Samuel Butler

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.

In law, nothing is certain but the expense.

To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of other approaches.

The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way you can make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him.

Most detective story readers are an educated audience and know there are only a certain number of plots. The interest lies in what the writer does with them.