Quote

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

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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
Tell
Policemen
Stories
Sailor
Seems
Regardless
Writing
Telling
Thing
Sex
Think
Worth
Worthily
Thinking
Story
Mounted
Whether
Sailors

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The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second “you.
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You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one.
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Listen, Dundy, it's been a long time since I burst into tears because a policeman didn't like me.
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It's awfully easy to be in love in jail
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I haven't any sort of plans for the future but I reckon things will work out in some manner.
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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
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Feed the lettuce to the bunny and eat the bunny.
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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.
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I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.
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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.
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She grinned at me. 'You got types?' 'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.
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I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
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Talking is something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.
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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.
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The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.
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He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.
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I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.
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Nick: Don't you think maybe a drink would help you to sleep? Nora: No, thanks. Nick: Maybe it would if I took one.
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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.
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