[W]isdom is apt to cohabit with oddity. - John Buchan

Most people are a little scared at new things ... You want a bigger heart to face danger which you go out to look for, and which doesn't come to you in the ordinary way of business. Still, that's pretty much the same thing — good nerves and good health, and a natural liking for rows.

To be watchful, I decided, was my business. And I could not get rid of the feeling that I might soon have cause for all my vigilance.

But I thought you were dead,’ I put in. ‘Mors janua vitae,’ he smiled.