Dashiell Hammett Quotes

She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow. She wore two shades of blue that had been selected because of her eyes. The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red. White teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made.

You got types?
"Only you, darling-lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.

I've thrown myself on your mercy, told you that without your help I'm utterly lost. What else is there? She suddenly moved close to him on the settee and cried angrily: "Can I buy you with my body?

How do you feel?
"Terrible. I must have gone to bed sober.

Did it ever occur to you that everybody is more or less afraid of nearly everything, and that courage isn't a damn thing but a habit of not dodging things because you're afraid of them?

"You’re a damn good man, sister," he said and went out.

The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.

All successful bunko men come in time to believe the world, except for themselves, is populated with a race of human sheep who may be trusted to conduct themselves with true sheeplike docility.

Emotions are useless during business hours.

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

I didn't know then, and I don't know now, whether she was the owner of the world's best poker face or was just naturally stupid, but whichever she was, she was thoroughly and completely it.

We begin well, sir, the fat man purred … "I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink too much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does. … Well, sir, here's to plain speaking and clear understanding. … You're a close-mouthed man?"
Spade shook his head. "I like to talk."
"Better and better!" the fat man exclaimed. "I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.

The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

I don't like eloquence. If it isn't effective enough to pierce your hide, it's tiresome, and if it is effective enough, it muddles your thoughts.

But where knowledge of trickery is evenly distributed, honesty not infrequently prevails.