on a home
'Yes, I have a home in Pasadena. In Carmel, too, and one in New York and another in Florida and another up in Maine.'
'Making five in all?'
'Six. I was forgetting the one in Oregon.'
'Six?' The Captain seemed thoughtful. 'Oh, well' he said, 'it's nice to have a roof over your head, of course.' [the return of jeeves]
on captain biggar
He had keen blue eyes, a very red face, a round head inclined to baldness and one of those small, bristly moustaches which abound in such profusion in the outposts of Empire. Indeed, these sprout in so widespread a way on the upper lips of those who bear the white man's burden that it is a tenable theory that the latter hold some sort of patent rights. [the return of jeeves]Here, you would have said, was a man who man a time had looked his rhinocerous in the eye and made it wilt. [the return of jeeves]The whole point about a hunter like Captain Bigger, if you face is squarely is that he hunts. And, this being so, you expect him to stay put in and around his chosen hunting grounds. Meet him in Kenya or Malaya or Borneo or India, and you feel no surprise. ...But when you see him in the coffee-room of an English country inn, thousands of miles from his natural habitat, you may be excused for harboring a momentary suspicion that this is not the man in the flesh but rather his wraith or phantasm looking in, as wraiths and phantasms will, to pass the itme of day. [the return of jeeves]
on american ladies
It seemed incredible to the waiter that there should be anyone in England who could ask such a question, but he had already gathered that the lady was an American lady, and American ladies, he knew, are often ignorant of the fundamental facts of life. He had once met one who had wanted to know what a football pool was. [the return of jeeves]
on detective fashion
It was his habit to dress in the height of fashion, for one of his favorite axioms was that a man might be a detective and still look a gentleman, and his appearance as that of the individual usually described as a popular clubman. That is to say, it looked like a floorwalker taking a Sunday stroll. [piccadilly jim]
on a request
In a word, she could hardly have been in less suitable frame of mind to recieve graciously any kind of request from him. She would have suspected ulterior motives if he had asked her the time. [piccadilly jim]
on keen glances
The detective glanced keenly at him as he passed. He made a paractice of glancing keenly at nearly everything. It cost nothing and impressed clients. [piccadilly jim]
on exhaustive tests
'You may bring me a brandy-and-soda. Not a large one. A couple of bathtubsful will be enough.'
'Very Good, Mr James.'
'And now leave me, Bayliss, for I would be alone. I have to make a series of difficult and exhaustive tests to ascertain whether I am still alive.' [piccadilly jim]
on the hopelessly american
She was thinking how hopelessly American Mr Pett was; how baggy his clothes looked; what absurdly shaped shoes he wore; how appalling his hat was; how little hair he had; and how deplorably he lacked all those graces of repose, culture, physical beauty, refinement, dignity and mental alertness which raise men above the level of the common cockroach. [piccadilly jim]
on that unmistakable look
He wore the unmistakable lok of a man about to be present at a row between women, and only a wet cat in a strange back yard bears itself with less jauntiness than a man faced by such a prospect. [piccadilly jim]
on the baseball enthusiast
Poets have dealt feelingly with the emotions of practically every variety except one. They have sung of Ruth, of Israel in bondage, of slaves pining for their native Africa, and of the miner's dream of home. But the sorrows of the baseball enthusiast, compelled by fate to live three thousand mils away from the Polo Grounds, have been neglected in song. [piccadilly jim]
on mrs pett
She was a large woman, with a fine figure and bold and compelling eyes, and her personality crashed disturbingly into the quiet atmosphere of the room. [piccadilly jim]
on typewriters
He loved to hear the sound of a typewriter; it made home so like the office. [piccadilly jim]
on a muttered oath
There was a look of exasperation on his usually patient face, and a muttered oath, picked up no doubt on the godless Stock Exchange, escaped his lips.
'Darn it!' [piccadilly jim]
on an honorable man
'Good?' said Ann with a slight shiver.
'Always the soul of honour,' said Lord Hoddesdon solemnly.
Ann shivered again. Clarence Dumphrey had been the soul of honour. She had often caught him at it. [big money]
on the printed word
There is about the printed word a peculiar quality which often causes it to exercise a rather disquieting effect on the human mind. It chills. It was only after seeing that announcement set forth in cold type that Ann had come to a full realization of the extremem importance of the step she was about to take and the extremem slightness of her acquaintance with the man with whom she was going to take it. [big money]
on correct methods
There are two schools of thought concerning the correct method of dealing with small boys who throw stones at their elders and betters in the public street. Some say they should be kicked, others that they should be smacked on the head. Lord Hoddesdon, no bigot, did both. [big money]
on an dinner interruption
Another young man, this time without spectacles, charged breezily into the the table, rocking it to its foundations. 'Frightfully sorry,' he said. ' There's an awful storm going on out here. Heaven help the poor sailors.' He paused to scoop up a portion of chicken salad, and went out of their lives for ever. [big money]
on paris
I can't stand Paris. I hate the place. Full of people talking French, which is a thing I bar. It always seems to me so affected. [big money]
on pleasing faces
'What do you know about him? Coming right down to it, how do you know he's worthy of you?'
'He must be with a face like that.'
'Statistics show that fifty perfect of murderers and other criminals have pleasing faces. You can't go by the face.' [big money]
