Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off.
Raymond ChandlerIn everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and it may be pity and irony, and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong man. But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.
Raymond ChandlerThe dilemma of the critic has always been that if he knows enough to speak with authority, he knows too much to speak with detachment.
Raymond ChandlerShe jerked away from me like a startled fawn might, if I had a startled fawn and it jerked away from me.
Raymond ChandlerWriters who get written about become self-conscious. They develop a regrettable habit of looking at themselves through the eyes of other people. They are no longer alone, they have an investment in critical praise, and they think they must protect it. This leads to a diffusion of effort. The writer watches himself as he works. He grows more subtle and he pays for it by loss of organic dash.
Raymond Chandler