The Silent Speaker Quotes

“Frankly, I wish I could make my heart quit doing an extra thump when Wolfe says satisfactory, Archie. It's childish.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Nothing is obvious in itself. Obviousness is subjective.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“He was as indignant and irritated as if he had been served a veal cutlet with an egg perched on it.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Fritz was standing there, four feet back from the door to the office, which was standing open, staring wide-eyed at me. When he saw I was looking at him he beckoned me to come, and the thought popped into my mind that, with guests present and Wolfe making an oration, that was precisely how Fritz would act if the house was on fire.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“This,” Herb said, “is the acme. The absolute acme. Why don’t we just pull up to him and ask where he’s going?”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“To anyone seeing him but not knowing him, Saul Panzer was nothing but a little guy with a big nose who never quite caught up with his shaving.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“He’s sick.” “What with?” “Sitzenlust. Chronic. The opposite of wanderlust.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Subtlety chases the obvious up a never-ending spiral and never quite catches it.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Opinions, from experts, cost money.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“I do not ordinarily hunt for a cave in the middle of the biggest excitement and most intense action, but this seemed to hit me in a new spot or something, and anyhow there I was, trying to arrange my mind. Or maybe my feelings. All I knew was that something inside of me needed a little arranging.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Satisfactory, Archie,' he muttered.

Frankly, I wish I could make my heart quit doing an extra thump when Wolfe says satisfactory, Archie. It's childish.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Confound it." He sighed clear down. "I was going to finish that book this evening. Now this infernal mishmash.”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker

“Archie Goodwin is the distilled optimism of America as it was for more than half of this century. Ebullient and proud, he still had to be humble because of the great brain of his employer. I read”
― Rex Stout, The Silent Speaker