---
title: "1 Clues Quotes By Ross MacDonald"
description: "1 Clues quotes by Ross MacDonald. Plus more from Ross MacDonald and more Clues sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de7/ross-macdonald-10904_broken_we-writers-as-we-work-our-way-deeper-int_2187343.jpg"
---

> [We writers, as we work our way deeper into our craft, learn to drop more and more personal clues. Like burglars who secretly wish to be caught, we leave our fingerprints on broken locks, our voiceprints in bugged rooms, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/we-writers-as-we-work-our-way-deeper-into-our-craft-learn-to-drop/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de7/ross-macdonald-10904_broken_we-writers-as-we-work-our-way-deeper-int_2187343.jpg)

## More by Ross MacDonald

> [Money costs too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/money-costs-too-much/)

[Ross MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“The sea was surging among the pilings like the blithe mindless forces of dissolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/the-sea-was-surging-among-the-pilings-like-the-blithe-mindless-forces/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [I knew how it was with drunks. They ran out of generosity, even for themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/i-knew-how-it-was-with-drunks-they-ran-out-of-generosity-even-for/)

[Ross MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“She didn't look like any motel manager I had ever seen. More likely an actress who hadn't quite made the grade down south, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/she-didn-t-look-like-any-motel-manager-i-had-ever-seen-more-likely-an/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“In wine was truth, perhaps, but in whisky, the way Hoffman sluiced it down, was an army of imaginary rats climbing your legs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/in-wine-was-truth-perhaps-but-in-whisky-the-way-hoffman-sluiced-it/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“...a thin woman about fifty with a face like a silver hatchet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/a-thin-woman-about-fifty-with-a-face-like-a-silver-hatchet/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“A cockroach stepped out from behind the ketchup, gave me a quick impassive once-over, decided that I was of the Brahmin faith, and walked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/a-cockroach-stepped-out-from-behind-the-ketchup-gave-me-a-quick/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“No more guns for you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/no-more-guns-for-you/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [I have a secret passion for mercy. . . but justice is what keeps happening to people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/i-have-a-secret-passion-for-mercy-but-justice-is-what-keeps-happening/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [“I found myself wishing that we could live like the birds and move through nature without hurting it ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/i-found-myself-wishing-that-we-could-live-like-the-birds-and-move/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [An ugly woman with a gun is a terrible thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/an-ugly-woman-with-a-gun-is-a-terrible-thing/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [I like a little danger. Tame danger, controlled by me. It gives me a sense of power, I guess, to take my life in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/i-like-a-little-danger-tame-danger-controlled-by-me-it-gives-me-a/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [I had reached the point when I could not see anything clearly ahead, I needed help, and I got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/i-had-reached-the-point-when-i-could-not-see-anything-clearly-ahead-i/)

[Ross MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [How can a man help breaking the law when he don't have money to live on?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/how-can-a-man-help-breaking-the-law-when-he-don-t-have-money-to-live/)

[Ross MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

> [The smell of the sea, of kelp and fish and bitter moving water, rose stronger in my nostrils. It flooded my consciousness like an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-macdonald/the-smell-of-the-sea-of-kelp-and-fish-and-bitter-moving-water-rose/)

[Ross Macdonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-macdonald/)

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