James M. Cain

“I write of the wish that comes true, for some reason, a terrifying concept.”

“I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called.”

“The reader is the most important character in any book.”

“With this swell guy I had a drink and yarn. He is a swell guy. It is a swell book.”

“All my stories are about the American dream, what it does to you.”

“Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing, but stealing his car, that's larceny.”

“They threw me off the hay truck about noon.”

“I belong to no school, hard-boiled or otherwise.”

“I'm a writer, and I can't be anything else.”

“Yes, they caught me. I knew they would. I was ready for it.”

“There's a guy in the corner that's had a life, and I'm not interested in his life. I'm interested in what's going to happen to him.”