You think that a wall as solid as the earth separates civilization from barbarism. I tell you the division is a thread, a sheet of glass. A touch here, a push there, and you bring back the reign of Saturn.

Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.

Civilisation is a conspiracy. What value would your police be if every criminal could find a sanctuary across the Channel, or your law courts, if no other trib…

To be watchful, I decided, was my business. And I could not get rid of the feeling that I might soon have cause for all my vigilance.

The ultimate tendency of civilization is toward barbarism.

Everybody thinks that this civilization has lasted a very long time but it really does take very few grandfathers' granddaughters to take us back to the dark a…

Doctor Labyrinth, like most people who read a great deal and who have too much time on their hands, had become convinced that our civilization was going the wa…