Writing a novel is like working on foreign policy. There are problems to be solved. It's not all inspirational. — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
You usually can tell when a writer is going down hill by the size of his liquor bill. — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
If your writing doesn't keep you up at night, it won't keep anyone else up either". — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
I write of the wish that comes true--for some reason, a terrifying thought. — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
You have to wait for your mind to catch up with whatever it is it’s working on; then you can write a… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
If you can't write like New York, you have no business living in New York and making New York the locale of… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
“...if he can write a book at all, a writer cannot do it by peeping over his shoulder at somebody else, any… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
When it’s too good, you do it over again. Too good is too easy. If it’s too easy you have to worry.… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
A lot of novelists start late-Conrad, Pirandello, even Mark Twain. When you're young, chess is all right, and music and poetry. But… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
A home is not a museum. It doesn't have to be furnished with Picasso paintings, or Sheraton suites, or Oriental rugs, or Chinese pottery.… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
“By nine, Mildred was powdered, puffed, perfumed, and patted to that state of semi-transparency that a woman seems to achieve when she is really… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
“I ripped all her clothes off. She twisted and turned, slow, so they would slip out from under her. Then she closed her eyes… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
“Then she got up, went to Monty's mirror, and began combing her hair, while little cadenzas absentmindedly cascaded out of her throat, and cold… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
If your writing doesn't keep you up at night, it won't keep anyone else up either". — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
“Up close, she could see the sharp, cold, look that she constantly shot at Mr. Treviso, particularly when there was a break, and she… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I merely try… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
She was a little given to rehearsing things in her mind, and having imaginary triumphs over people who had upset her in one way… — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
“She looked like the great grandmother of every whore in the world. The devil got his money's worth that night.” — James M. Cain Copy Share Image
