Quotes from book

Farewell, My Lovely

“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.”

“The coffee shop smell was strong enough to build a garage on.”

“A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.”

“It was a cool day and very clear. You could see a long way-but not as far as Velma had gone.”

“I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin.”

“The wet air was as cold as the ashes of love.”

“We sneered at each other across the desk for a moment. He sneered better than I did.”

“They say money don't stink," he said. "I sometimes wonder.”

“Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.”

“He had a battered face that looked as if it had been hit by everything but the bucket of a dragline. It was scarred, flattened, thickened, checkered, and welted. It was a face that had nothing to fear. Everything had been done to it that anybody could think of.”

““Who is this Hemingway person at all?”
“A guy that keeps saying the same thing over and over until you begin to believe it must be good.”
“That must take a hell of a long time,” the big man said.”