Borrower of the Night

Everything has happened before - not once, but over and over again. We may not be able to solve our problems through what are pompously called "the lessons of history," but at least we should be able to recognize the issues and perhaps avoid some of the solutions that have failed in the past. And we can take heart in our own dilemma by realizing that other people in other times have survived worse.

love has a very dulling effect on the brain

So far we have had a séance, with spirit possession, a White Lady walking by night, a perambulating suit of armor, a diabolical character in a black cloak, and even a semi-dead man with a look of stark staring horror. It isn’t even good horror fiction; it’s straight out of The Mysteries of Udolpho. By some straining of the brain I could believe in ghosts; but I can’t believe in a ghost that acts like Terror Comics.

It is setting a high value upon our opinions to roast men alive on account of them.’ Nobody ever said a truer word.

He had the mouth of a shark and the eyes of a poet. I felt an immediate rapport - with the shark, as well as the poet.

Any man with a grain of sense knows that marriage is the only way, these days, to acquire a full-time maid who works twenty-five hours a day, with no time off and no pay except room and board. (p9)

Tony sat down with a thud. "You're going to marry Schmidt?

Blankenhagen sat twitching like a hen on a clutch of radioactive eggs.

The hinges screamed like a wounded animal.

He got to his feet--always a fascinating process to watch, because of the length of his arms and legs--and glowered down at me.

I knocked one of Tony's elbows out from under him so that his chin splashed into his coffee cup, and that ended that discussion.