Quote

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

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Play
Putting
Like
Theater
Except
Paper
Room
Rooms
Times
Truth

More quotes by Dashiell Hammett

Image
Three times I have been mistaken for a prohibition agent, but never had any trouble clearing myself.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
Nick: Don't you think maybe a drink would help you to sleep? Nora: No, thanks. Nick: Maybe it would if I took one.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
I found I was repeating myself. It is the beginning of the end when you discover you have style.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
She grinned at me. 'You got types?' 'Only you darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
Talking is something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
Most things in San Francisco can be bought or taken.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second “you.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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
Image
You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
Feed the lettuce to the bunny and eat the bunny.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
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
Image
I like women. I really like women.
Dashiell Hammett
Image
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
Image
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