91 Quotes by Jim Thompson

If the Good Lord made a mistake in us people it was in making us want to live when we’ve got the least excuse for it.

There is only one plot-things are not what they seem.

It doesn't matter what answers you get if you ask the wrong questions.

You can't stamp on a man's corns when he's got his feet cut off.

When life attains a crisis, man’s focus narrows. […] The world becomes a stage of immediate concern, swept free of illusion.

Dad always said that he had enough trouble sorting the fiction out of so-called facts, without reading fiction. He always said that science was already too muddled without trying to make it jibe with religion. He said those things, but he also said that science itself could be a religion, that a broad mind was always in danger of becoming narrow.

I ain't saying you're a liar, because that wouldn't be polite. But I'll tell you this, ma'am. If I loved liars, I'd hug you to death.

What smells good in the store may stink in the stewpot.

There are thirty-two ways to write a story, and I’ve used every one, but there is only one plot – things are not as they seem.