--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The only thing I want is something I…" description: "\"The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.\" — Rex Stout" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png" --- # The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that… ![“The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.” quote by Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png) > “The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.” [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author expresses a lingering desire for future relevance, fearing his work may be forgotten, reflecting on legacy and uncertainty. **In simple terms:** Worry about whether future readers will still buy his books. Key Takeaway Seek lasting impact despite uncertainty. Themes legacy uncertainty authorial ambition future relevance Mood reflective melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing - marketing - publishing decisions - archival preservation Key Concepts mortality of art cultural memory creative anxiety Questions to Reflect On - What steps can you take to ensure lasting relevance? - How do you define success beyond sales? A Different Perspective Predicting future tastes is impossible; success isn’t guaranteed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [People buy books to own knowledge and have others see them as people of knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-pomona/people-buy-books-to-own-knowledge-and-have-others-see-them-as-people/) Donna Pomona > [I'm always surprised when large numbers of people buy my books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-cornwell/i-m-always-surprised-when-large-numbers-of-people-buy-my-books/) [Patricia Cornwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-cornwell/) > [I've seen a lot of people buy my books and then fall asleep on the plane soon afterwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maeve-binchy/i-ve-seen-a-lot-of-people-buy-my-books-and-then-fall-asleep-on-the/) [Maeve Binchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maeve-binchy/) > [The simple fact is, the more people who buy your books, the more are likely to read you. That's what I'd like to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-r-lansdale/the-simple-fact-is-the-more-people-who-buy-your-books-the-more-are/) [Joe R. Lansdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-r-lansdale/) > [We, the authors, want people to buy books. That is the only way we can earn - from our royality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sudha-murty/we-the-authors-want-people-to-buy-books-that-is-the-only-way-we-can/) [Sudha Murty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sudha-murty/) > [If the whole world depends on today's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/if-the-whole-world-depends-on-today-s-youth-i-can-t-see-the-world/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [I get up in the morning, do my e-mail, I check my e-mails all day. I'll go online and I'll buy my books at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-bologna/i-get-up-in-the-morning-do-my-e-mail-i-check-my-e-mails-all-day-i-ll/) [Joseph Bologna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-bologna/) > [I'm in the middle of a 25-city book tour, and I like watching what people buy in bookstores. I see people buy books that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/i-m-in-the-middle-of-a-25-city-book-tour-and-i-like-watching-what/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [To buy books as some do who make no use of them, only because they were published by an eminent printer, is much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/to-buy-books-as-some-do-who-make-no-use-of-them-only-because-they/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [With contemporary writers, I often buy books and then realise I've bought them before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/with-contemporary-writers-i-often-buy-books-and-then-realise-i-ve/) [Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/) > [Read at least one book a month. This is self-serving, obviously. It's a proven fact that people who read buy more books than people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-pausch/read-at-least-one-book-a-month-this-is-self-serving-obviously-it-s-a/) [Randy Pausch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-pausch/) > [In the era of Venus Williams, girliness and goo isn't the way to every woman's heart. Yet publishers presume that women only buy a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/in-the-era-of-venus-williams-girliness-and-goo-isn-t-the-way-to-every/) [Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/) > [Hardcover books are fairly expensive these days and to read one requires a significant commitment of time in our busy society. So I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffery-deaver/hardcover-books-are-fairly-expensive-these-days-and-to-read-one/) [Jeffery Deaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffery-deaver/) > [“What then? Are we only to buy the books that we read? The question has merely to be thus bluntly put, and it answers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-bennett/what-then-are-we-only-to-buy-the-books-that-we-read-the-question-has/) [Arnold Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-bennett/) > [“I buy books and tell myself that I am buying wisdom and at the end of my life, I own a house full of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-chen/i-buy-books-and-tell-myself-that-i-am-buying-wisdom-and-at-the-end-of/) Ken Chen ## More by Rex Stout > [A person who does not read cannot think. He may have good mental processes, but he has nothing to think about. You can feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/a-person-who-does-not-read-cannot-think-he-may-have-good-mental/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [If I'm home with no chore at hand, and a package of books has come, the television set and the chess board and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/if-i-m-home-with-no-chore-at-hand-and-a-package-of-books-has-come-the/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [To say that man is a reasoning animal is a very different thing than to say that most of man's decisions are based on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/to-say-that-man-is-a-reasoning-animal-is-a-very-different-thing-than/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [“Frankly, I wish I could make my heart quit doing an extra thump when Wolfe says satisfactory, Archie. It's childish.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/frankly-i-wish-i-could-make-my-heart-quit-doing-an-extra-thump-when/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [What good is an obscenity trial except to popularize literature?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/what-good-is-an-obscenity-trial-except-to-popularize-literature/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/in-a-world-that-operates-largely-at-random-coincidences-are-to-be/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [“everything from war to picnics depends on the weather, as Wolfe remarked”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/everything-from-war-to-picnics-depends-on-the-weather-as-wolfe/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [The more you put in your brain, the more it will hold -- if you have one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/the-more-you-put-in-your-brain-the-more-it-will-hold-if-you-have-one/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [“When we turned right on Thirty-fifth Street our suffix came along. By the time we rolled to the curb in front of Wolfe's house…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/when-we-turned-right-on-thirty-fifth-street-our-suffix-came-along-by/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [What the tongue has promised, the body must submit to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/what-the-tongue-has-promised-the-body-must-submit-to/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [The Glass Key is better than anything Hemingway ever wrote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/the-glass-key-is-better-than-anything-hemingway-ever-wrote/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [Genius is fine for the ignition spark, but to get there someone has to see that the radiator doesn't leak and no tire is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/genius-is-fine-for-the-ignition-spark-but-to-get-there-someone-has-to/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [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.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/a-dickens-character-to-me-is-a-theatrical-projection-of-a-character/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [“To pronounce French properly you must have within you a deep antipathy, not to say scorn, for some of the most sacred of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/to-pronounce-french-properly-you-must-have-within-you-a-deep/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) > [A man may debar nonsense from his library of reason, but not from the arena of his impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/a-man-may-debar-nonsense-from-his-library-of-reason-but-not-from-the/) [Rex Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) [Explore all 148 Rex Stout quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/) ## More 100 years quotes > [If the whole world depends on today's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/if-the-whole-world-depends-on-today-s-youth-i-can-t-see-the-world/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [The most significant halachic authority of the last 100 years, whose positions helped fashion a balanced and moderate Judaism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovadia-yosef/the-most-significant-halachic-authority-of-the-last-100-years-whose/) [Ovadia Yosef](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovadia-yosef/) > [Separate and unequal didn't work 100 years ago. It will not work today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kozol/separate-and-unequal-didn-t-work-100-years-ago-it-will-not-work-today/) [Jonathan Kozol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kozol/) > [Everything we have developed over the last 100 years should be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pentti-linkola/everything-we-have-developed-over-the-last-100-years-should-be/) [Pentti Linkola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pentti-linkola/) > [“If humans can live for 100 years, why do companies die so young.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sukant-ratnakar/if-humans-can-live-for-100-years-why-do-companies-die-so-young/) [Sukant Ratnakar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sukant-ratnakar/) > [If you look at the history of our country over the last 100 years, there have been periods where science and research have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-zuckerberg/if-you-look-at-the-history-of-our-country-over-the-last-100-years/) [Mark Zuckerberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-zuckerberg/) > [“None of this will matter in 100 years.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/my-anonymous-friend/none-of-this-will-matter-in-100-years/) My Anonymous Friend > [We can't keep thinking in a limited way about what cinema is. We still don't know what cinema is. Maybe cinema could only really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/we-can-t-keep-thinking-in-a-limited-way-about-what-cinema-is-we-still/) [Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/) > [That's great. I'm 100 years old and people are still interested.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-fuhr/that-s-great-i-m-100-years-old-and-people-are-still-interested/) Grant Fuhr > [It took Hong Kong 100 years to become what it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liu-xiaobo/it-took-hong-kong-100-years-to-become-what-it-is/) [Liu Xiaobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liu-xiaobo/) > [Just because society, and government, and whatever was different 100 years ago, doesn't mean that people didn't have sex, pick their nose, or swear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/just-because-society-and-government-and-whatever-was-different-100/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [Americans, they have an incredible operatic tradition: the Metropolitan Opera House is - if not the most prestigious - one of the most prestigious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-carreras/americans-they-have-an-incredible-operatic-tradition-the-metropolitan/) [Jose Carreras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-carreras/) > [I wake up in the morning and I still have a passion for what I do, and I'll be doing it when I'm 105,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-collins/i-wake-up-in-the-morning-and-i-still-have-a-passion-for-what-i-do-and/) [Jackie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-collins/) > [Film, if properly cared for, will last almost 100 years, but digital will not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thelma-schoonmaker/film-if-properly-cared-for-will-last-almost-100-years-but-digital/) [Thelma Schoonmaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thelma-schoonmaker/) > [“In days of yore (about 100 years before olden days, but about 50 years later than ancient times),”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/in-days-of-yore-about-100-years-before-olden-days-but-about-50-years/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) Browse all 160 100 years quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rex Stout" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can-t-have-and-that-is-to-know/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "100 years" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can-t-have-and-that-is-to-know/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/40a/rex-stout-2846_100-years_the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can_784896.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will…” — Rex Stout", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rex Stout", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rex-stout/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The only thing I want is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can-t-have-and-that-is-to-know/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rex-stout/the-only-thing-i-want-is-something-i-can-t-have-and-that-is-to-know/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```