“The mystery story is a kind of writing that need not dwell in the shadow of the past and owes little if any allegiance to the cult of the classics. It is a good deal more than unlikely that any writer now living will produce a better historical novel than Henry Esmond, a better tale of children than The Golden Age, a sharper social vignette than Madame Bovary, a more graceful and elegant evocation than The Spoils of Poynton, a wider and richer canvas than War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov.”

“There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now;
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.”

“any live man is better than any dead man but no live or dead man is very much better than any other live or dead man”

“writing about a writer's block is better than not writing at all”

“Killing Mr. Griffin doesn't encourage violence in schools any more than the story of Cain and Able encourages children to kill their younger brothers.”

“Perhaps justified violence is better than peace at any price.”

“He has attained supremacy in one particular line: he succeeds in inspiring a mysterious terror better than any other writer.”

“It is more necessary for the soul to be cured than the body; for it is better to die than to live badly.”

“Human minds are more full of mysteries than any written book and more changeable than the cloud shapes in the air.”

“The story is always better than your ability to write it.”