If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.

Those big-shot writers ... could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.

See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older.

No one likes my books except the public.

Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac.

Victor Saville was bad news because he wanted money just to do one big picture.

I'm 82 years old, wherever I go everybody knows me, but here's why... I'm a merchandiser, I'm not just a writer, I stay in every avenue you can think of.