pretense is the oil that lubricates society.

The world doesn't come to the clever folks, it comes to the stubborn, obstinate, one-idea-at-a-time people.

Peace is not a passive but an active condition, not a negation but an affirmation.

People that trust themselves a dozen miles from the city, in strange houses, with servants they don't know, needn't be surprised if they wake up some morning and find their throats cut.

Love is like the measles, all the worse when it comes late.

having considerable mind, changing it became almost as ponderous an operation as moving a barn, although not nearly so stable.

I had a vision ... of being found on the pavement by some passerby, with a small punctuation mark ending my sentence of life.

Every crucial experience can be regarded either as a setback, or the start of a wonderful new adventure, it depends on your perspective!

when knowledge comes in at the door, fear and superstition fly out of the window.

The mystery story is two stories in one: the story of what happened and the story of what appeared to happen.

Conflict is the very essence of life.

Doesn't this place give you the creeps? You could perhaps do something with some floral wallpaper and a fire-bomb.

I give the fight up let there be an end A privacy an obscure nook for me I want to be forgotten even by God.

The sound man, immune as to a sacrifice of straw dogs, faces the passing human generations.

There is a sense that animated movies are suddenly a genre. I just don't believe they are; it's a technique to tell a story.

There is no subsititue for fishing sense, and if a man doesn't have it, verily, he may cast like an angel and still use his creel largely to transport sandwiches and beer

For though Duncan was a mere mortal, flawed as well, he'd accomplished a daring feat. Aye, he'd captured an angel. And she belonged to him.

The usual pretext of those who make others unhappy is that they do it for their own good.

What I do and who I am are two different things. And they always will be.

I find a lot of joy just going out and playing for people.

Our prayers should arise out of immersion in the Scripture. [We] speak only to the degree we are spoken to.