- Chief Inspector Alleyn: Ask Robinson to come in, will you? And go out without making a joke.
- PC Perkins: Ah, that would be one, sir.
- Nurse Jane Harben: I loved him, but I could have killed him. Love is like that, isn't it? Close to hate... All I know is, his going has left a hole in my life... One has to be careful of holes... You can fall in them.
- Inspector Fox: [about Nurse Harben] She loved him. I sometimes wonder what women are made of.
- Chief Inspector Alleyn: They often wonder that themselves, but... so I'm told.
- Sir John Phillips: This is very irregular, Chief Inspector!
- Chief Inspector Alleyn: So is murder, Sir John.
- Chief Inspector Alleyn: [Last lines] Do you know, Brer, I sometimes think madness is an extreme kind of sanity.