71 Quotes by Mickey Spillane

I don't like people. I don't like any kind of people. When you get them together in a big lump they all get nasty and dirty and full of trouble. So I don't like people including you. That's what a misanthropist is.

Inspiration is an empty bank account.

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

Mike Hammer drinks beer because I can’t spell Cognac.

I’m a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.

If you’re a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he’s good, the older he gets, the better he writes.

If I need something, I’ll invent it.

Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle; they read it to get to the end. If it’s a letdown, they won’t buy any more. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.

I’m not an author, I’m a writer, that’s all I am. Authors want their names down in history; I want to keep the smoke coming out of the chimney.