Best Detective Sayings

185 Detective quotes by 140 unique authors

Johannes Cabal would kill me for saying this, but he's my favorite Zeppelin-hopping detective. The fellow has got all the charm of Bond and the… — Daniel H. Wilson
Detective stories have nothing to do with works of art. — Wystan Hugh Auden
A detective novel should contain no long descriptive passages, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no 'atmospheric' preoccupations. Such matters have… — S. S. Van Dine
The detective story itself is in a dilemma. It is a vein which is in danger of being worked out, the demand is constant, the… — Cyril Connolly
We would never call inexplicable little insights hunches, for fear of drawing the universe's attention. But they happened, and you knew you had been in… — China Mieville
This element of surprise or mystery the detective element as it is sometimes rather emptily called is of great importance in a plot. — E. M. Forster
Being a nerd, which is to say going to far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I… — Sarah Vowell
Eventually I would like to touch all the genres. I would like to do some detective stories, and I want to do a Western. I… — Sergio Aragones
What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order. — P.D. James
The girl's face was the color of talcum. Her uncle's was a death mask, a bone structure overlaid by parchment. Shane's was granite, with a… — Cornell Woolrich
The perfect detective story cannot be written. The type of mind which can evolve the perfect problem is not the type of mind that can… — Raymond Chandler
You can always tell a detective on TV. He never takes his hat off. — Raymond Chandler
The average detective story is probably no worse than the average novel, but you never see the average novel. It doesn't get published. The average… — Raymond Chandler
He knows that after him everything will continue on much as before, except that there will be a minuscule absence, a barely detective gap in… — John Banville
In history, one gathers clues like a detective, tries to present an honest account of what most likely happened, and writes a narrative according to… — Victor Davis Hanson
THE WICKED + THE DIVINE is unlike True Detective as: it features women who do things. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE is like True Detective… — Kieron Gillen
If the detective should suffer overmuch from the artistic temperament, and his fellow lodger should dwell overlong upon the fairness of a wrist or the… — Loren D. Estleman
I think these days an SF connection would be a boost to other books; I'm sure more people have read my two little detective puzzles… — John Thomas Sladek
There came this point where I sat down with all my notebooks and I had to start to write, when I thought: this whole notion… — David Simon
It means that no matter what you write, be it a biography, an autobiography, a detective novel, or a conversation on the street, it all… — Guillermo Cabrera Infante
In ordinary detective novels you never see the consequences of what happens in a story in the next book. That you do in mine. — Steig Larsson
Writing detective stories is about writing light literature, for entertainment. It isn't primarily a question of writing propaganda or classical literature. — Steig Larsson
I never have liked detective dramas. I try to watch all of them to see what's going on, but I don't like them. — Kevin Whately
I wanted to play a TV detective because it's a rite of passage; I wanted to experience every area of acting. I haven't done comedy… — Olivia Williams
When I was growing up, I dreamed about becoming a cowgirl, a detective, a spy, a great actress, or a ballerina. Not a dentist, like… — Judy Blume

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140 authors contributed a total of 185 Detective Quotes, led by these top contributors:

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