No, we do it for the money.'And, because we above all must know the value of a human life, we do it for a great deal of money. 'There can be few cleaner motives, so shorn of all pretence.'Nil mortifi, sine lucre. Remember. No killing without payment.'He paused for a moment.'And always give a receipt,' he added.

We're really good at it, Teppic thought. Mere animals couldn't possibly manage to act like this. You need to be a human being to be really stupid.

Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn't believing. It's where belief stops, because it isn't needed any more.

The river, it's banks as yet untamed wandered languidly through thickets of rush and papyrus. Ibises waded in the shallows; in the deeps hippos rose and sank slowly like pickled eggs.

Mere animals couldn’t possibly manage to act like this. You need to be a human being to be really stupid.

Nature abhors a lot of things, including vacuums, ships called the Marie Celeste, and the chuck keys for electric drills.

All assassins had a full-length mirror in their rooms, because it would be a terrible insult to anyone to kill them when you were badly dressed.