Detective Quotes

185 Detective quotes by 140 unique authors

If I'm home with no chore at hand, and a package of books has come, the television set and the chess board and the unanswered… — Rex Stout
To read of a detective's daring finesse or ingenious stratagem is a rare joy. — Rex Stout
What I try to do is write a story about a detective rather than a detective story. Keeping the reader fooled until the last, possible… — Dashiell Hammett
Certainly going back to Sherlock Holmes we have a tradition of forensic science featured in detective stories. — Jeffery Deaver
These days we don’t have to fit into something other people think we are. We’ve leveled the playing field, life is inclusive. I’m a mom,… — Mariska Hargitay
It is not the fault of the entrepreneurs that the consumers,the people, the common man,prefer liquor to Bibles and detective stories to serious books, and… — Ludwig von Mises
Every man that ever lived craved perfect happiness, the detective poignantly reflected. But how can we have it when we know we’re going to die?… — William Peter Blatty
The surprise with which a detective novel concludes should set up tragic vibrations which run backward through the entire structure. — Ross Macdonald
Who am I that I should urge these missionaries to confess their sins in public, when, for all I know, they may be living nearer… — Jonathan Goforth
A detective with his murder mystery, a chemist seeking the structure of a new compound, use little of the formal and logical modes of reasoning.… — Gilbert N. Lewis
Become a creative thinking detective! Ask probing questions. There is no such thing as a wasted question. — Elaine Dundon
A detective sees death in all the various forms at least five times a week. — Ed McBain
The boy detective thinks, The only thing all men have in common with one another is their inherent capacity to make mistakes. He reasons, But… — Joe Meno
I came to believe that being a private detective was the work I was meant to do. — Shirley Jackson
I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play detective. — James Ellroy
Quotations are powerful tools. Michel de Montaigne, the father of all essayists, observed, 'I quote others only to better express myself.' Intrepid quotations detective Ralph… — Richard Lederer
The careful scholarship of the dedicated amateur mycophile R. Gordon Wasson reads like an exciting scientific detective story. Moreover, his willingness to pursue the quest… — Weston La Barre
The detective story is the normal recreation of noble minds. — Philip Guedalla
Your novels show only the tiniest fraction of detective work, the brilliant crime, the tantalizing clues, the dramatic chase, the final battle atop a lofty… — Stefan Petrucha
I know what kind of things I myself have been irritated by in detective stories. They are often about one or two persons, but they… — Steig Larsson
There should be a detective show called "Johnny Monkey," because every week you could have a guy say "I ain't gonna get caught by no… — Jack Handey
Boredom has been used as a technique, it is a device. In Zen, boredom is used as a device: you are bored to death, and… — Rajneesh
It is dangerous to engage in even the most innocuous-seeming discourse with the FBI/ Homeland Security/ a local detective. — Ingrid Newkirk
No. I just don't want to be a detective. They figure out what happened after the fact, when it's too late. I want to prevent… — Jennifer Echols
I enjoy doing the research of nonfiction; that gives me some pleasure, being a detective again. — Joseph Wambaugh

Who Wrote These Detective Quotes

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