The Maltese Falcon Quotes

“He felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him look at the works.”

“Oh, I’m so tired, so tired of it all, of myself, of lying and thinking up lies, and not knowing what is a lie and what is the truth.”

“The life he knew was a clean orderly sane responsible affair. Now a falling beam had shown him that life was fundamentally none of these things.”

″‘We believed your two hundred dollars.’ ‘You mean –?’ She seemed to not know what he meant. ‘I mean you paid us more than if you’d been telling the truth,’ he explained blandly, ‘and enough more to make it all right.‘”

“I’ve thrown myself on your mercy, told you that without your help I’m utterly lost. What else is there?”

“Most things in San Francisco can be bought, or taken.”

“Belong? Well, sir, you might say it belonged to the King of Spain, but I don’t see how you can honestly grant anybody else clear title to it—except by right of possession.”

“I’ve been bad—worse than you could know—but I’m not all bad. Look at me, Mr. Spade. You know I’m not all bad, don’t you? You can see that, can’t you? Then can’t you trust me just a little?”

“I want you to save me from- from it all.”

“And you know I’d never have placed myself in this position if I hadn’t trusted you completely.”

“Maybe you saw her first, Sam, but I spoke first.”

“He looked rather pleasantly like a blond Satan.”