- Archie Goodwin: [referring to Neya] She was a queer combination of don't-touch-me and come-hither. Right now it was all come-hither.
- Archie Goodwin: [referring to Madame Zorka] She looked like the picture in my mother's old Bible of the dame that cut off Samson's hair.
- Sergeant Purley Stebbins: So watcha got in the package?
- Archie Goodwin: Oh, uh, daggers, uh, narcotics, smuggled goods, and a small illegal immigrant. You wanna have a look?
- Sergeant Purley Stebbins: Go to Hell!
- Archie Goodwin: Alrighty, well, see ya on the corner of Fire and Brimstone.
- Nat Driscoll: I like this place, Miltan. I've been overweight for years, and this is the only thing I can do to sweat that is any fun.
- Nero Wolfe: Mr. Stahl, my temperament inclines me to resent anyone who pries into my personal history. I have been tolerant so far because you represent the government. You are, in effect, America sitting in my office, and I am grateful to my country. But you are nearing a point at which even a grateful American would tell you to go to the devil.