--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I have no patience with up-themselves…" description: "\"I have no patience with up-themselves authors who complain about having to trail round a few bookshops signing stock.\" — Nicholas Royle" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/nicholas-royle-28479_books_i-have-no-patience-with-up-themselves-au_436268.jpg" --- # I have no patience with up-themselves authors who complain… ![“I have no patience with up-themselves authors who complain about having to trail round a few bookshops signing stock.” quote by Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/nicholas-royle-28479_books_i-have-no-patience-with-up-themselves-au_436268.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/nicholas-royle-28479_books_i-have-no-patience-with-up-themselves-au_436268.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59e/nicholas-royle-28479_books_i-have-no-patience-with-up-themselves-au_436268.jpg) > “I have no patience with up-themselves authors who complain about having to trail round a few bookshops signing stock.” [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He despises self‑important authors who waste time on book‑signing tours. **In simple terms:** He dislikes authors who act superior and waste time. Key Takeaway Focus on writing, not ego. Themes authorship ego literary culture Mood critical contemplative Type literary critical When to use this quote - writing process - author events - publishing expectations - industry criticism Key Concepts humility authenticity Questions to Reflect On - Is signing a book a genuine connection? - How can authors balance humility with promotion? A Different Perspective Some readers enjoy personal interactions with authors. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Bookshops](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bookshops/) [I have no patience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-have-no-patience/) [Patience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patience/) [Rounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rounds/) [Trails](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trails/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [I have embraced crying mothers who have lost their children because our politicians put their personal agendas before the national good. I have no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-have-embraced-crying-mothers-who-have-lost-their-children-because/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [Patience is not just about waiting for something... it's about how you wait, or your attitude while waiting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-meyer/patience-is-not-just-about-waiting-for-something-it-s-about-how-you/) [Joyce Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-meyer/) > [If you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. Let us hope that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/if-you-put-on-more-clothes-as-the-cold-increases-it-will-have-no/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-h-schuller/never-cut-a-tree-down-in-the-wintertime-never-make-a-negative/) [Robert H. Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-h-schuller/) > [I have no patience with this dreadful idea that whatever you have in you has to come out, that you can't suppress true talent.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-have-no-patience-with-this-dreadful-idea-that-whatever-you-have-in/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [I have no patience with anyone born after World War II. You have to explain everything to these people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/selma-diamond/i-have-no-patience-with-anyone-born-after-world-war-ii-you-have-to/) Selma Diamond > [I can truthfully say, in arts I have pretty much seen and done it all and, at my age, I have no patience with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-lambert/i-can-truthfully-say-in-arts-i-have-pretty-much-seen-and-done-it-all/) [Donald Lambert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-lambert/) > [I have no patience whatever with these gorilla damnifications of humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/i-have-no-patience-whatever-with-these-gorilla-damnifications-of/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [I have no patience for those who say that poverty is a blessing. Poverty is the greatest curse on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-mcdonald/i-have-no-patience-for-those-who-say-that-poverty-is-a-blessing/) [Roger McDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-mcdonald/) > [Everyone is given one gift, a reason for being, and it's our obligation to do something with it. 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These…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-b-anthony/the-anti-suffragist-talk-of-sheltering-women-from-the-fierce-storms/) [Susan B. Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-b-anthony/) > [When you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-h-schuller/when-you-are-in-your-worst-moods-wait-be-patient-the-storm-will-pass/) [Robert H. Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-h-schuller/) > [Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-h-schuller/never-make-your-most-important-decisions-when-you-are-in-your-worst/) [Robert H. Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-h-schuller/) ## More by Nicholas Royle > [The short story feels like the most natural length for prose fiction, or certainly for the kind of ideas and situations I like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/the-short-story-feels-like-the-most-natural-length-for-prose-fiction/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I've written over 100 short stories. You could say I'm obsessed with short stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-ve-written-over-100-short-stories-you-could-say-i-m-obsessed-with/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I'm not trying to write cinematic novels, but I have been told several times that my style is cinematic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-m-not-trying-to-write-cinematic-novels-but-i-have-been-told-several/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [“The uncanny is not a literary genre. But nor is it a non-literary genre. It overflows the very institution of literature. It inhabits, haunts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/the-uncanny-is-not-a-literary-genre-but-nor-is-it-a-non-literary/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I was interested in the ways that artists responded to totalitarianism - the Czech Jazz Section, Romanian absurdist theatre, Brecht's alienation effect. The anything-goes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-was-interested-in-the-ways-that-artists-responded-to/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [There has been corruption in the Belgian civil service and at government level for decades. The Royal family do what they can to hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/there-has-been-corruption-in-the-belgian-civil-service-and-at/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [The idea that a student can write a sonnet or a novel without having a sound understanding about its history, and where it fits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/the-idea-that-a-student-can-write-a-sonnet-or-a-novel-without-having/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [The Belgians tend to downplay the cultural divide issue, and the far-right issue, but there's a staggering degree of casual racism in Belgium, much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/the-belgians-tend-to-downplay-the-cultural-divide-issue-and-the-far/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I only like naturalistic stories. I love short, fantastic stories that cast a spell over the reader, that transport you instantly to another place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-only-like-naturalistic-stories-i-love-short-fantastic-stories-that/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [What the short story needs above all is for one of the big publishers to get an equivalent series up and running and to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/what-the-short-story-needs-above-all-is-for-one-of-the-big-publishers/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [Who was it recently invented some machine that will enable her to sign a book from 5,000 miles away? Margaret Atwood. Get off your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/who-was-it-recently-invented-some-machine-that-will-enable-her-to/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I am interested in power and in the idea of one country exerting power over another. The Soviets took this to an extreme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-am-interested-in-power-and-in-the-idea-of-one-country-exerting/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I never know exactly where I'm going with a story, whether it's a short story or a novel. If I did I'd soon grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-never-know-exactly-where-i-m-going-with-a-story-whether-it-s-a/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [Belgium is a country with a split personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/belgium-is-a-country-with-a-split-personality/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I always have lots of zany ideas for promotional stuff as publication nears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-always-have-lots-of-zany-ideas-for-promotional-stuff-as-publication/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) [Explore all 19 Nicholas Royle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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