Alcoholism plus criminality plus whatever caused both in the first place form a combination that is very nearly happy-ending-proof.

The law should be the point at which savagery ended because civilization stood in its path.

To what do you not drive human hearts, cursed for craving gold!

Man provides his own goods and his own evils, neither God nor the Devil has anything to do with it.

Ghosts cannot be put on the witness stand, or have their fingerprints taken. They are completely proof against proof.

Truth travels slowly and gets weaker as it goes. Suitable lies are strong and run faster.

Crime, after all, can be a way of establishing identity or acquiring security - at least the magistrate addresses you by name.