Sometimes I see myself reflected too closely in other men for comfort, and then I have enormous wish to believe in the saints, in heroic virtue

If I could write with love, but if I could write with love I would be another man. I would never have lost love.

If one possesses a thing securely, one need never use it

Jealous lovers are more respectable, less ridiculous than jealous husbands. They are supported by the weight of literature. Betrayed lovers are tragic, never comic.

Oh, it’s not done, but neither is adultery or theft or running away from the enemy’s fire. The not done things are done every day, Henry. It’s part of modern life. I’ve done most of them myself.

A detective must find it as important as a novelist to amass his trivial material before picking out the right clue. But how difficult...