- " I found three bodies in there before I quit looking," I told him as I led him indoors. " Maybe
a regular detective like you can find some more."
- " Only Genuine Pre-War American and British Whiskeys Served Here.'
I was trying to count how many lies could be found in those nine words,
and had reached four, with promise of more..."
- " I didn't kid myself that my beauty and personality were responsible for her warmth. I was a
thick-armed male with big fists. She was in a jam. She spelled my name P-r-o-t-e-c-t-i-o-n. I was someting to
be put between her and trouble."
- "Ordinarily I am inclined to peace. The day is past when I'll fight for the fun of it.
But I've been in too many rumpuses to mind them much. Usually nothing bad happens to you, even if you lose."
- "Few men get killed. Most of those who meet sudden deaths get themselves killed.
I've had twenty years experience dodging that. I can count on being one of the survivors of whatever blow-up there is.
And I hope to take most of the other suvivors for a ride."
- " In the case of a murder it is possible sometimes to take a short-cut to the end of the trail, by first finding the motive."
- " From any crime to its author there is a trail. It may be- as in this case - obscure; but, since matter cannot be moved without disturbing other matter along its path, there always is - there must be - a trail of some sort."
- " There are four rules for shadowing; Keep behind your subject as much as possible: never try to hide from him: act in a natural manner no matter what happens: and never meet his eye. Obey them, and, except in unusual circumstances, shadowing is the easiest thing that a sleuth has to do.
- " I'm not what you'd call a brilliant thinker - such results as I get are usually the fruits of patience, industry, and unimaginative plugging, helped out now and then, maybe, by a little luck..."
- " Looks like a great stunt, this shooting a gun out of a man's hand, but it's a thing that happens now and then. A man who is a fair shot (and that is exactly what I am - no more, no less) naturally and automatically shoots pretty close to the spot upon which his eyes are focused. When a man goes for his gun in front of you, you shoot at him. However, you are more than likely to be looking at his gun, and in that case it isn't altogether surprising if your bullet should hit his gun - as mine had done. But it looks impressive."
- "Now I'm a detective because I like the work....And liking the work makes you want to do it
as well as you can. Otherwise there'd be no sense to it. I don't know anything else, don't enjoy anything else..."
- "You think I'm a man and you're a woman. That's wrong. I'm a manhunter
and you're something that has been running in front of me. There's nothing human about it.
- "The big man was a yegg. San Francisco was on fire for him. The yegg instinct would be to use a rattler to get away from trouble."