Be sure thy sin will find thee out.

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.

Self-preservation's a man's first duty. And natives don't mind dying, you know. They don't feel about it as Europeans do.

Women can accept the fact that a man is a rotter, a swindler, a drug taker, a confirmed liar, and a general swine, without batting an eyelash, and without its impairing their affection for the brute in the least. Women are wonderful realists.

Bitterness leads nowhere. It turns back on itself. It is the eternal cul-de-sac.

Many friends have said to me, 'I never know when you write your books, because I've never seen you writing, or even seen you go away to write.' I must behave rather as dogs do when they retire with a bone; they depart in a secretive manner and you do not see them again for an odd half hour. They return self-consciously with mud on their noses. I do much the same.

Fey...a Scotch word...It means the kind of exalted happiness that comes before disaster. You know--it's too good to be true.