Chili is one of the great peasant foods. It is one of the few contributions America has made to world cuisine. Eaten with corn bread, sweet onion, sour cream, it contains all five of the elements deemed essential by the sages of the Orient: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, and bitter.

To say that a man is a reasoning animal is a very different thing than to say that most of man's decisions are based on his rational process. That I don't believe at all.

I don't answer questions containing two or more unsupported assumptions.

The requisitions of the income tax have added greatly to the attractions of mercenary crime.

I don't approve of open fires. You can't think, or talk or even make love in front of a fireplace. All you can do is stare at it.

The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books.

To read of a detective's daring finesse or ingenious stratagem is a rare joy.