--- title: "3 Detective Quotes By Peter Ackroyd" description: "3 Detective quotes by Peter Ackroyd. Plus more from Peter Ackroyd and more Detective sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/peter-ackroyd-2223_detection_it-has-often-been-said-that-the-more-unu_724376.jpg" --- > [“It has often been said that the more unusual the murder the easier it is to solve, but this is a theory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/it-has-often-been-said-that-the-more-unusual-the-murder-the-easier-it/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/90d/peter-ackroyd-2223_detection_it-has-often-been-said-that-the-more-unu_724376.jpg) > [“Generally he knew by instinct the likely length of an investigation, but on this occasion he did not: as he fought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/generally-he-knew-by-instinct-the-likely-length-of-an-investigation/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/peter-ackroyd-2223_death_generally-he-knew-by-instinct-the-likely_1381027.jpg) > [“He walked back to St George's-in-the-East, which in his mind he had now reduced to a number of surfaces against which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/he-walked-back-to-st-george-s-in-the-east-which-in-his-mind-he-had/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/822/peter-ackroyd-2223_analysis_he-walked-back-to-st-george-s-in-the-eas_3069256.jpg) ## Other authors on Detective - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-abramelin-keldor-26264.jpg) Abramelin Keldor 22 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/abramelin-keldor/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-raymond-chandler-77612.jpg) Raymond Chandler 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/raymond-chandler/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-nic-pizzolatto-70978.jpg) Nic Pizzolatto 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/nic-pizzolatto/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-agatha-christie-9726.jpg) Agatha Christie 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/agatha-christie/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-cary-fukunaga-2753.jpg) Cary Fukunaga 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/cary-fukunaga/) - [Kendric Neal 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/kendric-neal/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-arthur-conan-doyle-14897.jpg) Arthur Conan Doyle 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/arthur-conan-doyle/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-alan-bradley-10266.jpg) Alan Bradley 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/alan-bradley/) ## More by Peter Ackroyd > [If I did only one thing at a time I'd think I was wasting my time. If, for example, I only wrote novels I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/if-i-did-only-one-thing-at-a-time-i-d-think-i-was-wasting-my-time-if/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [I believe that the gods themselves are frightened of the world which they have fashioned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/i-believe-that-the-gods-themselves-are-frightened-of-the-world-which/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [“A woman is a deep Ditch, said he, her House inclines to Death and her Paths unto the Devil”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/a-woman-is-a-deep-ditch-said-he-her-house-inclines-to-death-and-her/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [I don't know if I have a voice of my own. I don't see me being an important person with something to say. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/i-don-t-know-if-i-have-a-voice-of-my-own-i-don-t-see-me-being-an/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [The ordinary routines of life are never chronicled by the historian, but they make up almost the whole of experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/the-ordinary-routines-of-life-are-never-chronicled-by-the-historian/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [“I believe now that there can be no real sense of loss or seperation without the recognition of death; we were too young to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/i-believe-now-that-there-can-be-no-real-sense-of-loss-or-seperation/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [I don't find myself interesting as a person and the details I find boring, quite frankly. You could sum it up in a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/i-don-t-find-myself-interesting-as-a-person-and-the-details-i-find/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [Rioting has always been a London tradition. It has been since the early Middle Ages. There's hardly a spate of years that goes by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/rioting-has-always-been-a-london-tradition-it-has-been-since-the/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [“absinthe removes the bitter taste of failure and grants me strange visions which are charming principally because they cannot be written down. Only in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/absinthe-removes-the-bitter-taste-of-failure-and-grants-me-strange/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [“Those in their snug Bed-chambers may call the Fears of Night meer Bugbears, but their Minds have not pierced into the Horror of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/those-in-their-snug-bed-chambers-may-call-the-fears-of-night-meer/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [In so far as I have any beliefs, I suppose I'm like that old Peggy Lee song, 'Is That All There Is?' I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/in-so-far-as-i-have-any-beliefs-i-suppose-i-m-like-that-old-peggy-lee/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [“dyer. (Looking at him scornfully) So that is why Wits swarm like Egypt's Frogs. If I were a Writer now, I would wish to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/dyer-looking-at-him-scornfully-so-that-is-why-wits-swarm-like-egypt-s/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [The embrace of present and past time, in which English antiquarianism becomes a form of alchemy, engenders a strange timelessness. It is as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/the-embrace-of-present-and-past-time-in-which-english-antiquarianism/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [In London, I've always lived within 10 miles of where I was born. You see, there is something called a spirit of place, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/in-london-i-ve-always-lived-within-10-miles-of-where-i-was-born-you/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [There is no humiliation worse than the consciousness of a wasted life. It stains the spirit, forestalls hope, and destroys any motive for action…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/there-is-no-humiliation-worse-than-the-consciousness-of-a-wasted-life/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detective/peter-ackroyd/#itemlist", "name": "3 Detective Quotes By Peter Ackroyd", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It has often been said that the more unusual the murder the easier it is to solve, but this is a theory I don't believe. 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The event of the boy's death was not simple because it was not unique and if he traced it backwards, running the time slowly in the opposite direction (but did it have a direction?), it became no clearer. The chain of causality might extend as far back as the boy's birth, in a particular place and on a particular date, or even further into the darkness beyond that. And what of the murderer, for what sequence of events had drawn him to wander by this old church? All these events were random and yet connected, part of a pattern so large that it remained inexplicable. He might, then, have to invent a past from the evidence available - and, in that case, would not the future also be an invention? It was as if he were staring at one of those puzzle drawings in which foreground and background create entirely different images: you could not look at such a thing for long.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter Ackroyd" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/generally-he-knew-by-instinct-the-likely-length-of-an-investigation/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/peter-ackroyd-2223_death_generally-he-knew-by-instinct-the-likely_1381027.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/peter-ackroyd-2223_death_generally-he-knew-by-instinct-the-likely_1381027.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/peter-ackroyd-2223_death_generally-he-knew-by-instinct-the-likely_1381027.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Generally he knew by instinct the likely length of an investigation, but on this occasion he did not: as he…” — Peter Ackroyd", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He walked back to St George's-in-the-East, which in his mind he had now reduced to a number of surfaces against which the murderer might have leaned in sorrow, desperation or even, perhaps, joy. For this reason it was worth examining the blackened stones in detail, although he realised that the marks upon them had been deposited by many generations of men and women. It was now a matter of received knowledge in the police force that no human being could rest or move in any area without leaving some trace of his or her identity; but if the walls of the Wapping church were to be analysed by emission spectroscopy, how many partial or residual spectra might be detected? 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