"It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, 'As pretty as an airport.'" (Chapter 1, p. 1)

"A yard or so from Dirk, a warrior was standing on top of a table fighting a pig which had been roasting for six hours, and he was clearly losing, but losing with vim and spirit and being cheered on by other warriors who were dousing him down with wine from a trough." (Chapter 28, p. 270)

"If it could not possibly be done, then obviously it had been done impossibly. The question was how?" (Chapter 27, p. 264)

"The detective business was currently as brisk as the tomb." (Chapter 3, p. 30)

"'Virtually everything you decide today will be wrong.'" [a newspaper horoscope] (Chapter 4, p. 39)

"'You know,' he said, 'these smart-alec show-off suicides really make me tired. They only do it to annoy.'" (Chapter 5, p. 49)

"The...