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The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

Dashiell Hammett

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Dashiell Hammett
Age: 66 †
Born: 1894
Born: June 25
Died: 1961
Died: January 10
Author
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
Baltimore
Maryland
Samuel Dashiell Hammett
Cheaper
Patter
Crook
Falcon
Noir
Crooks

More quotes by Dashiell Hammett

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A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit.
Dashiell Hammett
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We didn't exactly believe your story.' Then --?' 'We believed your two hundred dollars.' 'You mean --' She seemed not to know what he meant. 'I mean that you paid us more than if you'd been telling the truth,' he explained blandly, 'and enough more to make it all right.
Dashiell Hammett
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Listen, darling, tomorrow I'll buy you a whole lot of detective stories, but don't worry your pretty little head over mysteries tonight.
Dashiell Hammett
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I first heard Personville called Poisonville by a red-haired mucker named Hickey Dewey in the Big Ship in Butte. He also called his shirt a shoit.
Dashiell Hammett
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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
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The roof might fall in anything could happen.
Dashiell Hammett
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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.
Dashiell Hammett
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I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
Dashiell Hammett
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The truth is you don't like the theater except the times when you're in a room by yourself putting the play on paper.
Dashiell Hammett
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Talking is something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.
Dashiell Hammett
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Feed the lettuce to the bunny and eat the bunny.
Dashiell Hammett
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Listen, Dundy, it's been a long time since I burst into tears because a policeman didn't like me.
Dashiell Hammett
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The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second “you.
Dashiell Hammett
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My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery.
Dashiell Hammett
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I haven't any sort of plans for the future but I reckon things will work out in some manner.
Dashiell Hammett
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I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.
Dashiell Hammett
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You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one.
Dashiell Hammett
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Most things in San Francisco can be bought or taken.
Dashiell Hammett
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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
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I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.
Dashiell Hammett