The only thing I want is something I can't have; and that is to know if, 100 years from now, people will still buy my books. - Rex Stout

There are various ways to call a man a liar. One way is just to scream it at him, which doesn't prove anything. Another is to establish facts by long and patient investigation. Still another way is not to call him a liar at all – let him do it himself.

There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure you're going to make a living – cook books and detective stories.

What do I believe in? Belief means faith, and there's only one damn thing in the world I have any faith in. That's the idea of American democracy, because it seems to me so obvious that that's the only sensible way to run human affairs.