Raymond Thornton Chandler (1888 – 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. Hope, our collection of Raymond Chandler Quotes will inspire a writer withinn you.
A good title is the title of a successful book.
– Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler Quotes
1. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Raymond Chandler
2. “There are two kinds of truth; The truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science and the second is art.” – Raymond Chandler
3. “The more you reason the less you create.” – Raymond Chandler
4. “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.” – Raymond Chandler
5. “A writer who is afraid to overreach himself is as useless as a general who is afraid to be wrong.” – Raymond Chandler
6. “Most people go through life using up half their energy trying to protect a dignity they never had.” – Raymond Chandler
7. “A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.” – Raymond Chandler
8. “Good critical writing is measured by the perception and evaluation of the subject; bad critical writing by the necessity of maintaining the professional standing of the critic.” – Raymond Chandler
9. “The actual writing is what you live for. The rest is something you have to get through in order to arrive at the point.” – Raymond Chandler
10. “There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.” – Raymond Chandler
11. “If people could deal with each other honestly, they would not need agents.” – Raymond Chandler
12. “The moment a man sets his thoughts down on paper, however secretly, he is in a sense writing for publication.” – Raymond Chandler
13. “The moment a man begins to talk about technique that’s proof that he is fresh out of ideas.” – Raymond Chandler
14. “Courage is a strange thing: One can never be sure of it.” – Raymond Chandler
15. “The challenge is to write about real things magically.” – Raymond Chandler
16. “Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.” – Raymond Chandler
17. “An artist cannot deny art, nor would he want to. A lover cannot deny love.” – Raymond Chandler
18. “Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.” – Raymond Chandler
19. “The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous.” – Raymond Chandler
20. “There are no vital and significant forms of art; there is only art, and precious little of that.” – Raymond Chandler
21. “The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.” – Raymond Chandler
22. “If you’re not tough it’s hard to survive in this world; and if you’re not kind then you don’t deserve to survive.” – Raymond Chandler
23. “If you liked a book, don’t meet the author.” – Raymond Chandler
24. “The faster I write the better my output. If I’m going slow, I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.” – Raymond Chandler
25. “I knew one thing: as soon as anyone said you didn’t need a gun, you’d better take one along that worked.” – Raymond Chandler
26. “A really good detective never gets married.” – Raymond Chandler
27. “I suppose all writers are crazy, but if they are any good, I believe they have a terrible honesty.” – Raymond Chandler
28. “All reading for pleasure is entertainment.” – Raymond Chandler
29. “Don’t ever write anything you don’t like yourself and if you do like it, don’t take anyone’s advice about changing it. They just don’t know.” – Raymond Chandler
30. “Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.” – Raymond Chandler
