Although there exist many thousand subjects for elegant conversation, — Ernest Bramah

"When Ling was communicating to any person the signs by which messengers might find him, he was compelled to add, "the neighbourhood in which this contemptible person resides is that officially known as the mean quarter favoured by the lower class of those who murder by treachery," and for this reason he was not always treated with the regard to which his attainments entitled him, or which he would have unquestionably received had he been able to describe himself as of "the partly-drained and uninfected area reserved to Mandarins and their friends."

"Before hastening to secure a possible reward of five taels by dragging an unobservant person away from a falling building, examine well his features lest you find, when too late, that it is one to whom you are indebted for double that amount."

"He is capable of any crime, from reviling the Classics to diverting water courses."

"Eat in the dark the bargain that you purchased in the dusk."

"There are few situations in life that cannot be honourably settled, and without loss of time, either by suicide, a bag of gold, or by thrusting a despised antagonist over the edge of a precipice upon a dark night."

"In his countenance this person read an expression of no-encouragement towards his venture."