James M. Cain > Quotes

“Love, when you get fear in it, it's not love any more. It's hate.”
― James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice

“I write of the wish that comes true--for some reason, a terrifying thought.”
― James M. Cain

“You have to wait for your mind to catch up with whatever it is it’s working on; then you can write a novel.”
― James M. Cain

“If you have to do it, you can do it.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“She was a little given to rehearsing things in her mind, and having imaginary triumphs over people who had upset her in one way and another.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“O.K."
"Gee I'm glad."
"Me too. I'm so sick of hot dogs and beer and apple pie with cheese on the side I could heave it all in the river."
"You'll love it, Frank. We'll get a place up in the mountains, where it's cool, and then, after I get my act ready, we can go all over the world with it. Go as we please, do as we please, and have plenty of money to spend. Have you got a little bit of gypsy in you?"
"Gypsy? I had rings in my ears when I was born.”
― James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice

“That's all it takes, one drop of fear to curdle love into hate.”
― James M. Cain

“A home is not a museum. It doesn't have to be furnished with Picasso paintings, or Sheraton suites, or Oriental rugs, or Chinese pottery. But it does have to be furnished with things that mean something to you.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing, but stealing his car, that's larceny.”
― James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice

“let's get stinko.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“They threw me off the haytruck about noon.”
― James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice

“There's a shark. Following the ship.'

I tried not to look, but couldn't help it. I saw a flash of dirty white down in the green. We walked back to the deck chairs.

Walter, we'll have to wait. Till the moon comes up.'

I guess we better have a moon.'

I want to see that fin. That black fin. Cutting the water in the moonlight.”
― James M. Cain, Double Indemnity

“There was something unnatural, a little unhealthy, about the way she inhaled Veda's smell as she dedicated the rest of her life to this child who had been spared.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“A year and a half had indeed made some changes in Veda's appearance. She was still no more than medium height, but her haughty carriage made her seem taller. The hips were as slim as ever, but had taken on some touch of voluptuousness. The legs were Mildred's, to the last graceful contour. But the most noticeable change was what Monty brutally called the Dairy: two round, swelling protuberances that had appeared almost overnight on the high, arching chest. They would have been large, even for a woman: but for a child of thirteen they were positively startling. Mildred had a mystical feeling about them: they made her think tremulously of Love, Motherhood, and similar milky concepts.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“By nine, Mildred was powdered, puffed, perfumed, and patted to that state of semi-transparency that a woman seems to achieve when she is really dressed to go out.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“Mildred sat quite still, and when she heard Veda drive off she was consumed by a fury so cold that it almost seemed as though she felt nothing at all. It didn't occur to her that she was acting less like a mother than like a lover who had unexpectedly discovered an act of faithlessness, and avenged it.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“When Mildred went to bed her stomach hurt from laughter, her heart ached from happiness. Then she remembered that while Veda had kissed her, that first moment when she had entered the house, she still hadn't kissed Veda. She tiptoed into the room she had hoped Veda would occupy, knelt beside the bed as she had knelt so many times in Glendale, took the lovely creature in her arms and kissed her, hard, on the mouth.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“Up close, she could see the sharp, cold, look that she constantly shot at Mr. Treviso, particularly when there was a break, and she was waiting to come in. It shattered illusion for Mildred. She preferred to remain at a distance, to enjoy this child as she seemed, rather than as she was.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“Veda began it, but when she finished it, or whether she finished it, Mildred never quite knew. Little quivers went through her and they kept going through her the rest of the night, during the supper party, when Veda sat with the white scarf wound around her throat, during the brief half hour, while she undressed Veda, and put the costume away; in the dark, while she lay there alone, trying to sleep, not wanting to sleep.

This was the climax of Mildred's life.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“Then she got up, went to Monty's mirror, and began combing her hair, while little cadenzas absentmindedly cascaded out of her throat, and cold drops cascaded over Mildred's heart. For Veda was stark naked. From the massive, singer's torso, with the Dairy quaking in front, to the slim hips, to the lovely legs, there wasn't so much as a garter to hide a path of skin.”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

“If your writing doesn`t keep you up at night, it won`t keep anyone else up either".”
― James M. Cain

“With this money I can get away from you. From you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture, and this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls. You think just because you've made a little money you can get a new hairdo and some expensive clothes and turn yourself into a lady. But you can't, because you'll never be anything but a common frump, whose father lived over a grocery store and whose mother took in washing. With this money, I can get away from every rotten, stinking thing that makes me think of this place or you!”
― James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce