30 Raymond Chandler Quotes And Sayings For Inspiration

raymond chandler quotes

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

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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

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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

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