Chandlerisms

Here's a nice collection of quotes taken from Raymond Chandler's stories. Chandler is the champ of hard-boiled, condensed writing, but I often find it hard to remember passages from his books to recite when talk comes to the topic (except for the one with the bishop, of course).

"She opened a mouth like a firebucket and laughed. That terminated my interest in her. I couldn't hear the laugh but the hole in her face when she unzippered her teeth was all I needed."--The Long Good-bye (Chapter 13)

"It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."--Farewell, My Lovely (Chapter 13)

"She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket"--Farewell, My Lovely (Chapter 18)

"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." Farewell, My Lovely (Chapter 34)

Chandlerisms