Fiachna > Fiachna's Quotes

“The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without: to follow one's own path, not that of the crowd.”
― Nicholas Tharcher, Rebels & Devils; A Tribute to Christopher S. Hyatt

“The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man

“Who shot him? I asked.
The grey man scratched the back of his neck and said: Somebody with a gun.”
― Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest

“He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“You're drunk, and I'm drunk, and I'm just exactly drunk enough to tell you anything you want to know. That's the kind of girl I am. If I like a person, I'll tell them anything they want to know. Just ask me. Go ahead, ask me.”
― Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest

“Nora: "How do you feel?"
Nick: "Terrible. I must've gone to bed sober.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man

“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

“She grinned at me. 'You got types?'
'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man

“I haven't laughed so much over anything since the hogs ate my kid brother.”
― Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest

“I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.”
― Dasheill Hammett

“My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“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. Then it happens we were in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. It's bad all around-bad for that one organization, bad for every detective everywhere.
Sam Spade”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“He felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him see the works.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“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, The Continental Op

“I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, its possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Play with murder enough and it gets you one of two ways. It makes you sick, or you get to like it.”
― Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest

“I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.”
― Dashiell Hammett

“Nora said: 'I love you, Nicky, because you smell nice and know such fascinating people.”
― Dashiell Hammelt