“I'm a detective, but nuns could stonewall Sam Spade into an asylum”

“Sam Spade is as gray as the economic skies over America and moves through the story as cool and slick as a Teflon cat.”

“When a man's partner is killed he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it. Then it happens we were in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed it's bad business to let the killer get away with it. It's bad all around-bad for that one organization, bad for every detective everywhere. Sam Spade”

“The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one.”

“If these town gods can't detect the thieves who steal from their own temples, it's hardly likely they'll tell me who stole my spade.”

“To swipe the immortal lines uttered by Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, a great mystery should take "the lid off life and let [you] look at the works.”