Strictly speaking, there are no real substitutes for sexual satisfaction.

Our lawyers had their chat with the Supreme Court Justice, and promised to repast the chat to other members of the Supreme Court to find out whether they wanted to hear us out.

I don’t like crooks, and even if I did, I wouldn’t like crooks that are stool-pigeons, and if I liked crooks that are stool-pigeons, I still wouldn’t like you.” She turned to the outer door.

People always say things like, Oh, well, he was suffering so much that he was better off dying. But that’s not true. You’re always better off living.

Thanks for the information about what we call business.

Don’t be so damned patronizing. Your performance so far has been a little less than dazzling.””I didn’t mean no harm,” I said and kissed her. “That a new dress?””Ah! Changing the subject, you coward.

The roof might fall in; anything could happen.

To get what he wanted, a man had to give other people what they wanted.

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...

I like women. I really like women.

Alice opened the door when I rang. She had on green pyjamas and held a hairbrush in one hand. She looked wearily at Quinn and spoke wearily: “Bring it in.”I took it in and spread...

The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

It’s awfully easy to be in love in jail.

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.

Play with murder enough and it gets you one of two ways. It makes you sick, or you get to like it.page 155

Another man whose social life has ruined him.

My side felt a lot better when Nora called me at noon the next day. “My nice policeman wants to see you,” she said. “How do you feel?””Terrible. I must’ve gone to bed sober.” I...

He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.

With what dope I got I think it fills me in pretty well.

I don’t know much about him; never heard him say more than nope or yup.

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....

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...

I deserve all the love you can spare me. And I want a lot more than I deserve.

I have not killed anyone. They will not let me.

…I guess I can put two and two together.””Sometimes the answer’s four,” I said, “and sometimes it’s twenty-two…

I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.

It’s sometimes better to pretend I don’t hear the sound of somebody in the nearby woods with a shotgun.

I haven’t any sort of plans for the future but I reckon things will work out in some manner.

How about a drop of something to cut the phlegm?Why don’t you stay sober today?We didn’t come to New York to stay sober.

…What do you do with all your money?””Me and the French hoard gold.

You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain’t one.

Looks like she’s been slapping the kid again.

You know Quinn?” Macaulay asked me.”Ten minutes ago I was putting him to bed.”Macaulay grinned. “I hope you keep his acquaintance like that – social””Meaning what?”Macaulay’s grin became rueful. “He used to be my broker,...

Feed the lettuce to the bunny and eat the bunny.

She seems to be having a pretty good time despite her worrying. That’s Lily.

I’ve been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.