Raymond ChandlerI looked down at the chessboard. The move with the knight was wrong. I put it back where I had moved it from. Knights had no meaning in this game. It wasn't a game for knights. 371LovePhilosophy
Raymond ChandlerI merely say that all reading for pleasure is escape, whether it be Greek, mathematics, astronomy, Benedetto Croce, or The Diary of the Forgotten Man. To say otherwise is to be an… ▶371LifeReading
Raymond ChandlerShe smelled the way the Taj Mahal looks by moonlight. ✨ Raymond Chandler (1995). Later Novels & Other Writings371Reading
Raymond ChandlerI do a great deal of research, especially in the apartments of tall blondes. ✨ The Raymond Chandler Papers: Selected Letters and Nonfiction, 1909-1959.361Reading
Raymond ChandlerThere was a sad fellow over on a bar stool talking to the bartender, who was polishing a glass and listening with that plastic smile people wear when they are trying not to scream… ▶373HumanityReadingSadness
Raymond ChandlerAlcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off. ✨ The Long Goodbye ch. 4 (1953)351Love
Raymond ChandlerI like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin. ✨ Raymond Chandler (1994). Farewell, my lovely, Thorndike Pr341Love
Raymond ChandlerThere are two kinds of truth; the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Without art science would be … ▶374LoveReadingThought
Raymond ChandlerDown these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid...He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man a… ▶353Thought
Raymond ChandlerThe private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in l… ▶353Life
Raymond ChandlerAll men who read escape from something else into what lies behind the printed page; the quality of the dream may be argued, but its release has become a functional necessity. 364Reading
Raymond ChandlerAs it is she will probably turn out to be one of these acid-faced virgins that sit behind little desks in public libraries and stamp dates in books. ✨ Raymond Chandler (2002… ▶331Reading
Raymond ChandlerThere was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your… ▶375Reading
Raymond ChandlerThat's one thing I like about Hollywood. The writer is there revealed in his ultimate corruption. He asks no praise, because his praise comes to him in the form of a salary check.… ▶321ReadingTruth
Raymond ChandlerOne would think a writer would be happy here — if a writer is ever happy anywhere. ✨ The Long Goodbye: A Novel.376ReadingThought
Raymond ChandlerShe had eyes like strange sins. ✨ Raymond Chandler (2002). The High Window: A Novel, p.161, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard343Reading
Raymond ChandlerTo say goodbye is to die a little. ✨ Raymond Chandler (2002). The Long Goodbye: A Novel, p.336, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard354DeathReading
Raymond ChandlerA good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled. ✨ Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). Raymond Chandler Speaking, p.75, Univ of Califor… ▶332Time
Raymond ChandlerShe gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket. ✨ Farewell, My Lovely ch. 18 (1940)354Love
Raymond ChandlerYou're broke, eh? I been shaking two nickels together for a month, trying to get them to mate. ✨ Raymond Chandler (2002). The Big Sleep: A Novel, p.90, Vintage Crime/Black L… ▶366Reading
Raymond ChandlerA city with all the personality of a paper cup. (On Los Angeles)311Truth
Raymond ChandlerI hung up. It was a good start, but it didn’t go far enough. I ought to have locked the door and hidden under the desk.322Time
Raymond ChandlerIf I wasn't hard, I wouldn't be alive. If I couldn't ever be gentle, I wouldn't deserve to be alive. ✨ Raymond Chandler (2002). Playback: A Novel, p.200, Vintage Crime/Black… ▶311LifeReading
Raymond ChandlerShe lowered her lashes until they almost cuddled her cheeks and slowly raised them again, like a theatre curtain. I was to get to know that trick. That was supposed to make me rol… ▶367Reading
Raymond ChandlerOrganized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar. ✨ Raymond Chandler (2002). The Long Goodbye: A Novel, p.352, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard345Reading
Raymond ChandlerI like bars just after they open in the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar -- that's… ▶345Reading
Raymond ChandlerIf you liked a book, don't meet the author323Reading
Raymond ChandlerThe faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them. ✨ Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardi… ▶291Humor
Raymond ChandlerHowever toplofty and idealistic a man may be, he can always rationalize his right to earn money. ✨ Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). Raymond… ▶357Thought
Raymond ChandlerIf you're not tough it's hard to survive in this world; and if you're not kind then you don't deserve to survive.291Reflection
