Quotes About Observation

She marched across to his desk, extended a hand, and told him cordially, "You look exactly right! Just as I thought! I would—" She broke it off because she was getting a deep freeze. He had moved no muscle, and the expression on his face, while not belligerent, was certainly not cordial. She drew back. He spoke. "I don't shake hands with you because you might later think it an imposition. We'll see. Sit down, Miss Eads.

I looked at the woman next to Bernard Quest on his left. She was middle-aged, with a scrawny neck and dominating ears, and was unquestionably a rugged individualist, since no lipstick had been allowed anywhere near her.

Being a lover of beauty, I permitted myself occasional glances at her profile, and observed that her chin was even better from that angle than from the front. Of course there was an off chance that she was a murderess, but you can't have everything

He looked uncomfortable. He saw that a pencil on his desk was not in its proper place, and moved it, and studied it a while to decide if that was the best spot after all. At length he came back to me.

I asked if I could use the bathroom. She showed me, down the hall, and I went, though I really had nothing much to pass but the time, and on the way back there was an open door and I entered. A good detective doesn't have to be invited. There

If she got the fifty grand and picked a college that wasn't too far away, I might drop in after she had been there a while to see what effect she was having. It was a cinch that she would have more effect on it than it would have on her.

a man owes it to his eyes to let them rest on attractive objects when there are any around.

Wolfe's head moved. 'You've seen that play, Archie?' 'Yes, sir. I would say a quarter to ten, maybe twenty to." 'Have you seen it, Saul?' 'Yes, sir. Twenty to ten.' 'You know that?' 'Yes, sir. Just my habit of noticing things.' 'Don't disparage it. The more you put in a brain, the more it will hold--if you have one...

I had heard of this Frisbie, an Assistant District Attorney, but had never seen him. I observed, when he entered, that I hadn't missed much. He was the window-dummy type—high collar, clothes pressed very nice, and embalmed stiff and cold. The only thing you could tell from his eyes was that his self-esteem almost hurt him.

Must I again remind you, Archie, of the reaction you would have got if you had asked Velasquez to explain why Aesop's hand was resting inside his robe instead of hanging by his side? Must I again demonstrate that while it is permissible to request the scientist to lead you back over his footprints, a similar request of the artist is nonsense, since he, like the lark or the eagle, has made none? Do you need to be told again that I am an artist?

A tiger's eyes can't make light, Saul, they can only reflect it.

Would you mind removing your hat, Miss Dunn? I deduce the thing is a hat, because it's on your head. Thank you. I don't like restaurant conventions in my dining room.

I looked at her. In that getup, to me she was a treat; to Wolfe, in his own house, she would have been an impudence. "Because there's no chair on this floor big enough for him. I'll wait outside.

He was medium-short, with a central circumference that made it seem likely he would grunt if he bent over to tie his shoestring. Nothing, of course, like Nero Wolfe's globular grandeur.

The best my head could do was let in a wild idea about the four of them taking turns with the window pole, presumably with Mrs. Demarest along to keep count of the jabs.

Orrie's strong point was getting people to tell him things. It wasn't so much the questions he asked. As a matter of fact, he wasn't very good at questions; it was just the way he looked at them. Something about him made people feel that he ought to be told things.

My favorite spot on earth is only a seven-minute walk from where I live, Nero Wolfe's house on West 35th Street: Herald Square, where you can see more different kinds of people in ten minutes than anywhere else I know of. One day I saw the top cock of the Mafia step back to let a Sunday-school teacher from Iowa go first through the revolving door of the world's largest department store. If you ask how I knew who they were, I didn't, but that's what they looked like.

Perhaps you don't know all there is to know about a woman after watching her at an evening of bridge, but you should know more than when you sat down.

In case you haven't noticed, people aren't nice,

Lady Pamela Sutton stared at the dreary government-issued posters on the wall of her small cubicle in Hut 3.

Lord Kilhenny's gaze moved from me to Darcy and back again. "A friend from London, eh?" There was almost the hint of a smile. "Didn't fool me for a second. You were the thing that was important to him, weren't you?

I looked up to see my mother entering the room.

I turned to look at him. It was Darcy.

She was essentially living in a fishbowl, and she would have to tread with caution