Three times I have been mistaken for a prohibition agent, but never had any trouble clearing myself.

I deserve all the love you can spare me. And I want a lot more than I deserve.

Yes,' Spade growled. 'And when you're slapped you'll take it and like it.' He released Cairo's wrist and with a thick open hand struck the side of his face three times savagely.

My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery.

A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit.

The truth is you don't like the theater except the times when you're in a room by yourself putting the play on paper.

When a man's partner is killed he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it. Then it happens we were in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. It's bad all around-bad for that one organization, bad for every detective everywhere. Sam Spade