the knowledgeable purveyor of useless information (more Gladys Mitchell quotes)

[cimorene]

[He] possessed the average amount of physical courage expected of a peaceable, law-abiding man, but the thought of being knocked on the head and his body tossed into one of the stone-quarries was anything but attractive.
- Gory Dew

[...] that feeling of importance and self-satisfaction which comes to unpractical persons faced with something definite and concrete to get on with.
- Gory Dew

We all listened to this with the uneasy respect which is accorded to a knowledgeable purveyor of useless information.
- Cold, Lone and Still

"You astound me, but I do not venture to contradict you."
- The Croaking Raven