Neither of the two people in the room paid any attention to the way I came in, although only one of them was dead. - Raymond Chandler

So is he gonna wake up from that nap yet or what?

Everything written with vitality expresses that vitality; there are no dull subjects, only dull minds.

Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.