C. S. Forester
C. S. Forester
Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars. Two of the Hornblower books, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours, were jointly awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1938. His other works include The African Queen...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth27 July 1899
loyalty agreement suggestions
I did not ask for objections, but for comments, or helpful suggestions. I looked for more loyalty from you, Captain Hornblower.' That made the whole argument pointless. If Leighton only wanted servile agreement there was no sense in continuing...
writing thinking editors
I formed a resolution to never write a word I did not want to write; to think only of my own tastes and ideals, without a thought of those of editors or publishers.
thank-god birth miserable
I thank God daily for the good fortune of my birth, for I am certain I would have made a miserable peasant.
years would-be world
Clairvoyant, Hornblower could foresee that in a year's time, the world would hardy remember the incident. In twenty years, it would be entirely forgotten. Yet those headless corpses up there in Muzillac; those shattered redcoats; those Frenchmen caught in the four-pounder's blast of canister -- they were as dead as if it had been a day in which history had been changed.
moving home novelists
A whim, a passing mood, readily induces the novelist to move hearth and home elsewhere. He can always plead work as an excuse to get him out of the clutches of bothersome hosts.
desire together middle
I have heard of novels started in the middle, at the end, written in patches to be joined together later, but I have never felt the slightest desire to do this.
england hollywood emotion
Everything was in stark and dreadful contrast with the trivial crises and counterfeit emotions of Hollywood, and I returned to England deeply moved and emotionally worn out.
flavor fraud suspicion
Perhaps that suspicion of fraud enhances the flavor.
book princess seven
I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses; each book is a pea.
done trouble
I'd rather be in trouble for having done something than for not having done anything.
writing home wrecks
Novel writing wrecks homes.
book reading museums
When I die there may be a paragraph or two in the newspapers. My name will linger in the British Museum Reading Room catalogue for a space at the head of a long list of books for which no one will ever ask.
writing way ends
There is no other way of writing a novel than to begin at the beginning at to continue to the end.
running morning dresses
The work is with me when I wake up in the morning; it is with me while I eat my breakfast in bed and run through the newspaper, while I shave and bathe and dress.