J. Raymond Quotes

Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.

When a book, any sort of book, reaches a certain intensity of artistic performance it becomes literature.

A man can go along obeying all the rules and then it don't matter a damn anymore.

I knew one thing: as soon as anyone said you didn't need a gun, you'd better take one along that worked.

Good critical writing is measured by the perception and evaluation of the subject; bad critical writing by the necessity of maintaining the professional standing of the critic.

I am a better cook than I am an actor. If I have any ego, it's about cooking. I'm one of the best cooks... and I cook in any language.

I don't drive often, because the parking makes it too much of a nuisance. And I could never go back to commuting or anything. I'd just get fed up with it.

I'm always learning something. Learning never ends.

Friction and misunderstandings often occur when communicating across generations. It gets even more challenging when working across virtual settings.

If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.

When you're asking someone for assistance, make it as easy as possible for them to say "no" to you. You don't want someone helping you who doesn't really want to.

It is always the minorities that hold the key of progress.

Foreknowledge of the future makes it possible to manipulate both enemies and supporters.

I think one of the biggest scams in law enforcement is the monitor.

The herd may graze where it pleases or stampede where it pleases, but he who lives the adventurous life will remain unafraid when he finds himself alone.

Why do I act as I do? To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea why. It is simply my nature to act as I act, and that's all I can say.

The freedoms that people have that flow from all civic institutions fundamentally come from the success of a market system.

The market system requires that people be committed and willing to work hard. Inherent with that is what I call a merit system, which I think gives people the greatest opportunity.

No one can help me with my work. I think I do best when I am just left alone.

It is important to remember that all business has an impact on the lives of real people.

Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not hand-wrought dueling pistols, curare and tropical fish.

Ethical conduct is something that becomes inherent in an organization over a long period of time.

I enjoy research as much as writing so I try to make my stories as fact-based as possible, which I think helps them seem more authentic.

In early 1993, a hostile observer might have had grounds for thinking that the Unix story was almost played out, and with it the fortunes of the hacker tribe.

It is widely grokked that cats have the hacker nature

I alienated the automotive industry by saying that cars should be lightweight and compact.

Often I'll try things that just won't happen the way I'd like them to, so hearing that they're not working saves me some wear and tear the next time around.

Get in, get out. Don't linger. Go on.

It's very rare that someone gets the death penalty for charges of conspiracy, for his influence, for his Svengali-Rasputin act.

We don't have the flexibility of changing the bid amount. We can go through the whole process and someone else could beat us by giving more.

Don’t complain, don’t explain.

Create an atmosphere in which anything is possible.

She had eyes like strange sins.

It is necessary to like loneliness to be photographer

My life is going to change. I feel it.

A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose's lime juice and nothing else.

The Iliad is the private lives of people thrown into disorder by history.

I've done as many as 20 or 30 drafts of a story. Never less than 10 or 12 drafts.

A little autobiography and a lot of imagination are best.

Remember Haydn's 104 symphonies. Not all of them were great. But there were 104 of them.

The more you reason the less you create.

Often, the most striking and innovative solutions come from realizing that your concept of the problem was wrong.

To solve an interesting problem, start by finding a problem that is interesting to you.

I'm coming from journalism, but at the same time I'm tempted by poetry, politics, and maybe the idea of being a witness, a belief that you can still change things with the image.

It is not a fragrant world.

I sat down on the edge of a deep soft chair and looked at Mrs Regan. She was worth a stare. She was trouble.

We knew our days were numbered. We had fouled up our lives and we were getting ready for a shake-up.

A good title is the title of a successful book.

[I] browsed far outside science in my reading and attended public lectures - Bertrand Russell, H. G. Wells, Huxley, and Shaw being my favorite speakers.

You're a beautiful drunk, daughter. But you're a drunk.