Everything has got its right size. When it is its right size and well run it's the tops.

Oh, I'm not afraid of death! What have I got to live for after all? I suppose you believe it's very wrong to kill a person who has injured you-even if they've taken away everything you had in the world?

I have always admired the Esquimaux (Eskimos). One fine day a delicious meal is cooked for dear old mother, and then she goes walking away over the ice, and doesn't come back.

I would like it to be said that I was a good writer of detective and thriller stories.

I do not argue with obstinate men. I act in spite of them.

Sometimes I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is a method in his madness.

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