A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.

When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it stays split.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is neither tarnished nor afraid

He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.

Some are able and humane men and some are low-grade individuals with the morals of a goat, the artistic integrity of a slot machine, and the manners of a floorwalker with delusions of grandeur.

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

There are two kinds of truth; The truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The fist of these is science and the second is art.

It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.

The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement

At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.

Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

Go to bed early get up early-this is wise.

For awhile after you quit Keats all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming.

If a heart could break once, it shouldn't have been able to happen again.

There’s only one basic principle of self-defense- you must apply the most effective weapon, as soon as possible, to the most vulnerable target.

One never knows how much a family may grow; and when a hive is too full, and it is necessary to form a new swarm, each one thinks of carrying away his own honey.

A man may go to heaven with half the pains it cost him to purchase hell.

If the person at the wheel refuses to ask for directions, it is time for a new driver.

There can only be a relationship between human beings when we accept what is, not what should be.

I'm the last person who has any desire to instruct anybody in shame. That's no errand for me.

Come on boys, you must listen unto me, lay off the whiskey and let that cocaine be.