But emotions and detective work did not always mix; there was something about that in Clovis Andersen's The Principles of Private Detection. What had he said? Emotions have the same effect as a magnet...

That is why the artist will always be happy-no matter how the world treats him. If he knows that what he creates is good, then he can bear the indifference of others.

Her country had never been aggressive, had never espoused violence, had never taken sides in the squabbles of others. She wondered how people could sleep if they knew that somebody, in their name, was...

love was a form of blindness that closed the eyes to the most glaring faults. You could love a murderer, and simply not believe that your lover would do so much as crush a tick, let alone kill...

We become the people we live with. Imperceptibly at first, but with a certain inevitability, we become the other.

We assume so much, don't we? We assume that our children are going to be reasonable. We assume they're going to see things as we see them. And then suddenly we discover that they can look at things...

there was any number of men like that, waiting for an attractive girl that they could latch on to and whose life they could slowly destroy.

There were countless injustices and difficulties in this world, but small points of light too, where the darkness was held back.

...we all have some things we are ashamed of.

I think it is time that I put the kettle on

But then she reminded herself that there were plenty of people who were afraid of the police, even if they had clear consciences. These were people who had been the victims of bullying when...

...a prison of put-downs and belittlements.

She wanted everything back, as we do sometimes in our irrationality and regret; we want it all back.

of being linked with each other, we have every temptation to be selfish and unmoved by others and by their plight. Our towns, our cities, our places become no more than hotels, with all that lack of...

Like so many women, her life seemed to be all about the needs of others. Auden had said something about that, she reminded herself-something witty. We are here on this earth to help others, but he had...

It is better to tell people good things, Mma-if you can.

Offering a lady a chair was one way of showing that this work was appreciated, and that strength and brute force-at which men generally tended to excel-was not the only thing that counted. Respect for...

He had only recently learned the word dramaturge and had been looking for opportunities to use it. He had eventually summoned up the courage to try it on Big Lou, but her espresso machine had hissed...