Ferenc Molnár

1878–1952 · Hungarian playwright, novelist and journalist

Ferenc Molnár (born Ferenc Neumann in Budapest, 12 January 1878 – 1 April 1952) wrote Liliom, the play Rodgers and Hammerstein turned into Carousel, and the boys’ novel The Paul Street Boys, translated into dozens of languages. He was a working newspaperman before he was a dramatist, and the mordant, self-mocking register of this line — delivered with a monocle and a shrug — is exactly the pose his contemporaries recorded. He left Europe for the United States in 1940 and died in New York.

Traced to source

3 quotes we’ve traced to Ferenc Molnár

“I Did It For My Own Pleasure. Then I Did It For My Friends. Now I Do It For Money”

Disputed

“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for fun. Then you do it for a few friends. Finally you do it for money”

Disputed

“Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and then you do it for money”

Disputed

Did they really say it?

Thought Ferenc Molnár said something else?

Type a quote you think Ferenc Molnár said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.