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 More Quotes by Dashiell Hammett More Quotes From Dashiell Hammett The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two. Dashiell Hammett twentiestogethertwo What I try to do is write a story about a detective rather than a detective story. Keeping the reader fooled until the last, possible moment is a good trick and I usually try to play it, but I can't attach more than secondary importance to it. The puzzle isn't so interesting to me as the behavior of the detective attacking it. Dashiell Hammett playwritinginteresting Listen, darling, tomorrow I'll buy you a whole lot of detective stories, but don't worry your pretty little head over mysteries tonight. Dashiell Hammett tonightstoriesworry My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery. Dashiell Hammett machinerymonkeysway You don't pay a prostitute for sex, you pay her to leave afterwards. Dashiell Hammett paysex I once knew a man who stole a Ferris Wheel. Dashiell Hammett ferris-wheelswheelsmen You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one. Dashiell Hammett bright-sidesideslooks 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. Dashiell Hammett believelyingthinking When you write, you want fame, fortune and personal satisfaction. You want to write what you want to write and feel it's good, and you want this to go on for hundreds of years. You're not likely ever to get all these things, and you're not likely to give up writing and commit suicide if you don't, but that is -- and should be -- your goal. Anything else is kind of piddling. Dashiell Hammett giving-upsuicidewriting It's sometimes better to pretend I don't hear the sound of somebody in the nearby woods with a shotgun. Dashiell Hammett woodssoundsometimes The outcome of successful planning always looks like luck to saps. Dashiell Hammett lucksuccessfullooks I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble. Dashiell Hammett film-noirtroublemind I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of. Dashiell Hammett influenceliteraturethinking I deserve all the love you can spare me. And I want a lot more than I deserve. Dashiell Hammett spareswantlove-you To get what he wanted, a man had to give other people what they wanted. Dashiell Hammett inspirationalmenpeople She grinned at me. 'You got types?' 'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws. Dashiell Hammett brunettewickedtype 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. Dashiell Hammett writingsexthinking Brigid: I haven't lived a good life - I've been bad, worse than you could know. Dashiell Hammett spadesinnocentgood-life I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style. Dashiell Hammett styleendsfound He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan. Dashiell Hammett satanblonde
