Hardboiled Quotes

“Hardboiled crime fiction came of age in 'Black Mask' magazine during the Twenties and Thirties. Writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler learnt their craft and developed a distinct literary style and attitude toward the modern world.”

“She was still there inside me now, just as she always was: a life put on hold, a memory I didn't know how to handle.”

“Actually, time had always been passing. I had just managed to avoid thinking about it very much. It would be hard for me to recapture that feeling—life wasn’t so easy anymore. Small things pricked my heart. In those early days, I lived in a world of overwhelming sensations; it was like I had just fallen out of love.”

“Things that don't matter at all to one person can hurt another so deeply it seems as bad as dying.”

“The ritual of our daily lives permeate our very bodies.”

“He stood at the entrance to the kitchen, blocking my path to the front door like the Berlin Wall. -- Least Wanted”

“I've never been a morning person, and if it's one thing I don't need before my first cup of coffee, it's a visit from the cops. But at eight forty-five on a Friday morning, two of them waited for me at my law office.”

“I had killed a man, for money and a woman. I didn't have the money and I didn't have the woman.”

“A diamond wedding ring, you say?”I studied his face. Was he putting me on? He looked earnest. “As any guy would expect, a diamond is what she’s after,” I said. “Did you hold out hope you’d get by for anything less?”

“Get a load of this, Frank.” Gerald Peyton’s pause set off his pronouncement. “She is expecting to get a wedding ring.”“That’s understandable,” I said, unsure how he could afford a ring on what our firm cleared. Diamond rings—more sold in December than in any other month of the year—went for a cool grand per karat. Weeks ago, I’d priced them—again—for my domestic situation. “What seems to be the problem?”“That’s a big leap for me to make.”“I expect you’ll make it with room to spare.”