An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her.

It is completely unimportant. That is why it is so interesting!

Too much mercy... often resulted in further crimes which were fatal to innocent victims who need not have been victims if justice had been put first and mercy second.

Most successes are unhappy. That`s why they are successes - they have to reassure themselves about themselves by achieving something that the world will notice.

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find - at the age of 50, say - that a whole new life has opened before you.

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly find - at the age of fifty, say - that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about...It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.

I`ve always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worries and only half the royalties.

A mother`s love for her child is like nothing else in the world.

I live now on borrowed time, waiting in the anteroom for the summons that will inevitably come. And then - I go on to the next thing, whatever it is. One doesn`t luckily have to bother about that.

If one sticks too rigidly to one`s principles, one would hardly see anybody.

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

I`m a sausage machine, a perfect sausage machine.

"Evil is not something superhuman, it`s something less than human."

"It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them."

"I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest."

"I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

"Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions."

"It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story."

One doesn`t recognize the really important moments in one`s life until it`s too late.

"The best time to plan a book is while you`re doing the dishes."

"One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one."

"Curious things, habits. People themselves never know they had them."

"Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody."

"If one sticks too rigidly to one`s principles one would hardly see anybody."

"Every murderer is probably somebody`s old friend."

"I don`t think necessity is the mother of invention - invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble."

"An archaelogist is the best husband a women can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her."