Raymond Chandler Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.

  Raymond Chandler

  Writing, Mean, Pushing

  Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). “Raymond Chandler Speaking”, p.216, Univ of California Press

  14 Copy quote

• The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.

  Raymond Chandler

  Law, Justice, Imperfection

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Long Goodbye: A Novel”, p.54, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  11 Copy quote

• A writer who is afraid to overreach himself is as useless as a general who is afraid to be wrong.

  Raymond Chandler

  Useless

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “Trouble Is My Business: A Novel”, p.5, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  19 Copy quote

• I regard psychiatry as fifty percent bunk, thirty percent fraud, ten percent parrot talk, and the remaining ten percent just a fancy lingo for the common sense we have had for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years, if we ever had the guts to read.

  Raymond Chandler

  Years, Common Sense, Fifty

  7 Copy quote

• When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it stays split.

  Raymond Chandler

  Splits, Grammar, Damn

  93 Copy quote

• The streets were dark with something more then night.

  Raymond Chandler

  Dark, Night, Streets

  27 Copy quote

• She lowered her lashes until they almost cuddled her cheeks and slowly raised them again, like a theatre curtain. I was to get to know that trick. That was supposed to make me roll over on my back with all four paws in the air.

  Raymond Chandler

  Air, Theatre, Four

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Big Sleep: A Novel”, p.5, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  40 Copy quote

• Police business is a hell of a problem. It's a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there's nothing in it to attract the highest type of men.

  Raymond Chandler

  Men, Police, Problem

  Raymond Chandler (2014). “The World of Raymond Chandler: In His Own Words”, p.124, Vintage

  12 Copy quote

• I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin.

  Raymond Chandler

  Girl, Sin, Smooth

  Raymond Chandler (1994). “Farewell, my lovely”, Thorndike Pr

  9 Copy quote

• There was a sad fellow over on a bar stool talking to the bartender, who was polishing a glass and listening with that plastic smile people wear when they are trying not to scream.

  Raymond Chandler

  Glasses, Talking, People

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Long Goodbye: A Novel”, p.83, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  31 Copy quote

• There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren't as good as others.

  Raymond Chandler

  Drinking, Alcohol, Whiskey

  55 Copy quote

• Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off.

  Raymond Chandler

  Girl, Drinking, Beer

  The Long Goodbye ch. 4 (1953)

  21 Copy quote

• I hung up. It was a good start, but it didn’t go far enough. I ought to have locked the door and hidden under the desk.

  Raymond Chandler

  Doors, Enough, Desks

  40 Copy quote

• Television is really what we've been looking for all our lives.... [It's] perfect. You turn a few knobs and lean back and drain your mind of all thought. And there you are watching the bubbles in the primordial ooze.

  Raymond Chandler

  Perfect, Mind, Television

  10 Copy quote

• I knew one thing: as soon as anyone said you didn't need a gun, you'd better take one along that worked.

  Raymond Chandler

  Gun, Needs, Said

  Raymond Chandler (2014). “The World of Raymond Chandler: In His Own Words”, p.88, Vintage

  9 Copy quote

• If you believe in an idea, you don't own you, it owns you.

  Raymond Chandler

  Believe, Passion, Ideas

  5 Copy quote

• The best way to find out if you have any friends is to go broke. The ones that hang on longest are your friends. I don't mean the ones that hang on forever. There aren't any of those.

  Raymond Chandler

  Mean, Forever, Way

  Raymond Chandler, Tom Hiney, Frank MacShane (2002). “The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction, 1909-1959”, p.111, Grove Press

  10 Copy quote

• As honest as you could expect a man to be in a world where it's out of style.

  Raymond Chandler

  Men, Style, Going Out

  "The World of Raymond Chandler: In His Own Words".

  15 Copy quote

• I always find what I want. But when I find it, I don't want it any more.

  Raymond Chandler

  Want

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Lady in the Lake: The Little Sister ; The Long Goodbye ; Playback”, Everyman's Library

  5 Copy quote

• In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.

  Raymond Chandler

  Art, Quality, Redemption

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Simple Art of Murder”, p.23, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  16 Copy quote

• When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.

  Raymond Chandler

  Writing, Gun, Men

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

  24 Copy quote

• I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars.

  Raymond Chandler

  Stars, Numbness, Space

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Long Goodbye: A Novel”, p.252, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  18 Copy quote

• I said something which gave you to think I hated cats. But gad, sir, I am one of the most fanatical cat lovers in the business. If you hate them, I may learn to hate you. If your allergies hate them, I will tolerate the situation to the best of my ability.

  Raymond Chandler

  Hate, Cat, Thinking

  62 Copy quote

• There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

  Raymond Chandler

  Husband, Party, Fighting

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “Trouble Is My Business: A Novel”, p.215, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

  56 Copy quote

• It was a cool day and very clear. You could see a long way-but not as far as Velma had gone.

  Raymond Chandler

  Long, Gone, Way

  Raymond Chandler (1995). “Stories and Early Novels”

  12 Copy quote

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