Police business is a hell of a problem. It's a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there's nothing in it to attract the highest type of men.

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.

Humour is just another defence against the universe.

Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow.

Parents remain our touchstones, fellow travelers, even after death. They are both missing and present.

Your power comes from the songs.

Of course as soon as I say something or write it that sounds like I believe it, and really I'm never entirely sure.

Even the worthy Homer sometimes nods.

The French complain of everything, and always.

All the plants in my house are dead - I shot them last night. I was teasing them by watering them with ice cubes.

The passengers were on my aircraft, and I have to take responsibility for that.

For what good turn? Messenger: For the best turn of the bed.