The future was with Fate. The present was our own.

His love of danger, his intense appreciation of the drama of an adventure--all the more intense for being held tightly in--his consistent view that every peril in life is a form of sport, a fierce game betwixt you and Fate, with Death as a forfeit, made him a wonderful companion at such hours.

Even the best of us are thrown off some- times.

As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after.

No man lives or has ever lived who has brought the same amount of study and of natural talent to the detection of crime which I have done.

Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.

Everything comes in circles. [...] The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all been done before, and will be again.