One place is very like another.

The steamship whose machinery is broken may be brought into port and made fast to the dock. She is safe, but not sound. Repairs may last a long time. Christ designs to make us both safe and sound. Justification gives the first - safety; sanctification gives us the second - soundness.

the detective's highest talent lay in the gentle art of seeking favours under the guise of conferring them!

If anyone is really determined to lend you a book, you never can get out of it!

There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you're writing, and aren't writing particularly well

It had come about ex­act­ly in the way things hap­pened in books.

The things young women read nowadays and profess to enjoy positively frighten me.