make no mistake about it, the detective-story is part of the literature of escape, and not of expression.

there is undoubtedly something irritating about the favorites of fortune.

The making of miracles to edification was as ardently admired by pious Victorians as it was sternly discouraged by Jesus of Nazareth. Not that the Victorians were unique in this respect. Modern writers also indulge in edifying miracles though they generally prefer to use them to procure unhappy endings, by which piece of thaumaturgy they win the title of realists.

That you cannot have Christian principles without Christ is becoming increasingly clear, because their validity as principles depends on Christ's authority.

There certainly does seem a possibility that the detective story will come to an end, simply because the public will have learnt all the tricks.

He remembered having said to his uncle (with a solemn dogmatism better befitting a much younger man): "Surely it is possible to love with the head as well as the heart." Mr. Delagardie had replied, somewhat drily: "No doubt; so long as you do not end by thinking with your entrails instead of your brain.

If anybody ever marries you, it will be for the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle