The Case of the Postponed Murder Quotes

“I’m listening. I listen with my ears and look with my eyes. I can’t do two things at once and really concentrate on them. Right now, I’m listening to your voice.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“People really should cultivate the art of talking to themselves. They’d learn a lot about voices if they did.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“I suppose I could have used the same amount of mental effort in some commercial activity and made money. I work like the devil thinking up wisecracks, games, stunts, and how to drink a lot without getting too awfully drunk. If you’ve never tried it, eating a lot of butter before the drinking starts is a swell stunt.” “I have a recipe which beats that,” Mason said. “You have?” “Yes.” “Be a good sport and give it to me. That butter stunt is the best I’ve ever found.” Mason said, “Mine is more simple. I don’t drink much after the drinking starts.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“Charity may begin at home, but it ends up in the poorhouse.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“Be like the clam,” Mason said. “At high tide?” “What’s the difference?” he asked. “You gather clams at low tide.” “Right,” Mason said. “Be like a clam at high tide.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“Sometimes you’re on top and things are easy. Sometimes you’re on the bottom. There’s no need to let it worry you.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“lot of men try caveman tactics because a lot of girls fall for them. I don’t. The minute a man starts pushing me around, I want to hit him with anything I can get my hands on. I think I have more trouble that way than most girls because I’m inclined to be independent, and men resent that. A lot of girls make a habit of saying ‘no’ in such a way they make the man like it. When I say ‘no,’ I say ‘NO.’ I don’t give a hang whether he likes it or doesn’t like it.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“I’m perfectly capable of living my own life. If I get into something, I want to get out of it through my own efforts. If I can’t, I want to stay there. I don’t want to have Hal Anders rushing into the city to lift me up out of the gutter, brush the mud off my clothes, smile sweetly down at me, and say, ‘Won’t you come home now, Mae, marry me, settle down, and live happily ever after?”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“He had to have someone else give him advice. That’s the trouble with him. He’s never learned to stand on his own two feet and take things as they come.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“He can’t get along without having someone pat him on the back and tell him he’s doing all right, that he’s a wonderful young man, and all that stuff.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder

“I’m going to tell you something about myself. I pay my own way as I go through the world, and I want the privilege of living my own life. I left North Mesa because I couldn’t do just that. I have my own code, my own creed, and my own ideas. I try to be true to them, all of them. I hate hypocrisy. I like fair play. I want to live my own life in my own way, and I’m willing to let other people live their lives in their way.”
― Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Postponed Murder