Quotes by Dashiell Hammett

“Brigid O'Shaughnessy: I haven't lived a good life. I've been bad, worse than you could know. Sam Spade You know, that's good, because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be, we'd nev...”

“Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation ready.Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”

“Yes,' Spade growled. 'And when you're slapped you'll take it and like it.' He released Cairo's wrist and with a thick open hand struck the side of his face three times savagely.”

“He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.”

“If you have a story that seems worth telling, and you think you can tell it worthily, then the thing for you to do is to tell it, regardless of whether it has to do with sex, sailors or mounted pol...”

“I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.”

“I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.”

“I just tell you what happens. I don't explain it.”

“She stared at him dully and said: I dont like crooks, and even if I did, I wouldnt like crooks that are stool-pigeons, and if I liked crooks that are stool-pigeons, I still wouldnt like you. She tu...”

“The people who lie the most are nearly always the clumsiest at it, and they're easier to fool with lies than most people, too. You'd think they'd be on the look-out for lies, but they seem to be th...”

“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”

“You know Quinn?" Macaulay asked me."Ten minutes ago I was putting him to bed."Macaulay grinned. "I hope you keep his acquaintance like that - social""Meaning what?"Macaulay's grin became rueful. "H...”

“Don't be so damned patronizing. Your performance so far has been a little less than dazzling.""I didn't mean no harm," I said and kissed her. "That a new dress?""Ah! Changing the subject, you coward.”

“He was the perfect soldier: he went where you sent him, and stayed where you put him, and had no idea of his own to keep him from doing exactly what you told him.”

“When a man's partner is killed he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it. Then...”

“To get what he wanted, a man had to give other people what they wanted.”

“...I guess I can put two and two together.""Sometimes the answer's four," I said, "and sometimes it's twenty-two...”

“I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink to much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does.”

“My side felt a lot better when Nora called me at noon the next day. "My nice policeman wants to see you," she said. "How do you feel?""Terrible. I must've gone to bed sober." I pushed Asta out of t...”

“How about a drop of something to cut the phlegm?Why don't you stay sober today?We didn't come to New York to stay sober.”