It's no good starting out by thinking one is a heaven-born genius- some people are, but very few. No, one is a tradesman - a tradesman in a good honest trade. You must learn the technical skills, and then, within that trade, you can apply your own creative ideas, but you must submit them to the discipline of form.

You can only really get under anybody's skin if you are married to them.

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

Hercule Poirot: I am an imbecile. I see only half of the picture. Miss Lemon: I don't even see that.

You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.

One does what one can, not what one cannot.

When engaged in eating, the brain should be the servant of the stomach.