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“A masquerade, a murdered peer,
His throat just cut from ear to ear –
A rake turned hermit – a fond maid
Run mad, by some false loon betrayed –
These stores supply the female pen,
Which writes them o’er and o’er again,
And readers likewise may be found
To circulate them round and round.” Mary Alcock 1742 – 98 A Receipt for Writing A Novel
“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes. – Conan Doyle Silver Blaze
“Now, here is your box with one door, one window, and solid walls. In discussing ways of escaping when both door and window are sealed, I shall not mention the low (and nowadays very rare) trick of having a secret passage to a locked room. This so puts a story beyond the pale that a self-respecting author scarcely needs even to mention that there is no such thing.”
John Dickson Carr The Hollow Man
E.W. Howe
“A thief believes everybody steals.”
Cordell Hull, the American secretary of state from 1933 to 1944, was reputed to be an extremely caustious man, ungiven to advancing an inch past the evidence, as perhaps befits a secretary of state.
Once, on a train trip, Hull and a companion watched while the locomotive dragged its load of cars slowly past a large flock of sheep. Making conversation, Hull’s companion said, “Those sheep have been recently sheared.”
Hull stared thoughtfully at the animals, then said, “Appears so. At least on the side facing us.”