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Dashiell Hammett > Quotes
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“The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”
― The Thin Man
― The Thin Man
“Who shot him? I asked.
The grey man scratched the back of his neck and said: Somebody with a gun.”
― Red Harvest
The grey man scratched the back of his neck and said: Somebody with a gun.”
― Red Harvest
“He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“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.”
― Red Harvest
― Red Harvest
“Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation ready.
Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”
― The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”
― The Maltese Falcon
“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 policemen.”
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“She grinned at me. 'You got types?'
'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.”
― The Thin Man
'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.”
― The Thin Man
“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 the very ones that will believe almost anything at all.”
― The Thin Man
― The Thin Man
“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.”
― The Maltese Falcon
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.”
― The Maltese Falcon
“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.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“I haven't laughed so much over anything since the hogs ate my kid brother.”
― Red Harvest
― Red Harvest
“My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.”
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“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“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”
― The Continental Op
― The Continental Op
“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”
― The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade”
― The Maltese Falcon
“He felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him see the works.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“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.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“Play with murder enough and it gets you one of two ways. It makes you sick, or you get to like it.”
― Red Harvest
― Red Harvest
“I once knew a man who stole a Ferris Wheel...”
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“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 never get anywhere”
― The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade “You know, that's good, because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be, we'd never get anywhere”
― The Maltese Falcon
“Talking is something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“...I guess I can put two and two together."
"Sometimes the answer's four," I said, "and sometimes it's twenty-two...”
― The Thin Man
"Sometimes the answer's four," I said, "and sometimes it's twenty-two...”
― The Thin Man
“Nick:" Don't you think maybe a drink would help you to sleep? "
Nora: "No, thanks."
Nick: "Maybe it would if I took one.”
― The Thin Man
Nora: "No, thanks."
Nick: "Maybe it would if I took one.”
― The Thin Man
“To get what he wanted, a man had to give other people what they wanted.”
― Red Harvest
― Red Harvest
“Nora said: 'I love you, Nicky, because you smell nice and know such fascinating people.”
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“Listen, Dundy, it's been a long time since I burst into tears because a policeman didn't like me.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon
“I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.”
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“I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble.”
― The Maltese Falcon
― The Maltese Falcon