Quotes from Will Thomas

Obama has been attacked repeatedly for not wearing a flag pin, with Republicans claiming that his patriotism is in question. It's all a bit silly.

Smile, but keep your powder dry.

he objected to work, but that the world being the harsh place it is he had to suffer his lot like the rest of humanity.

if the emotional person is another man, it is the worst possible catastrophe. The societal fabric has been rent. A man would rather be shot by a firing squad than to break down in front of his fellows, and to witness such a breakdown is almost as bad a breach of decorum as to break down oneself.

Like all things new, it was awkward at first, until I got accustomed to it.

I hate flowers to death. What are they for? You cannot eat them. They die in a day. They are a complete waste of money.

Detection is not about finding someone and fashioning a charge that will stick to him. It's more like a footrace. One knows the winner is among the runners, but only when the others have dropped out and the race is finished will you know who it is.

Obama has been attacked repeatedly for not wearing a flag pin, with Republicans claiming that his patriotism is in question. It's all a bit silly.

We all know by now that Barack Obama is not a patriot. After all, he doesn't always wear a flag pin, and he objects to the idea that he should be required to in order to run for office.

To a bibliophile, there is but one thing better than a box of new books, and that is a box of old ones.

Does a bibliophile ever have enough room on his shelves? The answer is obvious: get more shelves.

I'm thinking that, collectively, men are only slightly more observant than mollusks.

Everyone who writes in the sub-genre of Victorian mystery stands in [Sir Arthur Conan] Doyle's shadow.

Her hair was pulled back so severely, it would have won approval from the Spanish Inquisition as a method of torture.

Barker believes that all poets should have the decency to be dead at least a century or two. I feel the same way about politicians.

There is nothing he enjoys so much as a good walk, which he calls "the most social of exercises.

A Bible-quoting group of killers. I don't like it, Barker rumbled, his chin buried in his coat. Murder and faith make nasty bedfellows.

There's no fear when you're having fun.

One cannot go about indiscriminately telling the truth. It must be doled out in bits and pieces or no one shall ever believe it.

A Welshman is always glad to add to his private store of tales.

Rather large crowd, I whispered to my employer. I thought he had no family. The fact that he had no family is why the crowd is so large, Barker explained patiently. It means that the entire community becomes his family. Also, the Jews have great respect for the teachers of their children.

It seems strange to find a Baptist such as yourself so well acquainted with Jewish customs, I said. Yes, well, knowledge is a good thing. If the Bible says that the Jews are His chosen people, we ought to take it seriously.

Prayer? I asked. Of course. If you're not connected to the source of all knowledge, you're no better than a telephone when one of these lines is down. He gestured with his stick at the wires above our heads.

I find that a high in one area of my life often produces a low in another