Fer-de-Lance (Nero Wolfe, #1)

by Rex Stout

you are no longer worth tolerating, you will have to marry a woman of very modest mental capacity to get an appropriate audience for your wretched sarcasms.”

a big framed photograph of my mother and father, who both died when I was just a kid.

In later books Archie's mom comes to visit.

though ordinarily if I have cause to suspect that a man is yellow as far as I’m concerned he can eat at another table.

“No. Confound it, Archie, stop supposing aloud in my presence; if it is inevitable that in the end you are to be classed with—for instance—Mr. O’Grady, let us at least postpone it as long as possible.

“No, Archie, few knots deserve that,” and I put my knife back.

You know, Mr. Townsend, it is our good fortune that the exigencies of birth and training furnish all of us with opportunities for snobbery.

I have the type of mind that gets on a job and stays there until it’s time for another one.

“Some day, Archie, when I decide you are no longer worth tolerating, you will have to marry a woman of very modest mental capacity to get an appropriate audience for your wretched sarcasms.

to have you with me like this is always refreshing because it constantly reminds me how distressing it would be to have someone present—a wife, for instance—whom I could not dismiss at will.”

advise replies to hypothetical questions.”

“You know a fact when you see it, Archie, but you have no feeling for phenomena.” After I had looked up the word phenomena in the dictionary I couldn’t see that he had anything, but there was no use arguing with him.

Once one of Wolfe’s clients had told him he was insufferably blithe.

The reason for that, he told me once, was that whereas in most cases cursing was merely a vocal explosion, with him it was a considered expression of a profound desire. He did it seldom.

“Yes, you badger me. But it is a valuable quality at times and I won’t cavil at it.

Third, I understand the technique of eccentricity; it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action.

he did not seek violence; he got in its path by misadventure. It is curious on how slender a thread the destiny of a man may hang;

and charm are always admirable qualities and sometimes useful.

I would not see money burned to save beauty herself from any grave that might be dug for her. The destruction of money is the only authentic sacrilege left us to abhor.

your errand is too important to let a momentary resentment ruin it. That’s better; self-control is an admirable quality.

That is not your mind speaking, it’s the foam of churned feelings and has no meaning.

In spite of which, I was interested in Manuel Kimball. He had at any rate been one of the foursome; and he looked like a foreigner and had a funny combination for a name, and he made me nervous.

People like you aren’t used to impertinence, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to let it slide and no harm done.

I don’t wish you any bad luck, because even with good luck you won’t have much of a tombstone.”

He says that skepticism is a good watchdog if you know when to take the leash off.

If I were to begin borrowing money I would end by devising means of persuading the Secretary of the Treasury to lend me the gold reserve.”

personal resentment of a general statement is a barbarous remnant of a fetish-superstition.”

The essence of sainthood is expiation.

Remember that those of us who are both civilized and prudent commit our murders only under the complicated rules which permit us to avoid personal responsibility.

you are so engrossed in the fact that you are oblivious to its environment.

Put myself up as a substitute for fate? Certainly; we do it constantly; we could avoid it only by complete inaction.

I will take the responsibility for my own actions; I will not also assume the burden of your simplicity.

It occurred to me that if Manuel Kimball had been arrested and brought to trial you would have had to put on your hat and gloves, leave the house, walk to an automobile, ride clear to White Plains, and sit around a courtroom waiting for your turn to testify. Whereas now, natural processes being what they are, and you having such a good feeling for phenomena,