Quotes by Raymond Chandler

“To say goodbye is to die a little.”

“I dont mind if you dont like my manners. Theyre pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings.”

“Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back and drain your mind of all thought. And there you are wat...”

“There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more imp...”

“You're broke, eh?"I been shaking two nickels together for a month, trying to get them to mate.”

“Being a copper I like to see the law win. I'd like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred ...”

“Until you guys own your own souls you don't own mine. Until you guys can be trusted every time and always, in all times and conditions, to seek the truth out and find it and let the chips fall wher...”

“Neither of the two people in the room paid any attention to the way I came in, although only one of them was dead.”

“It was a smooth silvery voice that matched her hair. It had a tiny tinkle in it, like bells in a doll's house. I thought that was silly as soon as I thought of it.”

“You like it in jail?""It's not too bad. You don't meet the best people, but who the hell wants to?”

“You like it in jail?It's not too bad. You don't meet the best people, but who the hell wants to?”

“You like it in jail?''It's not too bad. You don't meet the best people, but who the hell wants to?”

“Police business is a hell of a problem. Its a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and theres nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what...”

“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.”

“Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all of the tricks and has nothing to say.”

“The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.”

“In writing a novel, when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns.”

“The realistic style is easy to abuse: from haste, from lack of awareness, from inability to bridge the chasm that lies between what a writer would like to be able to say and what he actually knows ...”

“I sat down on the edge of a deep soft chair and looked at Mrs Regan. She was worth a stare. She was trouble.”

“A check girl in peach-bloom Chinese pajamas came over to take my hat and disapprove of my clothes. She had eyes like strange sins.”