Detective Quotes
More Detective Quotes
The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man would not be a private detective.
Raymond Chandler— letter, 19 April 1951, published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962)
I thought that writing a detective story would be a wonderful apprenticeship because, whatever people tell you, a crime novel is not easy to write well. As I continued with my craft I became increasingly fascinated by the form and realized that you can use the formula to say something true about men and women and the society in which they live.
— 1991 'Series Detectives', collected in Brown and Munro (eds) Writers Writing (1993).
One of the biggest roles of science fiction is to prepare people to accept the future without pain and to encourage a flexibility of mind . Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories. Two-thirds of 2001 is realistic hardware and technology to establish background for the metaphysical , philosophical , and religious meanings later.
arthur c. clarke— As quoted in The Making of Kubrick's 2001 (1970) by Jerome Agel, p. 300
All the plays that have ever been written, from ancient Greece to the present day, have never really been anything but thrillers... Drama's always been realistic and there's always been a detective about... Every play's an investigation brought to a successful conclusion.
eugène ionesco— Victimes du Devoir [Victims of Duty] (1953)
The detective novel is?the classic example of a specialized form of art removed from contact with the life it pretends to build on.
— 1951 In the New Statesman,16 Jun.
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.
agatha christie— Life magazine (1956-05-14)
— This is in fact something an admirer said, which Christie quoted with disapproval (p. 98)
Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky.
alan moore— "The Mustard magazine interview" (January 2005)
He's had a tough life. As is not unusual in Jewish families - if you've ever seen the movie Avalon - I think somebody's cut the turkey on Uncle Louis a few years ago... That doesn't change my view of him when I was young and he was a detective.
howard safir— Safir, reponding to the disparaging comments made about him by his uncle, Louis Weiner (who captured the bandit Willie Sutton)Russ Baker and Josh Benson (1999-05-16). "The Commish Bites Back: Howard Safir Explains His Life to His Critics". The New York Observer. Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
What else does a detective agency really need? detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. No inventory would ever include those, of course.
alexander mccall smith— The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, chapter 1
Bosh. I find a rival — but no, I won't flatter myself that Tecumseh Fox would consider himself a rival of Dol Bonner — I find an eminent detective in your apartment, and that alone is enough, without adding that he is concealed in your bedroom while I am discussing my business with you...
rex stout— Dol Bonner, to her employee Amy Duncan, chapter 2
Of course the modern detective story puts off its best tricks till the last, but Doyle always put his best tricks first and that's why they're still the best ones.
rex stout— Rex Stout, page 251
There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure you're going to make a living — cook books and detective stories.
rex stout— Rex Stout, page 3
They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias , religious prejudice , union pressures; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark , afraid of the future , afraid of the past , afraid of the present , afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves.
ray bradbury— Usher II (1950)
Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.
john buchan— Ch. 2 "I First Hear Of Mr Andrew Lumley"
The perfect detective story cannot be written. The type of mind which can evolve the perfect problem is not the type of mind that can produce the artistic job of writing.
Raymond Chandler— "Twelve Notes on the Mystery Story", published in The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler(1976)
You can always tell a detective on TV. He never takes his hat off.
Raymond Chandler— chapter 14 (Playback (1958))
I'm a detective, but nuns could stonewall Sam Spade into an asylum.
dennis lehane— Ch. 2 (A Drink Before the War (1994))
If psychics were truly successful and if their results were not simply the consequence of trickery (at worse) or good interviewing skills (at best) then why don't law enforcement agencies have psychic detective squads, a real X-files Unit, or other ways to integrate these paranormal investigative capabilites?
— Clint Van Zandt, former FBI profiler; quoted in "Shoe leather, not sixth sense, breaks cases open", MSNBC.com, 30 March 2005
The No.1Ladies' detective Agency.
alexander mccall smith— 1998 Novel title.
