Zitate von Raymond Chandler

„Es gibt keine Falle, die so tödlich ist wie die Falle, die Sie sich selbst gestellt haben.“

—  Raymond Chandler

„Ja, ich bin genau so wie die Gestalten in meinen Büchern. Ich bin ein ruppiger Bursche und bekannt dafür, daß ich ein Wiener Hörnchen mit den bloßen Händen zerbreche.“

—  Raymond Chandler

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-41147138.html 30.08.1976
"Yes, I am exactly like the characters in my books. I am very tough and have been known to break a Vienna roll with my bare hands." - Brief an seinen Agenten Edgar Carter. 5. Februar 1951 http://theamericanreader.com/5-february-1951-raymond-chandler-to-edgar-carter/

„Ich blickte den Revolver an, und der Revolver blickte mich an.“

—  Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely

„"Ich stopfte mir eine Pfeife, ließ die Schachfiguren aufmarschieren, inspizierte sie auf französische Rasur und lose Knöpfe und spielte ein Meisterschaftsturnier durch zwischen Gortschakow und Meninkin, zweiundsiebzig Züge bis zum Remis, ein Musterbeispiel für den Kampf der unwiderstehlichen Streitmacht gegen das unbewegliche Ziel, eine Schlacht ohne Waffen, ein Krieg ohne Blut, und die komplizierteste Vergeudung menschlicher Intelligenz, die sich außerhalb einer Werbeagentur nur finden läßt." (S.192) - Der lange Abschied. Übersetzung Hans Wollschläger. Diogenes Zürich 1996 S. 192, nach“

—  Raymond Chandler, buch The Long Goodbye

https://martin-ramsauer-verlag.jimdo.com/die-neunte-reihe/erlesenes/raymond-chandler/ martin-ramsauer-verlag.jimdo.com
"I set out the chess-board. I filled a pipe, paraded the chessmen and inspected them for French shaves and loose buttons, and played a championship tournament game between Gortchakoff and Meninkin, seventy-two moves to a draw, a price specimen of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, a battle without armor, a war without blood, and as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find anywhere outside an advertising agency." - The Long Goodbye (1953). PT174 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=K2wD3ZjkzBIC&pg=PT174&dq=advertising

„Wir harten Jungs sind doch alle hoffnungslos sentimental.“

—  Raymond Chandler

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-41147138.html 30.08.1976
"All us tough guys are hopeless sentimentalists at heart" - Brief an Roger Machell 7. Februar 1955 http://articles.latimes.com/2001/may/06/books/bk-59816/3l

„Die meisten Menschen gehen mit der Hälfte ihrer Energie durchs Leben und versuchen, eine Würde zu schützen, die sie nie hatten“

—  Raymond Chandler

„Ritter hatten in diesem Spiel keine Bedeutung. Es war kein Spiel für Ritter.“

—  Raymond Chandler

„Können besteht darin, was du vermagst, Motivation darin, was du tatsächlich tust, Einstellung, wie gut du es tust.“

—  Raymond Chandler

„Keiner der beiden Leute im Raum achtete auf die Art und Weise, wie ich hereinkam, obwohl nur einer von ihnen tot war.“

—  Raymond Chandler

„Der Geruch des Coffeeshops war stark genug, um eine Garage darauf zu errichten.“

—  Raymond Chandler

„Alcohol is like love," he said. "The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off.“

—  Raymond Chandler, buch The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye (1954)

„There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart.“

—  Raymond Chandler

"Great Thought" (19 February 1938), published in The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler (1976)
Kontext: There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art, science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science, art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous.

„To say goodbye is to die a little.“

—  Raymond Chandler, buch The Long Goodbye

Quelle: The Long Goodbye

„I'm an occasional drinker, the kind of guy who goes out for a beer and wakes up in Singapore with a full beard.“

—  Raymond Chandler

Quelle: Philip Marlowe's Guide to Life

„Without magic, there is no art. Without art, there is no idealism. Without idealism, there is no integrity. Without integrity, there is nothing but production.“

—  Raymond Chandler

„There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.“

—  Raymond Chandler

Quelle: Long Goodbye

„What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now.“

—  Raymond Chandler, buch The Big Sleep

Quelle: The Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 32, Phillip Marlowe
Kontext: What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was. But the old man didn't have to be. He could lie quiet in his canopied bed, with his bloodless hands folded on the sheet, waiting. His heart was a brief, uncertain murmur. His thoughts were as gray as ashes. And in a little while he too, like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the big sleep.

„I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn't seem to be really trying.“

—  Raymond Chandler, buch The Big Sleep

Quelle: The Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 1
Kontext: The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn't have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the vizor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn't seem to be really trying.

„The modern film tries too hard to be real. Its techniques of illusion are so perfect that it requires no contribution from the audience but a mouthful of popcorn.“

—  Raymond Chandler

"About the screenplay for Strangers on a Train" (notes, 1950), first published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962), section "Chandler on the Film World and Television", p. 134
Kontext: When you read a story, you accept its implausibilities and extravagances, because they are no more fantastic than the conventions of the medium itself. But when you look at real people, moving against a real background, and hear them speaking real words, your imagination is anaesthetized. You accept what you see and hear, but you do not complement it from the resources of your own imagination. The motion picture is like a picture of a lady in a half-piece bathing suit. If she wore a few more clothes, you might be intrigued. If she wore no clothes at all, you might be shocked. But the way it is, you are occupied with noticing that her knees are too bony and that her toenails are too large. The modern film tries too hard to be real. Its techniques of illusion are so perfect that it requires no contribution from the audience but a mouthful of popcorn.