Literary Birthday – 13 February – Georges Simenon

Georges Simenon was born 13 February 1903, and died 4 September 1989.

Seven Quotes

1. I have always tried to write in a simple way, using down-to-earth and not abstract words.
2. Writing is not a profession, but a vocation of unhappiness. I don’t think an artist can ever be happy.
3. We are all potentially characters in a novel—with the difference that characters in a novel really get to live their lives to the full.
4. Adjectives, adverbs, and every word which is there just to make an effect. Every sentence which is there just for the sentence. You know, you have a beautiful sentence—cut it. Every time I find such a thing in one of my novels it is to be cut.
5. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else.
6. Some readers still would like to read very reassuring novels, novels which give them a comforting view of humanity. It can’t be done.
7. After I have started a novel, I write a chapter each day, without ever missing a day.

Georges Simenon was a prolific Belgian author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works. He is best known as the creator of the Detective Jules Maigret Series, which began with Pietr the Latvian. There are over 800 million Simenon books sold worldwide and he is the most translated French speaking author of the 20th century.

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by Amanda Patterson

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