MY rule is never to be rude to anyone unless you mean it.

The constant petty behests of life permit few opportunities for major satisfactions, and when one is offered it should be seized.

There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.

Being broke is not a disgrace, it is only a catastrophe.

One of the hardest things to believe is that anyone will abandon the effort to escape a charge of murder. It is extremely important to suspend disbelief on that. If you don't, the story is spoiled.

Only fools and philosophers waste time on the unknowable.

I think the detective story is by far the best upholder of the democratic doctrine in literature. I mean, there couldn't have been detective stories until there were democracies, because the very foundation of the detective story is the thesis that if you're guilty you'll get it in the neck and if you're innocent you can't possibly be harmed. No matter who you are.