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March 14, 2007


Hard Work’s No Substitute for Talent

Just finished the last book Raymond Chandler wrote, Playback (1958). Here are some of my favorite lines (and classic Marlowe metaphors and similes):

I’ve got friends who could cut you down so small you’d need a stepladder to put your shoes on.

Guns never settle anything. They are just a fast curtain to a bad second act.

She looked as hard to get as a controlling interest in General Motors.

For five grand I’d climb 12 stories in a diver’s suit.

I was empty enough to steal the dog’s dinner.

The silence fell like a bag of feathers.

… as clear as distilled water.

… as noisy as a Swiss watch.

… as thin as a hoofer’s wallet.

… as much sympathy as a loan shark.

… as anonymous as a nickel in a parking meter.

… as easy to spot as a kangaroo in a dinner jacket.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 11:31 am (utc+8) and is filed under Personal.

5 Responses to “Hard Work’s No Substitute for Talent”

  1. john said:
    March 14th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

    whats a hoofer?

  2. C. Maoxian said:
    March 14th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

    john: A dancer, I believe.

  3. Amir said:
    March 14th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    hoofer

    noun

    * S: (n) hoofer, stepper (a professional dancer)

  4. chud said:
    March 15th, 2007 at 11:04 pm

    Just finished Shark Infested Custard by Willeford; wish I could remember some of the good lines in there. I gotta start writing em down I guess.

    Always love to read some Marlowe lines.

  5. C. Maoxian said:
    March 16th, 2007 at 7:50 am

    chud: The paragraph describing Jannaire’s “reek” is a classic from TSIC. Chandler is great, though Playback’s story is pretty weak.

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