Meredith > Recent Status Updates

Simenon: While he might not have a lofty notion of men and their possibilities, he still believed in mankind. He looked for weak points. And when at last he put his finger on them, he didn't celebrate his victory but on the contrary felt a certain despondency.

Simenon: [Maigret] didn't consider himself as superhuman; he didn't think he was infallible. On the contrary, he began his investigations with a certain humility, even the simplest ones. He was suspicious of evidence, of hasty judgements. He patiently tried to understand, bearing in mind that the most obvious motives are not always the deepest.

Simenon: Over the years Maigret had learned that no one kills without a motive, without a serious motive.

Simenon: Maigret wasn't necessarily following a logical order because nothing struck him as logical in this case, and he moved from one subject to another as if looking for the sore spot.

Maigret: An exceptional schoolteacher, a novelist, or a policeman is better placed than a doctor or a psychiatrist to penetrate the depths of the human mind. Why did the policeman come last after the schoolteacher and above all the novelist?

Simenon: When Maigret immersed himself in a new investigation ... He had to get used to an unfamiliar context, a house, a way of life, people who had their habits, their ways of thinking and expressing themselves. With some categories of people it was relatively simple ... With others, he had to learn everything all over again, particularly given his suspicion of rules and ready-made ideas.

Tevis: She should accept the draw. People would call it a solid achievement. A draw, however, was not a win. And the one thing in her life that she was sure she loved was a win.

Tevis: [Beth] had flirted with alcohol for years. It was time to consummate the relationship.

Beth: You think I'm a prima donna, don't you?
Harry: We're all prima donnas. That's chess for you.

Tevis: Listening to the two of the, [Beth] had felt something unpleasant and familiar: the sense that chess was a thing between men, and she was an outsider. She hated the feeling.

The Owl-Eyed Man: I’ve been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.

Sweetness: There is no return address on the envelope. So I guess I'm still the bad parent being punished forever till the day I die for doing the well-intentioned and, in fact, necessary way I brought her up.

Queen: They will blow it. Each will cling to a sad little story of hurt and sorrow -- some long-ago trouble and pain life dumped on their pure and innocent selves. And each one will rewrite that story forever, knowing the plot, guessing the theme, inventing its meaning and dismissing its origin. What a waste.