In my profession it isn’t a question of telling good literature from bad. Really good literature is seldom appreciated in its own day. The best authors die poor, the bad ones make money – it’s always been like that. What do I, an agent, get out of a literary genius who won’t be discovered for another hundred years? I’ll be dead myself then. Successful incompetents are what I need. Walter Moers
About This Quote

This quote by Anthony Burgess has two ideas that are very similar. First, he is saying that there are good writers and bad writers. Second, that many writers will never be appreciated or recognized for their work. There are some who are good at what they are doing but do not sell their work.

And there are others who will never be recognized for their work because the book was not written in a time when it was popular or something else happened to keep them from being famous. The idea of being successful or having a lot of money is not what he needs to focus on. He wants writers who can produce books.

Source: The City Of Dreaming Books

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