Emerson,' I said, choosing my words with care, 'it is a sheer drop from the cleft down to the base of the cliff. If you are bent on breaking your arm or your leg or your neck or all three, find a place closer to home so we won't have to carry you such a distance.

The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify.

It is easier to counterfeit old age than youth.

If all else fails, we will simply have to drug our attendants, overpower the guards, raise the oppressed peasants to arms, and take over the government.

Nothing looks as self-satisfied as a contented cat.

His masculinity was only too apparent

Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point