It is impossible for any Sherlock Holmes story not to have at least one marvelous scene.[An Invitation to Learning, January 1942]

Any man who undertakes to write a play is either a damned fool or a hero, I don't know which. When you write a book, you pull it out of the typewriter and that's that. When you write a play you've got to go on with the producer and the director and the actors and the rehearsals and the ...

There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure you're going to make a living — cook books and detective stories.

The only two kinds of books could earn an American writer a living are cookbooks and detective novels.

Measure your minds height by the shadow it casts.