Dashiell Hammett

"The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.""

"All successful bunko men come in time to believe the world, except for themselves, is populated with a race of human sheep who may be trusted to conduct themselves with true sheeplike docility."

"Tall-over six feet-and one of the thinnest men I’ve ever seen. He must be about fifty now and his hair was almost white when I knew him.Usually needs a haircut, ragged brindle mustache, bites his fingernails." I pushed the dog away to reach for my drink."

"But where knowledge of trickery is evenly distributed, honesty not infrequently prevails."

"Remember, Ive got no idea what this is all about," said the girl when they were in the living room, a narrow room, where blue fought with red without ever compromising on purple."

"Did it ever occur to you that everybody is more or less afraid of nearly everything, and that courage isnt a damn thing but a habit of not dodging things because youre afraid of them?"

"I didnt know then, and I dont know now, whether she was the owner of the worlds best poker face or was just naturally stupid, but whichever she was, she was thoroughly and completely it."

"A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit."

"You got types?" "Only you, darling-lanky brunettes with wicked jaws."

"How do you feel?" "Terrible. I must have gone to bed sober."

"That’s why I don’t very often drink, or even smoke. I want to try cocaine, though because that’s suppose to sharpen the brain, isn’t it?"

"Emotions are useless during business hours."