The Barbarous Coast Quotes

“She said surprisingly, in a voice as thin as a flute:
"Are you a good man?"
"I like to think so," but her candor stopped me. "No," I said, "I'm not. I keep trying, when I remember to, but it keeps getting tougher every year. Like trying to chin yourself with one hand. You can practice off and on all your life, and never make it.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“You notice things."
"A sexburger like her I notice." The tip of his tongue protruded between his teeth, which were a good grade of plastic.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“For answer, he threw off the covers, swung his legs over the edge of the high bed, reached for the floor with his bare feet, and stood up tottering. Then he fell forward onto his knees, his head swinging loose, slack as a killed buck.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“Embarrassment thickened in his throat like phlegm.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“If you can't pass on a little loving-kindness in this world, you might as well be a gopher in a hole.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“Don't be silly," he said uncertainly. "Now, what's your problem? If you think you're broke, I'm broker, ask my broker.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“A taste of whiskey had changed her mood, as a touch of acid will change the color of blue litmus paper.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“That was the trouble with alcohol as a sedative. It floated you off reality for a while, but it brought you back by a route that meandered through the ash-dumps of hell.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“...Miss Seeley came in.... She was a little older, a little thinner. Her tailored pinstriped suit emphasized the boniness of her figure. But she still wore hopeful white ruffles at her wrists and throat.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“She held her shoulders straighter, and her breasts were bold.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“Why wasn’t he arrested?” “He was, but they couldn’t convict him. Don’t ask me why. Ask the politicians that ran the cops in New York and Jersey and Cleveland and the other places. Ask the people that voted for the politicians.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“had chewed and swallowed it, he said: “I don’t generally let the language flow around here. People, the richer they get, the more they dislike to hear a Negro express himself in well-chosen words. I guess they feel there’s no point in being rich unless you can feel superior to somebody. I study English on the college level, but if I talked that way I’d lose my job. People are very sensitive.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“Anton was in his office, short and wide behind the desk in a gabardine suit the color of lemon ice cream. His face was sunlamp brown.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“He gave me an appealing look, which fell with a thud between us:”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast

“You are joking. You must want money. You work for money, don't you?"
"I want it very badly," I said. "But I can't take this money. It wouldn't belong to me, I would belong to it. It would expect me to do things, and I would have to do them. Sit on the lid of this mess of yours, the way Marfeld did, until dry rot sets in.”
― Ross Macdonald, The Barbarous Coast