Mike

“His name is Albert Campion," she said. "He came down in Anne Edgeware's car and the first thing he did when he introduced himself was to show me a conjuring trick with a two-headed penny—he's quite inoffensive, just a silly ass.”
― Margery Allingham, The Black Dudley Murder

“Lying wastes more time than anything else in the modern world.”
― Margery Allingham, The Tiger in the Smoke

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

“In common with most writers, he had evolved his own technique for making bearable the drudgery of his abominable trade,”
― Margery Allingham, The Tiger In The Smoke