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A character who is thought-out is not born, he or she is contrived. A born character is round, a thought-out character is flat.

Rex Stout

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Rex Stout
Age: 88 †
Born: 1886
Born: December 1
Died: 1975
Died: October 27
Novelist
Radio Personality
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Noblesville
Indiana
Flats
Round
Rounds
Born
Thought
Character
Writing
Contrived
Flat

More quotes by Rex Stout

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There are two kinds of characters in all fiction, the born and the synthetic. If the writer has to ask himself questions - is he tall, is he short? - he had better quit.
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Dignities are like faces no two are the same.
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Bosh. I find a rival - but no, I won't flatter myself that Tecumseh Fox would consider himself a rival of Dol Bonner - I find an eminent detective in your apartment, and that alone is enough, without adding that he is concealed in your bedroom while I am discussing my business with you.
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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.
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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.
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There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure you're going to make a living — cook books and detective stories.
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In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.
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Hemingway never grew out of adolescence. His scope and depth stayed shallow because he had no idea what women are for.
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I understand the technique of eccentricity it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action.
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I still can't decide which is more fun - reading or writing.
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No man should tell a lie unless he is shrewd enough to recognize the time for renouncing it, if and when it comes, and knows how to renounce it gracefully.
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As a professional writer of detective stories, I string along with the ballplayers. I love a ball game.
Rex Stout
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The requisitions of the income tax have added greatly to the attractions of mercenary crime.
Rex Stout
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A Dickens character to me is a theatrical projection of a character. Not that it isn't real. It's real, but in that removed sense. But Sherlock Holmes is simply there. I would be astonished if I went to 221½ B Baker Street and didn't find him.
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The more you put in your brain, the more it will hold - if you have one.
Rex Stout
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The trouble with an alarm clock is that what seems sensible when you set it seems absurd when it goes off
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Opinions, from experts, cost money.
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Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.
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I have a strong moral sense - by my standards.
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Women don't require motives that are comprehensible to my intellectual processes.
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