To make a precise scientific description of reality out of words is like trying to build a rigid structure out of pure quicksilver.

A human being must have occupation if he or she is not to become a nuisance to the world.

I gather that he nearly knocked you down, damaged your property, and generally made a nuisance of himself, and that you instantly concluded he must be some relation to me.

Passion's a good, stupid horse that will pull the plough six days a week if you give him the run of his heels on Sundays. But love's a nervous, awkward, over-mastering brute; if you can't rein him, it's best to have no truck with him.

The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.

What we ask is to be human individuals, however peculiar and unexpected. It is no good saying: "You are a little girl and therefore you ought to like dolls"; if the answer is, "But I don't," there is no more to be said.

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.