Rex Stout: Story

Rex Stout was American writer. Explore interesting quotes on story.

Rex Stout: 60 quotes0 likes

“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, page 251
Invitation to Learning

“I think the detective story is by far the best upholder of the democratic doctrine in literature. I mean, there couldn't have been detective stories until there were democracies, because the very foundation of the detective story is the thesis that if you're guilty you'll get it in the neck and if you're innocent you can't possibly be harmed. No matter who you are. There was no such conception of justice until after 1830. There was no such thing as a policeman or a detective in the world before 1830, because the modern conception of the policeman and detective, namely, a man whose only function is to find out who did it and then get the evidence that will punish him, did not exist. … In Paris before the year 1800 — read the Dumas stories — there were gangs of people whose business was to go out and punish wrongdoers. But why? Because they had hurt De Marillac or Richelieu or the Duke or some Huguenot noble, not just because they had harmed society. It is only the modern policeman that is out to protect society.”

Rex Stout, pp. 248–249
Invitation to Learning

“The incredible thing happens at the beginning of the story always, you notice, not the end. A Sherlock Holmes story is never a trick story.”

Rex Stout, page 246
Invitation to Learning

“I'm not a collector. I don't keep letters, or books, or souvenirs. But I do keep one copy of each translation of my books into a foreign language. Have you ever seen a murder story printed in Singhalese? Wow!”

Life, "Author Rex Stout vs. the F.B.I."

“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.”

Rex Stout, page 3
Royal Decree: Conversations with Rex Stout

“It is impossible for any Sherlock Holmes story not to have at least one marvelous scene.”

Rex Stout, page 247
Invitation to Learning