No one likes my books except the public..

Nobody reads a book to get to the middle..

I'm not an author, I'm a writer, that's all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney..

If I need something, I'll invent it..

I don't like people. I don't like any kind of people. When you get them together in a big lump they all get nasty and dirty and full of trouble. So I….

Inspiration is an empty bank account..

I dont like any of them, because they don't read the books. In Kiss Me Deadly my story is better than his story. Anthony Quinn played in The Lond Wai….

I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book..

I'm 82 years old, wherever I go everybody knows me, but here's why... I'm a merchandiser, I'm not just a writer, I stay in every avenue you can think….

I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead..

Those big-shot writers ... could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar..

I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses..

If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the bette….

If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day..

The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book..

I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends..

I started off at the high level, in the slick magazines, but they didn't use my name, they used house names. Anyway, then I went downhill to the pulp….

If the public likes you, you're good..

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book..

Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a….

Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can't spell Cognac..