The Maltese Falcon Quotes

“He looked rather pleasantly, like a blonde satan.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation ready.
Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“We didn't exactly believe your story.'
Then --?'
'We believed your two hundred dollars.'
'You mean --' She seemed not to know what he meant.
'I mean that you paid us more than if you'd been telling the truth,' he explained blandly, 'and enough more to make it all right.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink to much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“My way of learning is to heave a wild and unpredictable monkey-wrench into the machinery.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“When a man's partner is killed he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it. Then it happens we were in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. It's bad all around-bad for that one organization, bad for every detective everywhere.
Sam Spade”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“He felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him see the works.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, its possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Brigid O'Shaughnessy: “I haven't lived a good life. I've been bad, worse than you could know.”
Sam Spade “You know, that's good, because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be, we'd never get anywhere”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Talking is something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Listen, Dundy, it's been a long time since I burst into tears because a policeman didn't like me.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“He said: "I'm going to send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means you'll be out again in twenty years. You're an angel. I'll wait for you." He cleared his throat. "If they hang you I'll always remember you.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“You always have, I must say, a smooth explanation ready."
"What do you want me to do? Learn to stutter?”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Yes,' Spade growled. 'And when you're slapped you'll take it and like it.' He released Cairo's wrist and with a thick open hand struck the side of his face three times savagely.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“That's wonderful. I do like a man that tells you right out he’s looking out for himself. Don’t we all? I don’t trust a man that says he’s not. And the man that’s telling the truth when he says he’s not I distrust most of all, because he’s and ass and an ass that’s going contrary to the laws of nature.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“We begin well, sir," the fat man purred … "I distrust a man that says when. If he's got to be careful not to drink too much it's because he's not to be trusted when he does. … Well, sir, here's to plain speaking and clear understanding. … You're a close-mouthed man?"
Spade shook his head. "I like to talk."
"Better and better!" the fat man exclaimed. "I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously unless you keep in practice.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“The hell of it, Miss- Is your name Wonderly or Leblanc?' She blushed and murmured: 'It's really O'Shaughnessy - Brigid O'Shaughnessy”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“But that's the part of it I always liked. He adjusted himself to beams falling, and then no more of them fell, and he adjusted himself to them not falling.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Gutman smiled benignly at him and said: “Well, Wilmer, I’m sorry indeed to lose you, and I want you to know that I couldn’t be any fonder of you if you were my own son; but—well, by Gad!—if you lose a son it’s possible to get another—and there’s only one Maltese falcon.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“-Desapareció - dijo Spade - como desaparece un puño cuando se abre la mano.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“You're not going to go around poking at the fire and straightening up the room again, are you?”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“He turned to face her. The two vertical lines above his nose were deep clefts between red wales. "I don't give a damn about your honesty," he told her, trying to make himself speak calmly. "I don't care what kind of tricks you're up to, what your secrets are, but I've got to have something to show that you know what you're doing."
"I do know. Please believe that I do, and that it's all for the best, and--"
"Show me," he ordered. "I'm willing to help you. I've done what I could so far. If necessary I'll go ahead blindfolded, but I can't do it without more confidence in you than I've got now. You've got to convince me that you know what it's all about, that you're not simply fiddling around by guess and by God, hoping it'll come out all right somehow in the end.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Samuel Spade’s jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were horizontal. The v motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down—from high flat temples—in a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of
his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were
horizontal. The V motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases
above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down--from high flat temples--in a point on
his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond Satan.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“You're good. You're very good. It's chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get into your voice when you say things like 'Be generous, Mr. Spade.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“I don't think he even knew he had settled back naturally into the same groove he had jumped out of in Tacoma. But that's the part of it I always liked. He adjusted himself to beams falling, and then no more of them fell, and he adjusted himself to them not falling.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“Yes, but- oh, sweetheart! - it wasn't only like that I would have come back to you sooner or later. From the first instant I saw you I knew..."

Spade said tenderly: "You angel! Well, if you get a good break you will be out of San Quentin in twenty years and you can come back to me then.”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon