My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery.
—Dashiell Hammett
The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.
—Dashiell Hammett
That’s wonderful. I do like a man that tells you right out he’s looking out for himself. Don’t we all? I don’t trust a man that says he’s not. And the man that’s telling the truth when he says he’s not I distrust most of all, because he’s an ass and an ass that’s going contrary to the laws of nature.
—Dashiell Hammett
To get what he wanted, a man had to give other people what they wanted.
—Dashiell Hammett
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
Emotions are useless during business hours.
—Dashiell Hammett
The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.
—Dashiell Hammett
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
I don’t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
—Dashiell Hammett
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.
—Dashiell Hammett
If a man says a thing often enough, he is very likely to acquire some sort of faith in it sooner or later.
—Dashiell Hammett
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Raymond Chandler American Novelist
Ellery Queen American Crime Fiction Authors
Robert A. Heinlein American Science Fiction Writer
John Updike American Author
Ben Hecht American Screenwriter
Norman Mailer American Novelist, Journalist
Richard Wright American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
Russell Hoban American Author
Don DeLillo American Author
Sherwood Anderson American Fiction Writer