“The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.”

“I always carry a pistol when I go [to the New York Public Library]. Never did trust those stone lions.”

“So I had this problem -- work or starve. So I thought I'd combine the two and decided to become a writer.”

“Forget the past, let the dead bury the dead. Things were working out fine, and that was the only thing he had to remember.”

“I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times.”

“Henderson sighed. There was a time, he reflected, when the coming of this night meant something. A dark Europe, groaning in superstitious fear, dedicated this Eve to the grinning Unknown. A million doors had once been barred against the evil visitants, a million prayers mumbled, a million candles lit. There was something majestic about the idea, Henderson reflected.”

“Everything in this business makes sense, because it serves a real purpose, fills a need that's a part of living. Even a single nail, like this one, fulfills a function. Drive it into a crucial place and you can depend on it to do a job, keep on doing it for a hundred years to come. Long after we're dead and gone, both of us.”