When a book, any sort of book, reaches a certain intensity of artistic performance, it becomes literature. That intensity may be a matter of style, situation, character, emotional tone, or idea, or half a dozen other things. It may also be a perfection of control over the movement of a story similar to the control a great pitcher has over the ball.

Raymond Chandler

It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.

Raymond Chandler

big-sleep habit nice

I'm an occasional drinker, the kind of guy who goes out for a beer and wakes up in Singapore with a full beard.

Raymond Chandler

wake-up guy beer

To say goodbye is to die a little.

Raymond Chandler

chaos littles goodbye

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

Raymond Chandler

smooth sin girl

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

Raymond Chandler

glasses blonde beauty

If you're not tough it's hard to survive in this world; and if you're not kind then you don't deserve to survive.

Raymond Chandler

society community world

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid...He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world

Raymond Chandler

hero men mean

The girl gave him a look which ought to have stuck at least four inches out of his back.

Raymond Chandler

four girl looks

She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.

Raymond Chandler

smile laughter laughing

A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.

Raymond Chandler

storytelling stories writing

Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.

Raymond Chandler

typewriters writing morning

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

four theatre air

There are two kinds of truth; the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Without art science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery.

Raymond Chandler

war science art

Their constant yelping about a free press means, with a few honorable exceptions, freedom to peddle scandal, crime, sex, sensationalism, hate, innuendo and the political and financial uses of propaganda. A newspaper is a business out to make money through advertising revenue. That is predicated on the circulation and you know what circulation depends on.

Raymond Chandler

hate mean sex

Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.

Raymond Chandler

broken heart men

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

desks enough doors

There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.

Raymond Chandler

traps

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

cat hate thinking

There are two kinds of truth; The truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The fist of these is science and the second is art.

Raymond Chandler

light science art

He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.

Raymond Chandler

cooking angel food