The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.

It often seems to me that's all detective work is, wiping out your false starts and beginning again." Yes, it is very true, that. And it is just what some people will not do. They conceive a certain theory, and everything has to fit into that theory. If one little fact will not fit it, they throw it aside. But it is always the facts that will not fit in that are significant.

With method and logic one can accomplish anything.

Your not reliable. You wouldn't be at all a comfortable sort of person to live with.

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

Mr. Jesmond made a peculiar noise rather like a hen who has decided to lay an egg and then thought better of it.

It's very inconvenient to be loved. Nearly everyone has found that out, sooner or later. The fewer people who love you the less you will have to suffer.