Dashiell Hammett Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Yarn, People, Trying

  "The Thin Man". Book by Dashiell Hammett, 1929.

  9 Copy quote

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

  Dashiell Hammett

  Cairo, Want, Smooth

  55 Copy quote

• The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second “you.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Boys, Two, Verbs

  Dashiell Hammett (2010). “The Maltese Falcon”, p.104, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  10 Copy quote

• The roof might fall in; anything could happen.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Fall, Might, Roof

  10 Copy quote

• I haven't any sort of plans for the future but I reckon things will work out in some manner.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Work Out, Things Will Work Out, Plans

  Dashiell Hammett (2002). “Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, 1921-1960”, Counterpoint Press

  12 Copy quote

• Strictly speaking, there are no real substitutes for sexual satisfaction

  Dashiell Hammett

  Real, Satisfaction, Substitutes

  12 Copy quote

• Brigid: I haven't lived a good life - I've been bad, worse than you could know.
  Spade: That's good, because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be, we'd never get anywhere.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Good Life, Innocent, Spades

  "Fictional characters: Sam Spade, Brigid O'Shaughnessy". "The Maltese Falcon", 1941.

  16 Copy quote

• The face she made at me was probably meant for a smile. Whatever it was, it beat me. I was afraid she'd do it again, so I surrendered

  Dashiell Hammett

  Faces, Beats, Made

  Dashiell Hammett (2001). “Crime stories and other writings”

  9 Copy quote

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

  Dashiell Hammett

  Style, Ends, Found

  Dashiell Hammett (2001). “Crime stories and other writings”

  13 Copy quote

• Nick: "Don't you think maybe a drink would help you to sleep?" Nora: "No, thanks." Nick: "Maybe it would if I took one.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Sleep, Thinking, Helping

  6 Copy quote

• She grinned at me. 'You got types?' 'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Wicked, Brunette, Type

  Dashiell Hammett (1965). “Novels”, Alfred A. Knopf

  20 Copy quote

• The truth is you don't like the theater except the times when you're in a room by yourself putting the play on paper.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Play, Paper, Rooms

  5 Copy quote

• It's awfully easy to be in love in jail

  Dashiell Hammett

  Jail, Easy

  8 Copy quote

• You're drunk, and I'm drunk, and I'm just exactly drunk enough to tell you anything you want to know. That's the kind of girl I am. If I like a person, I'll tell them anything they want to know. Just ask me. Go ahead, ask me.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Girl, Drunk, Want

  Dashiell Hammett (1965). “Novels”, Alfred A. Knopf

  15 Copy quote

• I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, its possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Son, Wells, Falcon

  "Fictional character: Kasper Gutman". "The Maltese Falcon", www.imdb.com. October 3, 1941.

  31 Copy quote

• We didn't exactly believe your story.' Then --?' 'We believed your two hundred dollars.' 'You mean --' She seemed not to know what he meant. 'I mean that you paid us more than if you'd been telling the truth,' he explained blandly, 'and enough more to make it all right.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Believe, Mean, Two

  1930 The Maltese Falcon,'The Black Bird'

  8 Copy quote

• 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 it happens we were in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. It's bad all around-bad for that one organization, bad for every detective everywhere. Sam Spade

  Dashiell Hammett

  Men, Organization, Differences

  The Maltese Falcon ch. 20 (1930)

  7 Copy quote

• ...What disturbed him was the discovery that in sensibly ordering his affairs he had got out of step, and not into step, with Life.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Discovery, Steps, Affair

  Dashiell Hammett (2010). “The Maltese Falcon”, p.71, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  11 Copy quote

• He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Blonde, Satan

  1930 Of Sam Spade. The Maltese Falcon,'Spade and Archer'.

  11 Copy quote

• Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of
  his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were
  horizontal. The V motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases
  above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down--from high flat temples--in a point on
  his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond Satan.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Eye, Hair, Yellow

  1930 Of Sam Spade. The Maltese Falcon,'Spade and Archer'.

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Hands, Three, Cairo

  Dashiell Hammett (2010). “The Maltese Falcon”, p.77, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  5 Copy quote

• I like women. I really like women.

  Dashiell Hammett

  4 Copy quote

• I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte. He also called his shirt a shoit.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Red, Ships, Firsts

  Dashiell Hammett (1982). “Sammlung”, MacMillan

  4 Copy quote

• Our lawyers had their chat with the Supreme Court Justice, and promised to repast the chat to other members of the Supreme Court to find out whether they wanted to hear us out.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Justice, Lawyer, Court

  7 Copy quote

• Listen, Dundy, it's been a long time since I burst into tears because a policeman didn't like me.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Long, Tears, Policemen

  5 Copy quote

Page 2 of 3

First

← Prev

1

2

3

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin