The Big Sleep Quotes
Charlotte Sternwood: [when Marlowe declines to blackmail her] Wha-? You don't want money?
Philip Marlowe: Oh sure. All I itch for is money. I'm so greedy that for fifty pounds a day plus expenses on the day I work, I risk my future, the hatred of the cops, of Eddie Mars and his pals, I dodge bullets and put up with slaps and say "Thank you very much. If you have any further trouble please call me: I'll just put my card here on the table." I do all that for a few pounds. And maybe just a little bit to protect what little pride a sick and broken old man has in his family, so that he can believe his blood is not poisoned. That his little girls - though they may be a trifle wild - are not perverts and killers.
Philip Marlowe: Oh sure. All I itch for is money. I'm so greedy that for fifty pounds a day plus expenses on the day I work, I risk my future, the hatred of the cops, of Eddie Mars and his pals, I dodge bullets and put up with slaps and say "Thank you very much. If you have any further trouble please call me: I'll just put my card here on the table." I do all that for a few pounds. And maybe just a little bit to protect what little pride a sick and broken old man has in his family, so that he can believe his blood is not poisoned. That his little girls - though they may be a trifle wild - are not perverts and killers.
Movie: The Big Sleep
[in a bookstore]
Philip Marlowe: You do sell books, hmm?
Agnes Lowzier: What do those look like, grapefruit?
Philip Marlowe: Well, from here they look like books.
Philip Marlowe: You do sell books, hmm?
Agnes Lowzier: What do those look like, grapefruit?
Philip Marlowe: Well, from here they look like books.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Carmen Sternwood : You're not very tall are you?
Philip Marlowe : Well, I, uh, I try to be.
Philip Marlowe : Well, I, uh, I try to be.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Eddie Mars : Convenient, the door being open when you didn't have a key, eh?
Philip Marlowe : Yeah, wasn't it. By the way, how'd you happen to have one?
Eddie Mars : Is that any of your business?
Philip Marlowe : I could make it my business.
Eddie Mars : I could make your business mine.
Philip Marlowe : Oh, you wouldn't like it. The pay's too small.
Philip Marlowe : Yeah, wasn't it. By the way, how'd you happen to have one?
Eddie Mars : Is that any of your business?
Philip Marlowe : I could make it my business.
Eddie Mars : I could make your business mine.
Philip Marlowe : Oh, you wouldn't like it. The pay's too small.
Movie: The Big Sleep
General Sternwood : Do you like orchids?
Philip Marlowe : Not particularly.
General Sternwood : Ugh. Nasty things. Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption.
Philip Marlowe : Not particularly.
General Sternwood : Ugh. Nasty things. Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe : Oh, Eddie, you don't have anybody watching me, do you? Tailing me in a gray Plymouth coupe, maybe?
Eddie Mars : No, why should I?
Philip Marlowe : Well, I can't imagine, unless you're worried about where I am all the time.
Eddie Mars : I don't like you that well.
Eddie Mars : No, why should I?
Philip Marlowe : Well, I can't imagine, unless you're worried about where I am all the time.
Eddie Mars : I don't like you that well.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : How did you find her?
Marlowe : I didn't find her.
Vivian : Well then how did you-...
Marlowe : I haven't been here, you haven't seen me, and she hasn't been out of the house all evening.
Marlowe : I didn't find her.
Vivian : Well then how did you-...
Marlowe : I haven't been here, you haven't seen me, and she hasn't been out of the house all evening.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : So you do get up, I was beginning to think you worked in bed like Marcel Proust.
Marlowe : Who's he?
Vivian : You wouldn't know him, a French writer.
Marlowe : Come into my boudoir.
Marlowe : Who's he?
Vivian : You wouldn't know him, a French writer.
Marlowe : Come into my boudoir.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them workout a little first, see if they're front runners or comefrom behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run.
Marlowe : Find out mine?
Vivian : I think so.
Marlowe : Go ahead.
Vivian : I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.
Marlowe : You don't like to be rated yourself.
Vivian : I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?
Marlowe : Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how, how far you can go.
Vivian : A lot depends on who's in the saddle.
Marlowe : Find out mine?
Vivian : I think so.
Marlowe : Go ahead.
Vivian : I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.
Marlowe : You don't like to be rated yourself.
Vivian : I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?
Marlowe : Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how, how far you can go.
Vivian : A lot depends on who's in the saddle.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : You go too far, Marlowe.
Marlowe : Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom.
Marlowe : Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Marlowe : You know what he'll do when he comes back? Beat my teeth out, then kick me in the stomach for mumbling.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : You've forgotten one thing - me.
Philip Marlowe : What's wrong with you?
Vivian : Nothing you can't fix. [ last lines ]
Philip Marlowe : What's wrong with you?
Vivian : Nothing you can't fix. [ last lines ]
Movie: The Big Sleep
General Sternwood : How do you like your brandy, sir?
Philip Marlowe : In a glass.
Philip Marlowe : In a glass.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : I don't like your manners.
Marlowe : And I'm not crazy about yours. I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don't mind your ritzing me drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me.
Marlowe : And I'm not crazy about yours. I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don't mind your ritzing me drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe : My, my, my! Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains! You know, you're the second guy I've met today that seems to think a gat in the hand means the world by the tail.
Movie: The Big Sleep
General Sternwood : You may smoke, too. I can still enjoy the smell of it. Hum, nice state of affairs when a man has to indulge his vices by proxy. You're looking, sir, at a very dull survival of a very gaudy life, crippled, paralyzed in both legs, barely I eat and my sleep is so near waking it's hardly worth a name. I seem to exist largely on heat like a new born spider.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Vivian : So you're a private detective. I didn't know they existed, except in books, or else they were greasy little men snooping around hotel corridors. My, you're a mess, aren't you?
Movie: The Big Sleep
General Sternwood : If I seem a bit sinister as a parent, Mr. Marlowe, it's because my hold on life is too slight to include any Victorian hypocrisy. I need hardly add that any man who has lived as I have and indulges for the first time in parenthood at my age deserves all he gets.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe : You made a mistake. Mrs. Rutledge didn't want to see me.
Norris : I'm sorry, sir. I make many mistakes.
Norris : I'm sorry, sir. I make many mistakes.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe : Hmm.
General Sternwood : What does that mean?
Philip Marlowe : It means, hmm.
General Sternwood : What does that mean?
Philip Marlowe : It means, hmm.
Movie: The Big Sleep
General Sternwood : You knew him too?
Philip Marlowe : Yes, in the old days, when he used to run rum out of Mexico and I was on the other side. We used to swap shots between drinks, or drinks between shots, whichever you like.
General Sternwood : My respects to you, sir. Few men ever swapped more than one shot with Sean Regan.
Philip Marlowe : Yes, in the old days, when he used to run rum out of Mexico and I was on the other side. We used to swap shots between drinks, or drinks between shots, whichever you like.
General Sternwood : My respects to you, sir. Few men ever swapped more than one shot with Sean Regan.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe : I know he was a good man at whatever he did. No one was more pleased than I when I heard you had taken him on as your... whatever he was.
Movie: The Big Sleep
General Sternwood : I assume they have all the usual vices, besides those they've invented for themselves.
Movie: The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe : Thanks for the drink, General.
General Sternwood : I enjoyed your drink as much as you did, sir.
General Sternwood : I enjoyed your drink as much as you did, sir.
Movie: The Big Sleep