WIST Quotations

Stout, Rex -- “Frame-Up for Murder,” ch. 1 [Archie] (1958)

Dave — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 12:17:47 +0000

I had first noticed her in the lobby of the Churchill, because she rated a glance as a matter of principle — the principle that a man owes it to his eyes to let them rest on attractive objects when there are any around.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
“Frame-Up for Murder,” ch. 1 [Archie] (1958)

Stout, Rex -- “The Rodeo Murder” (1960)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The problem with an alarm clock is that what seems sensible when you set it seems absurd when it goes off.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
“The Rodeo Murder” (1960)

Stout, Rex -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

What makes a marriage last is for a man and a woman to continue to have things to argue about.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
(Attributed)

Stout, Rex -- A Family Affair, ch. 2 [Goodwin] (1975)

Dave — Thu, 08 May 2014 14:40:52 +0000

It’s possible to tell your mind what to do only when your mind agrees with you.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
A Family Affair, ch. 2 [Goodwin] (1975)

Stout, Rex -- Before Midnight, ch. 15 [Wolfe] (1955)

Dave — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:14:06 +0000

No man should tell a lie unless he is shrewd enough to recognize the time for renouncing it, if and when it comes, and knows how to renounce it gracefully.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Before Midnight, ch. 15 [Wolfe] (1955)

Stout, Rex -- Before Midnight, ch. 20 [Archie] (1955)

Dave — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:14:39 +0000

I would appreciate it if they would call a halt on all their devoted efforts to find a way to abolish war or eliminate disease or run trains with atoms or extend the span of human life to a couple of centuries, and everybody concentrate for a while on how to wake me up in the morning without my resenting it. It may be that a bevy of beautiful maidens in pure silk yellow very sheer gowns, barefooted, singing Oh, What a Beautiful Morning and scattering rose petals over me would do the trick, but I’d have to try it.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Before Midnight, ch. 20 [Archie] (1955)

Stout, Rex -- Champagne for One, ch. 5 [Wolfe] (1958)

Dave — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:06:14 +0000

In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Champagne for One, ch. 5 [Wolfe] (1958)

Stout, Rex -- Champagne for One, ch. 5 [Wolfe] (1958)

Dave — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 16:36:59 +0000

In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Champagne for One, ch. 5 [Wolfe] (1958)
(Source)

Stout, Rex -- Death of a Doxy, ch. 9 (1966)

Dave — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:52:26 +0000

There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Death of a Doxy, ch. 9 (1966)

Stout, Rex -- Fer-de-Lance, ch. 1 [Wolfe] (1934)

Dave — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:49:55 +0000

This is a pleasant surprise, Archie. I would not have believed it. That of course is the advantage of being a pessimist; a pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Fer-de-Lance, ch. 1 [Wolfe] (1934)

Stout, Rex -- Fer-de-Lance, Nero Wolfe, chapter 16 (1934)

Dave — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:58:01 +0000

Remember that those of us who are both civilized and prudent commit our murders only under the complicated rules which permit us to avoid personal responsibility.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Fer-de-Lance, Nero Wolfe, chapter 16 (1934)

Stout, Rex -- Might As Well Be Dead, ch. 6 [Archie] (1956)

Dave — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:46:40 +0000

I will ride my luck on occasion, but I like to pick the occasion.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Might As Well Be Dead, ch. 6 [Archie] (1956)

Stout, Rex -- Murder by the Book, ch. 2 [Goodwin] (1951)

Dave — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:06:21 +0000

If you like Anglo-Saxon, I belched. If you fancy Latin, I eructed. No matter which, I had known that Wolfe and Inspector Cramer would have to put up with it that evening, because that is always a part of my reaction to sauerkraut. I don’t glory in it or go for a record, but neither do I fight it back. I want to be liked just for myself.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Murder by the Book, ch. 2 [Goodwin] (1951)

Stout, Rex -- Over My Dead Body, ch. 10 [Wolfe] (1940)

Dave — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:48:41 +0000

Don’t complicate matters by assuming for me a cupidity and corruption beyond the limits I have set for myself. You’re suffering from an occupational disease. When an international financier is confronted by a holdup man with a gun, he automatically hands over not only his money and jewelry but also his shirt and pants, because it doesn’t occur to him that a robber might draw the line somewhere.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Over My Dead Body, ch. 10 [Wolfe] (1940)

Stout, Rex -- Over My Dead Body, ch. 8 [Wolfe] (1940)

Dave — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:52:56 +0000

War doesn’t mature men; it merely pickles them in the brine of disgust and dread.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Over My Dead Body, ch. 8 [Wolfe] (1940)

Stout, Rex -- Some Buried Caesar, ch. 3 [Archie] (1939)

Dave — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:45:32 +0000

No man was ever taken to hell by a woman unless he already had a ticket in his pocket or at least had been fooling around with timetables.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Some Buried Caesar, ch. 3 [Archie] (1939)

Stout, Rex -- The Black Mountain, ch. 2 (1954)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I do not insult Marko. I pay him the tribute of speaking of him and feeling about him precisely as I did when he lived; the insult would be to smear his corpse with the honey excreted by my fear of death.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Black Mountain, ch. 2 (1954)

Stout, Rex -- The Black Mountain, ch. 2 [Fritz] (1954)

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:23:59 +0000

Starving the living will not profit the dead.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Black Mountain, ch. 2 [Fritz] (1954)

Stout, Rex -- The Father Hunt, ch. 8 [Wolfe] (1968)

Dave — Thu, 01 May 2014 12:26:11 +0000

Women are random clusters of vagaries.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Father Hunt, ch. 8 [Wolfe] (1968)

Stout, Rex -- The League of Frightened Men, ch. 18 [Wolfe] (1935)

Dave — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 22:15:18 +0000

If only men could be depended upon to base their decisions on reason. Alas, there are only three or four of us in the world, and even we will bear watching.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The League of Frightened Men, ch. 18 [Wolfe] (1935)
(Source)

Stout, Rex -- The League of Frightened Men, ch. 4 [Wolfe] (1935)

Dave — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 13:23:49 +0000

To assert dignity is to lose it.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The League of Frightened Men, ch. 4 [Wolfe] (1935)

Stout, Rex -- The League of Frightened Men, ch. 7 [Wolfe] (1935)

Dave — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:57:15 +0000

To be broke is not a disgrace, it is only a catastrophe.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The League of Frightened Men, ch. 7 [Wolfe] (1935)
(Source)

Stout, Rex -- The Mother Hunt, ch. 9 [Wolfe] (1963)

Dave — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:03:15 +0000

Maintaining integrity as a private detective is difficult; to preserve it for the hundred thousand words of a book would be impossible for me, as it has been for so many others. Nothing corrupts a man so deeply as writing a book; the myriad temptations are overwhelming.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Mother Hunt, ch. 9 [Wolfe] (1963)

Stout, Rex -- The Red Box, ch. 11 [Wolfe] (1937)

Dave — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:26:33 +0000

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Red Box, ch. 11 [Wolfe] (1937)

Stout, Rex -- The Red Box, ch. 11 [Wolfe] (1937)

Dave — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 17:59:27 +0000

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Red Box, ch. 11 [Wolfe] (1937)
(Source)

Stout, Rex -- The Red Box, ch. 14 [Archie] (1937)

Dave — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:10:14 +0000

They had Gebert down there, slapping him around and squealing and yelling at him. If you’re so sure violence is inferior technique, you should have seen that exhibition; it was wonderful. They say it works sometimes, but even if it does, how could you depend on anything you got that way? Not to mention that after you had done it a few times any decent garbage can would be ashamed to have you found in it.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Red Box, ch. 14 [Archie] (1937)

Stout, Rex -- The Red Box, ch. 14 [Archie] (1937)

Dave — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:41:44 +0000

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Red Box, ch. 14 [Archie] (1937)

Describing a police interrogation.

Stout, Rex -- The Rubber Band ch. 18 [Wolfe] (1937)

Dave — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:02:15 +0000

We are all vainer of our luck than of our merits.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Rubber Band ch. 18 [Wolfe] (1937)

Stout, Rex -- Too Many Cooks, ch. 3 [Wolfe] (1938)

Dave — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:32:58 +0000

Nothing is simpler than to kill a man; the difficulties arise in attempting to avoid the consequences.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Too Many Cooks, ch. 3 [Wolfe] (1938)

Stout, Rex -- Too Many Cooks, ch. 30 [Wolfe] (1938)

Dave — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 11:59:04 +0000

I wouldn’t use physical violence even if I could, because one of my romantic ideas is that physical violence is beneath the dignity of a man, and that whatever you get by physical aggression costs more than it is worth.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Too Many Cooks, ch. 30 [Wolfe] (1938)

Stout, Rex -- Too Many Cooks, ch. 6 [Wolfe] (1938)

Dave — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:00:03 +0000

To me the relationship of host and guest is sacred. The guest is a jewel resting on the cushion of hospitality.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Too Many Cooks, ch. 6 [Wolfe] (1938)

Stout, Rex -- In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Dave — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:36:26 +0000

The only difference between me and most people is that I’m perfectly aware that all my important decisions are made for me by my subconscious. My frontal lobes are just kidding themselves that they decide anything at all. All they do is think up reasons for the decisions that are already made.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Stout, Rex -- In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Dave — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 12:31:20 +0000

A person who does not read cannot think. He may have good mental processes, but he has nothing to think about. You can feel for people or natural phenomena and react to them, but they are not ideas. You cannot think about them.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Stout, Rex -- In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Dave — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:14:42 +0000

Any man who undertakes to write a play is either a damn fool or a hero, I don’t know which. When you write a book, you pull it out of the typewriter and that’s that. When you write a play you’ve got to go on with the producer and the director and the actors and the rehearsals and the …

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Stout, Rex -- On “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” Invitation to Learning Radio Show, hosted by Mark Van Doren (Jan 1942)

Dave — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 20:25:45 +0000

I think the detective story is by far the best upholder of the democratic doctrine in literature. I mean, there couldn’t have been detective stories until there were democracies, because the very foundation of the detective story is the thesis that if you’re guilty you’ll get it in the neck and if you’re innocent you can’t possibly be harmed. No matter who you are. There was no such conception of justice until after 1830. There was no such thing as a policeman or a detective in the world before 1830, because the modern conception of the policeman and detective, namely, a man whose only function is to find out who did it and then get the evidence that will punish him, did not exist. … In Paris before the year 1800 — read the Dumas stories — there were gangs of people whose business was to go out and punish wrongdoers. But why? Because they had hurt De Marillac or Richelieu or the Duke or some Huguenot noble, not just because they had harmed society. It is only the modern policeman that is out to protect society.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
On “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” Invitation to Learning Radio Show, hosted by Mark Van Doren (Jan 1942)

Transcribed in Mark Van Doren, The New Invitation to Learning: The Essence of the Great Books of All Times (1942).

Stout, Rex -- Roundtable discussion of Sherlock Holmes, on Mark Van Doren’s Invitation to Learning (Jan 1942)

Dave — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:47:01 +0000

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Roundtable discussion of Sherlock Holmes, on Mark Van Doren’s Invitation to Learning (Jan 1942)

Transcribed in M. Van Doren, The New Invitation to Learning: The Essence of the Great Books of All Times (1942)