You can't be a successful Dictator and design women's underclothing.

She had more curves than a scenic railway

It was one of those days you sometimes get latish in the autumn when the sun beams, the birds toot, and there is a bracing tang in the air that sends the blood beetling briskly through the veins.

Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove.

you ever have that feeling when you step down onto a footstep that isn't there?

I believe there are two ways of writing novels. One is mine, making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right deep down into life and not caring a damn.

Has anybody ever seen a dramatic critic in the daytime? Of course not. They come out after dark, up to no good.