A Nero Wolfe Mystery

Ah, yes, yes, I said that, with most people, when words start on their way out, they have to go through a checking station to get an okay.

A woman who is not a fool is dangerous.

You know, my mother once told me "Never go someplace where you're not welcome."

Measure your mind’s height by the shadow it casts.

— You're an incredible man. Utterly incredible. I didn't think you could do it. Incredible! Is there anything you can't do?
— Uh, yes, madam, there is. I couldn't put sense in a fool's brain.

— I thought you were afraid of nobody and nothing.
— I can dodge folly without backing into fear.

— This, uh, is in the strictest of confidence.
— Ah, yes, well, of course. Unless you’re loaded with something too heavy for me, like murder or treason.
— "Other sins only speak, murder shrieks out. Treason doth never prosper." Fear not, Mr. Goodwin, I am loaded with neither.

Then this is a remarkable coincidence. In a world that operates largely at random coincidences are to be expected but each one of them must always be mistrusted.

— During the seven months that you lived with Miss Usher did she have any callers?
— She never had any.
— Do you mean to say that she had no friends... men or women?
— I never saw any. She never even had a date; she never even got any phone calls. I used to tell her, "Faith, that's no way to live just crawling around like a worm like that."

Archie... I said it is vainglorious to reproach yourself for lack of omniscience. The same is true for omnipotence.