“Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.”
Introduction
The Simple Art of Murder (1950)
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Raymond Chandler 124
Novelist, screenwriter 1888–1959Related quotes
“In writing a novel, when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns.”
Variant: When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
Source: Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848), p. 246
“Learn art and virtue, and, when times demand,
(So says the saw), you have them to your hand.”
(Dice il proverbio) impara arte e virtù,
E se il bisogno vien cavala su.
Le Rappresentazioni di Tobia, Act 7., Scene IV.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 323.
February 1957, quoted in Michael McManus Jo Grimond: Towards the Sound of Gunfire (Birlinn, 2001) p. 120.
The Discipline Of Transcendence (1978)
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), p. 153
Source: Leading Without Power: Finding Hope in Serving Community
About being a Christian
From an interview with the Sunday Times, "The eyebrows have it."
“When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.”
Preface <!-- p. 21 -->
Source: The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933)
Context: When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.
The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worth while, depresses and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples. The Negro thus educated is a hopeless liability of the race.