “The League of Frightened Men”, p.22, Bantam

  6 Copy quote

• I have never regarded myself as this or that. I have been too busy being myself to bother about regarding myself.

  Rex Stout

  Busy, Being Myself, Bother

  7 Copy quote

• Sarcasm is not the rapier of wit its wielders seem to believe it to be, but merely a club: it may, by dint of brute force, occasionally raise bruises, but it never cuts or pierces.

  Rex Stout

  Believe, Cutting, Sarcasm

  22 Copy quote

• 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.

  Rex Stout

  Thinking, Ideas, People

  "Author Rex Stout vs. the F.B.I." by Sandra Schmidt in Life magazine (p. 132), December 10, 1965.

  7 Copy quote

• I try to know what I need to know. I make sure to know what I want to know. (Nero Wolfe)

  Rex Stout

  Trying, Needs, Nero

  15 Copy quote

• 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.

  Rex Stout

  Stories, Lasts, Detectives

  "The New Invitation to Learning: The Essence of the Great Books of All Times". Book by Van Dore, p. 251, 1942.

  11 Copy quote

• Labels are for the things men make, not for men. The most primitive man is too complex to be labeled.

  Rex Stout

  Men, Primitive Man, Labels

  Rex Stout (2010). “The Father Hunt”, p.110, Bantam

  4 Copy quote

• What the tongue has promised, the body must submit to.

  Rex Stout

  Body, Tongue, Submit

  Rex Stout (2010). “Too Many Cooks”, p.79, Bantam

  8 Copy quote

• Sometimes it's things that take the joy out of life, like a blowout when you're hitting sixty or a button coming off of a shirt when you're in a hurry, but usually it's people.

  Rex Stout

  People, Joy, Buttons

  Rex Stout (2010). “The Father Hunt”, p.103, Bantam

  7 Copy quote

• The Glass Key is better than anything Hemingway ever wrote

  Rex Stout

  Keys, Glasses

  11 Copy quote

• 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

  Genius, Sparks, Tire

  Rex Stout (2010). “The Doorbell Rang”, p.92, Bantam

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Rex Stout

  Damn, Great Writers

  "An Interview with Mister Rex Stout" by Robert van Gelder, The New York Times, September 21, 1941.

  6 Copy quote

• I don't answer questions containing two or more unsupported assumptions.

  Rex Stout

  Two, Answers, Assumption

  Rex Stout (2013). “The Rubber Band/The Red Box 2-in-1”, p.119, Bantam

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Rex Stout

  Book, Writing, Kitchen

  "Author Rex Stout vs. the F.B.I." by Sandra Schmidt in Life magazine (p. 132), December 10, 1965.

  5 Copy quote

• I cannot agree that mountain climbing is merely one manifestation of man's spiritual aspirations. I think instead it is a hysterical paroxysm of his infantile vanity.

  Rex Stout

  Spiritual, Men, Thinking

  Rex Stout (2010). “Triple Jeopardy”, p.76, Bantam

  4 Copy quote

• The brain can be hoodwinked but not the stomach.

  Rex Stout

  Brain, Stomach

  Rex Stout (2010). “Trio for Blunt Instruments”, p.159, Crimeline

  5 Copy quote

• Man's brain, enlarged fortuitously, invented words in an ambitious attempt to learn how to think, only to have them usurped by his emotions. But we still try.

  Rex Stout

  Men, Thinking, Brain

  "Death of a Dude". Book by Rex Stout. Chapter 8, 1969.

  5 Copy quote

• Hemingway never grew out of adolescence. His scope and depth stayed shallow because he had no idea what women are for.

  Rex Stout

  Ideas, Depth, Shallow

  9 Copy quote

• You can't dance cheerfully. Dancing is too important. It can be wild or solemn or gay or lewd or art for art's sake, but it can't be cheerful.

  Rex Stout

  Art, Gay, Dancing

  Rex Stout (2010). “Champagne for One”, p.27, Crimeline

  4 Copy quote

• What good is an obscenity trial except to popularize literature?

  Rex Stout

  Trials, Literature, Obscenity

  Rex Stout (2013). “Fer-de-Lance/The League of Frightened Men”, Bantam

  8 Copy quote

• Wolfe scowled at her. I could see he was torn with conflicting emotions. A female in his kitchen was an outrage. A woman criticizing his or Fritz's cooking was an insult. But corned beef hash was one of life's toughest problems, never yet solved by anyone.

  Rex Stout

  Cooking, Kitchen, Female

  5 Copy quote

• If I'm home with no chore at hand, and a package of books has come, the television set and the chess board and the unanswered mail will have to manage without me if one of the books is a detective story.

  Rex Stout

  Book, Home, Hands

  9 Copy quote

• Everyone has something they don't want anyone to see; that is one of the functions of a home, to provide a spot to keep such things.

  Rex Stout

  Home, Want, Spots

  Rex Stout (2011). “The Red Box”, p.103, Crimeline

  5 Copy quote

• Afraid? I can dodge folly without backing into fear.

  Rex Stout

  Fear, Dodge, Folly

  Rex Stout (2010). “The Doorbell Rang”, p.15, Bantam

  5 Copy quote

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