mystery quotes 1 2
Sleuthing
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle / Sherlock Holmes
“It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible,
whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”
“Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert…”
“Then, with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mr. Mac. The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession."
Frank Herbert
“If a man lies about an apparently inconsequential thing,
then that thing is not inconsequential.”
Harry Kemelman
“(The percentage of error is particularly high in the legal profession where) ... the intention is not to discover what the speaker wishes to convey, but rather what he wishes to conceal.”
Rex Stout / Nero Wolfe
“There are two ways to catch a criminal: one, connect him with the crime itself; or two, prove that he knowingly took a share of the spoils.”
“A search for negative evidence is a desperate last resort when no positive evidence can be found. Collecting and checking alibis is dreary and usually futile drudgery. No. You get positive evidence and if you find it confronted by an alibi, and if your evidence is any good, break the alibi.”
Plotting
Anton Chekhov
“If somebody places a gun on the mantle in the first act,
it must be fired before the end of the second.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.”
Colin Watson
“The setting for the crime stories by what we might call the Mayhem Parva school would be a cross between a village and a commuters’ dormitory in the South of England, self-contained, and largely self-sufficient. It would have a well-attended church, an inn with reasonable accommodation for itinerant detective-inspectors, a village institute, library and shoppes – including a chemist’s where weed killer
and hair dye might conveniently be bought.”
Alfred Hitchcock
“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
E.W. Howe
“A thief believes everybody steals.”
Arthur Conan Doyle / Sherlock Holmes
"By a man's finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs -- by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable."
Mary Alcock 1742 – 98 A Receipt for Writing A Novel
“A masquerade, a murdered peer,
His throat just cut from ear to ear –
A rake turned hermit – a fond maid
Run mad, by some false loon betrayed –
These stores supply the female pen,
Which writes them o’er and o’er again,
And readers likewise may be found
To circulate them round and round.”
Ruth Rendell
“Murder itself is not interesting. It is the impetus to murder, the passions and terrors which bring it to pass and the varieties of feelings surrounding the act that make a sordid or revolting event compulsive fascination. Even the most ardent readers of detective fiction are not much preoccupied with whether a Colt Magnum revolver or a Bowie knife was used to dispatch the victim. The perpetrator’s purpose, the ‘why’, is what impels them to read on.”
Mario Puzo / The Godfather
“We’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Mary Roberts Rinehart
“The butler did it.”
S.S. Van Dine, pseudo. For Willard Huntington Wright
“The truth of the problem must at all times be
apparent – provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it.”
Agatha Christie / Jane Marple
“What you have to account for is if one person did see something why didn't that person say so? ... Possibility one. The person who saw it didn't realize what they had seen. That would mean, of course, that it would have to be rather a stupid person. some, let us say, who can use their eyes but not their brain. ... It might have been a person whose action in putting something in a glass was natural. It would be quite possible, audacious but possible, for someone to pick up that glass which as soon as it was in his hand or her hand, of course, would be assumed to be his or her own drink and to add whatever was added quite openly. In that case you see, people wouldn’t think twice…it would be a gamble, a risk, but it could happen…Possibility three…Somebody saw what happened and held their tongue deliberately … if so, it’s a very dangerous thing to do."
Vincent Price
“Although classic mysteries feature a multitude of relatives and chance acquaintances – everyone’s always related, if not by birth, then by happenstance – these are mere teacup coincidences compared to the personal involvements and shared histories that exist in a psychological thriller.”
Law & Justice
H.L. Mencken
“Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.”
Cicero
“Let the punishment match the offense.”
Thomas Fuller
“To punish and not prevent is to labour at the pump
and leave open the leak.”
Nietzsche
“Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.”
Freda Adler
“Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical pretensions,
a crime is anything that a group in power chooses to prohibit.”
Samuel Butler
“The thief. Once committed beyond a certain point he should
not worry himself too much about not being a thief any more.
Thieving is God’s message to him. Let him try and be a good thief.”
Peire Cardenal
“If some beggar steals a bridle he’ll be hung by a man who’s stolen a horse.”
John Dryden
“Successful crimes alone are justified.”
Earl Wilson
“Somebody figured it out -- we have 35 million laws
trying to enforce Ten Commandments.”
Robert Frost
“A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.”
Abraham Lincoln
“A jury too often has at least one member more ready to
hang the panel than to hang the traitor.”
H.L. Mencken
“The common argument that crime is caused by poverty
is a kind of slander on the poor.”
Robert Emmet Sherwood
“And who are the greater criminals - those who sell
the instruments of death, or those who buy them and use them?”
Allen Tucker
“We enact many laws that manufacture criminals,
and then a few that punish them.”
Mark Twain
“A crime persevered in a thousand centuries ceases to be a crime, and becomes a virtue. This is the law of custom, and custom supersedes all other forms of law.”
Voltaire
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
Oscar Wilde
“As one reads history … one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted.”
…From the Movies
BATMAN RETURNS
Based on the series by Bill Kane starring Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer
Catwoman (Miss Kyle) to Batman (Bruce Wayne): "It’s the so called normal guys that always let you down. Sickos never scare me. At least they’re committed."
CHARADE
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant
C. Do we know each other?
A. Why, do you think we are going to?
C: I don’t know. How would I know?
A: Because I already know an awful lot of people and until one of them dies I couldn’t possibly meet anyone else.
C: Hm. Well if anyone goes on the critical list, let me know.
A: Quitter. You give up awfully easy, don’t you?
QUOTES from LADY IN THE LAKEScreen Play by Steve Fisher Based on the Novel by Raymond Chandler
Directed by and starring Robert Montgomery
Most of the dialogue is between the characters of Philip Marlowe and Adrianne Fromsett. In some cases initials have been used to denote who is speaking.
Philip Marlowe: “I was tired of being pushed around for nickels and dimes so I decided I’d write about murder. It’s safer.”
Philip Marlowe: “Ok. You’re smart. But let me give you a tip. You’ve gotta watch them. You’ve gotta watch them all the time. Because things happen when you least expect them.”
Adrianne Fromsett: “Besides, you see, people who write usually don’t know the facts and people who know the facts, usually can’t write. Authenticity has very little to do with it. If people who read our magazine knew the facts of life, Mr. Marlowe, they wouldn’t be reading our magazine.”
Philip Marlowe: “Why don’t you quit being cute, Miss Fromsett. The real reason you had me up here is because you’re looking for a smooth operator who keeps his mouth shut and when you read the story you said, ‘Yup that’s my boy, he’s dumb, he’s brave and he’s cheap.' Am I right?”
PM: “… but this isn’t the ordinary blood and thunder yarn …”
AF: “Please don’t be so difficult to get along with. I need help.”
PM: “Like I need four thumbs.”
AF: “I, um, I wonder how it would be to discuss this over a couple of ice cubes. Would you care to try?"
PM: “Heh heh heh heh heh. Imagine you needing ice cubes.”
AF: “You don’t marry the Chris Laverys of this world. You just pay their bills, lend them all the money they need and forget to ask for it back.”
AF: “Tell me, Mr. Marlowe, do you always fall in love with all your clients?”
PM: “Only the ones in skirts.”
AF: “Well if you think I’m going to settle for a cheap detective you’re sadly mistaken. I’ve been pushed around too much in this world. There’s more than one Kingsby on the Christmas tree, Mr. Marlowe, and I’ll shake one loose yet, don’t you worry. And as for you, you’re off the case. There isn’t any case any more. Now kindly haul yourself out of here and send me a bill for your failure. I never want to see you again.”
Derris Kingsby: “Well you want the facts, don’t you?”
PM: “When it concerns a woman does anybody ever really want the facts?”
AF: “Stop getting involved in other people’s murders. Why be a private detective at all?”
PM "Why eat? You only get hungry again."
De Gamo: “How does it feel dying in the dirty middle of somebody else’s love affair?"
QUOTES from THE ZERO EFFECT
Written & Directed by Jake Kasdan
Gregory Stark: “Imagine some opportunistic piece of bird shit has got a way to compromise you. What do you do about it? 'Cause you can't buy silence. You can only rent it. So if someone has something on you, they are always going to have it. So the cost has no ceiling. And the fear has no end to it. That's why some knowledge, some information is like a terminal disease. It's contagious and it's fatal.”
Daryl Zero: “I begin my examination with the method. I always say that the essence of my work relies fundamentally on two basic principles. Objectivity and observation - or the two obs as I call them. My work relies on my ability to remain absolutely, purely objective. Detached. I have mastered the fine art of detachment. And while it comes at some cost, this supreme objectivity is what makes me, I dare say, the greatest observer the world has ever known.”
Daryl Zero: “Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad, because of all the things in the world, you are only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good because of all the things in the world, you are sure to find some of them. And the most important rule: Often the thing you are looking for is right in front of your nose.”
Daryl Zero: “I can't possibly overstate the importance of good research. Everyone goes through life dropping crumbs. If you can recognize the crumbs you can trace back, all the way back from your death certificate to the dinner and the movie that resulted in you in the first place. But research is an art, not a science. Because anyone who knows what they are doing can find the crumbs, the wheres, the whats and the whos. The art is in the whys. The ability to read between the crumbs. Not to mix metaphors. For every event there is a cause and effect, for every crime a motive, and for every motive a passion. The art of the research is the ability to look at the details and see the passion.”
Daryl Zero: “Passion is the enemy of precision. Forget the misnomer 'crime of passion'. All crime is passionate. It is passion that moves the criminal to act, that disrupts the static inertia of morality. The client's passion for this dead woman had facilitated his downfall. And the blackmailer's passion would facilitate hers. When you live with no passion at all, other
people's passions come into glaring relief.”
mystery quotes 1 2
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