Mickey Spillane Quotes

Quotes about:

• The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Writing, Lasts

  63 Copy quote

• Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac.

  Mickey Spillane

  Beer, Hammers, Cognac

  17 Copy quote

• The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle.

  Mickey Spillane

  Inspirational, Book, Important

  19 Copy quote

• Inspiration is an empty bank account.

  Mickey Spillane

  Inspiration, Empty, Bank Accounts

  18 Copy quote

• Those big-shot writers ... could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.

  Mickey Spillane

  Caviar, Facts, Peanuts

  "The Making of a Bestseller: From Author to Reader" by Arthur T. Vanderbilt, (p. 135), 1999.

  15 Copy quote

• I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.

  Mickey Spillane

  Names, Want, Coming Out

  Interview with Michael Carlson, Crime Time, 2001.

  8 Copy quote

• I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book

  "Writers on Writing". Book by Jon Winokur, 1986.

  6 Copy quote

• I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.

  Mickey Spillane

  Fans, Customers, Knows

  "W.O.W. : Writers on Writing". Book by Jon Winokur, 1986.

  15 Copy quote

• Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Grain Of Salt, Looks

  Interview with Michael Carlson, "Crime Time", 2001.

  10 Copy quote

• I don't like people. I don't like any kind of people. When you get them together in a big lump they all get nasty and dirty and full of trouble. So I don't like people including you. That's what a misanthropist is.

  Mickey Spillane

  Dirty, People, Together

  Mickey Spillane (1968). “The Big Kill”, p.7, Penguin

  17 Copy quote

• If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.

  Mickey Spillane

  Baseball, Art, Writing

  "W.O.W. : Writers on Writing". Interview with Jon Winokur, 1986.

  10 Copy quote

• If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.

  Mickey Spillane

  Literature, Earth, Likes

  "W.O.W.: Writers on Writing". Book by Jon Winokur, 1986.

  16 Copy quote

• No one likes my books except the public.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Likes, Language

  4 Copy quote

• Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Writing, Middle

  16 Copy quote

• Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Writing, Literature

  "Writers on writing". Book by Jon Winokur, 1986.

  6 Copy quote

• If I need something, I'll invent it.

  Mickey Spillane

  Needs, Literature, Ifs

  Interview with Michael Carlson, Crime Time, 2001.

  12 Copy quote

• The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Pages, Lasts

  4 Copy quote

• I started off at the high level, in the slick magazines, but they didn't use my name, they used house names. Anyway, then I went downhill to the pulps, then downhill further to the comics.

  Mickey Spillane

  Names, House, Magazines

  Interview with Michael Carlson, Crime Time, 2001.

  9 Copy quote

• See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older.

  Mickey Spillane

  Hero, Redneck, Firefighter

  Interview with Michael Carlson, "Crime Time", crimetime.co.uk, 2001.

  7 Copy quote

• I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead.

  Mickey Spillane

  World, Behinds

  "Spillane Dead at 88" by WENN, www.imdb.com. July 18, 2006.

  6 Copy quote

• I dont like any of them, because they don't read the books. In Kiss Me Deadly my story is better than his story. Anthony Quinn played in The Lond Wait and he didn't read the book either.

  Mickey Spillane

  Book, Kissing, Waiting

  11 Copy quote

• I know an awful lot of Hollywood people, who are so self-important, I can't understand it.

  Mickey Spillane

  Self, People, Important

  Interview with Michael Carlson, Crime Time, 2001.

  5 Copy quote

• If the public likes you, you're good.

  Mickey Spillane

  Likes, Ifs

  Mickey Spillane (2001). “The Mike Hammer Collection”, p.520, Penguin

  6 Copy quote

• I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.

  Mickey Spillane

  Hair, Eyeglasses, Guy

  "Spillane still on the case". Interview with Elaine Dutka, articles.latimes.com. February 8, 2004.

  19 Copy quote

• I'm 82 years old, wherever I go everybody knows me, but here's why... I'm a merchandiser, I'm not just a writer, I stay in every avenue you can think of.

  Mickey Spillane

  Thinking, Years, Literature

  Interview with Michael Carlson, Crime Time, 2001.

  5 Copy quote

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