I love to make a mistake. It is my only assurance that I cannot reasonably be expected to assume the responsibility of omniscience.

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.

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.

Man's brain, enlarged fortuitously, invented words in an ambitious attempt to learn how to think, only to have them usurped by his emotions. But we still try.

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.

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.

Everyone has something they don't want anyone to see; that is one of the functions of a home, to provide a spot to keep such things.