John D. MacDonald > Quotes

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.”
― John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament

“We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody threw the girl off the bridge.”
― John D. MacDonald, Darker Than Amber

“If the cards are stacked against you, reshuffle the deck.”
― John D. MacDonald

“A man with a credit card is in hock to his own image of himself.”
― John D. MacDonald, The Deep Blue Good-by

“I am wary of the whole dreary deadening structured mess that we have built into such a glittering top-heavy structure that there is nothing left to see but the glitter, and the brute routines of maintaining it.”
― John D. MacDonald, The Deep Blue Good-by

“At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self. Some come to realize this after they are in the nursing home.”
― John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain

“Please not yet. Those are the three eternal words. Please not yet.”
― John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold

“This was not some pretty little girl, coyly flirtatious, delicately stimulated. This was the mature female of the species, vivid, handsome and strong demanding that all the life within her be matched. Her instinct would detect any hedging, any dishonesty, any less than complete response to her - and then she would be gone for good. (The Quick Red Fox)”
― John D. MacDonald

“Sama seperti perkawinan, persahabatan tergantung pada menghindari hal-hal yang tidak termaafkan.”
― John D. MacDonald

“It can happen to anybody, getting all hung up on some twenty-year-old quiff. Like the little dog in the freight yard, and the train nips off the end of his tail and he yelps and spins around and it cuts off his head. Never lose your head over a piece of tail.”
― John D. MacDonald

“[Los Angeles] the world's biggest third-class city...”
― John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold

“...there are people who try to look as if they are doing a good and thorough job, and then there are the people who actually damn well do it, for its own sake.”
― John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson

“Bugs would eat the wax. Chaw the old canvas. And one day there will be a mutation, and we will have new ones that can digest concrete, dissolve steel and suck up the acid puddles, fatten on magic plastics, lick their slow way through glass. Then the cities will tumble and man will be chased back into the sea from which he came...”
― John D. MacDonald, The Deep Blue Good-by