Lord Darcy

Any group which makes a claim to infallibility must be very careful not to make any mistakes, and the mistakes that will inevitably occur must be kept secret or explained away—by lies, subterfuges and distortions. And that will eventually cause the collapse of the entire edifice.

One of the troubles with the world is that so few laymen take an interest in science.

Master Sean O’Lochlainn had always been partial to mules. “The mule,” he was fond of saying, “is as much smarter than a horse as a raven is smarter than a falcon. Neither a raven nor a mule will go charging into combat just because some human tells him to.”

I have always contended that the true connoisseur is to be pitied, for he has trained his taste to such perfection that he enjoys almost nothing.

The plans of men do not necessarily coincide with those of the Universe.

In general he doesn’t know any more about magic than an ostrich knows about icebergs.

It had been one of those warm late spring days when no air moves and nothing else wants to. Not oppressively hot—just warm enough to enervate and to cause attacks of acute vernal inertia.

All that was necessary was to use one’s imagination to see how it might have happened, and then check the evidence to see if it did happen that way. The final step is to check the evidence to make sure it could not have happened any other way.