Quotes from book
The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler

The Big Sleep is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles.

Raymond Chandler photo

“The plants filled the place, a forest of them, with nasty meaty leaves and stalks like the newly washed fingers of dead men.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), chapter 2

Raymond Chandler photo

“A nice state of affairs when a man has to indulge his vices by proxy.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), chapter 2

Raymond Chandler photo

“On the way downtown I stopped at a bar and had a couple of double Scotches. They didn't do me any good. All they did was make me think of Silver-Wig, and I never saw her again.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 32, Phillip Marlowe

Raymond Chandler photo

“"Tall, aren't you?" she said. "I didn't mean to be."”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), chapter one

Raymond Chandler photo

“A few locks of dry white hair clung to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), chapter 2

Raymond Chandler photo

“I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn't seem to be really trying.”

Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep

Source: The Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 1
Context: The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn't have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the vizor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn't seem to be really trying.