“
I had a funny feeling as I saw the house disappear, as though I had written a poem and it was very good and I had lost it and would never remember it again.
”
”
Raymond Chandler (The High Window (Philip Marlowe, #3))
“
There should be a rule against people trying to be funny before the sun comes up.
”
”
Kristen Chandler (Girls Don't Fly)
“
Good dog! Nice fetch!"
"He wasn't fetching."
"Bring her here, boy. Good job!"
The dog looked from Zack to me.
"I've been training him," Zack said. "Up till now he's brought home only dead rabbits, but I guess he's finally getting the hang of it.
”
”
Elizabeth Chandler (The Back Door of Midnight (Dark Secrets, #5))
“
The other part of me wanted to get out and stay out, but this was the part I never listened to. Because if I ever had I would have stayed in the town where I was born and worked in the hardware store and married the boss's daughter and had five kids and read them the funny paper on Sunday morning and smacked their heads when they got out of line and squabbled with the wife about how much spending money they were to get and what programs they could have on the radio or TV set. I might even get rich - small-town rich, an eight-room house, two cars in the garage, chicken every Sunday and the Reader's Digest on the living room table, the wife with a cast-iron permanent and me with a brain like a sack of Portland cement. You take it, friend. I'll take the big sordid dirty crooked city.
”
”
Raymond Chandler (The Long Goodbye (Philip Marlowe, #6))
“
He was fucking with us pretty hard in the saferoom,” Sandra called from the front of the plane’s undercarriage.
“Aw, Sandy, that wasn’t fucking,” Simon said. “That was just, I don’t know, really obnoxious foreplay or something.
”
”
M. Chandler (The Morning Star (Shadow of the Templar, #1))
“
When I left Merle was wearing a bungalow apron and rolling pie crust. She came to the door wiping her hands on the apron and kissed me on the mouth and began to cry and ran back into the house, leaving the doorway empty [...] I had a funny feeling as I saw the house disappear, as though I had written a poem and it was very good and I had lost it and would never remember it again. (p. 262)
”
”
Raymond Chandler (The High Window (Philip Marlowe, #3))
“
Actually, I came because I have a last-minute invitation. My friend Erika Gill is having a big party tomorrow night, one of those all-out birthday bashes that girls like. Want to go?"
----------------------------------------
"No. Sorry."
"Since it's a catered thing, at a restaurant, I'll pick you up at- what did you say?"
"I'm sorry. I can't do it."
----------------------------------------
"You're busy?"
"I just can't do it," I said.
”
”
Elizabeth Chandler (The Back Door of Midnight (Dark Secrets, #5))
“
It's goddamned funny in this police racket how an old woman can look out of a window and see a guy running and pick him out of a line-up six months later, but we can show hotel help a clear photo and they just can't be sure.'
'That's one of the qualifications for good hotel help,' I said.
”
”
Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1))
“
The creators took each of us out for lunch, too, to get to know us, so they could incorporate some aspects of our real personalities into the show. At my lunch I said two things: one, that even though I considered myself not unattractive, I had terrible luck with women and that my relationships tended toward the disastrous; and two, that I was not comfortable in any silence at all—I have to break any such moment with a joke. And this became a built-in excuse for Chandler Bing to be funny—perfect for a sitcom—and Chandler wasn’t much good with women, either (as he shouts at Janice as she leaves his apartment, “I’ve scared ya; I’ve said too much; I’m awkward and hopeless and desperate for love!”). But think of a better character for a sitcom: someone who is uncomfortable in silence and has to break the silence with a joke.
”
”
Matthew Perry (Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing)
“
It wasn’t only the warning that kept us safe but our ability to keep that warning quiet. Like secret agents operating behind enemy lines, we couldn’t afford to get caught. And yet we risked it anyway. With voices hushed, we reached out to each other to offer our knowledge. We tried. Because we’d always wanted the best for each of our friends. We wanted her to dump that loser. We wanted her to stop worrying about losing five pounds. We wanted to tell her she looked great in that dress and that she should definitely buy it. We wanted her to crush the interview. We wanted her to text us when she got home. We wanted her to see what we saw: someone smart and brave and funny and worthy of love and success and peace. We wanted to kill whoever got in her way.
”
”
Chandler Baker (Whisper Network)
“
We were always looking for the perfect man. Even those of us who were not signed up for the traditional, heteronormative experience were nevertheless fascinated with the anthropological, unicorn-like search for one. Married or single, we were either searching for him or trying to mold him from one we already had. This perfect specimen would consist of the following essential attributes: He shared his food and always ordered dessert. When we recommended a book, he bought it without needing a friend to second our suggestion first. He knew how to pack a diaper bag without being told. He was a Southern gentleman with a mother from the East Coast who fostered his quietly progressive sensibilities. He said “I love you” after 2.5 months. He didn’t get drunk. He knew how to do taxes. He never questioned our feminist ideals when we refused to squish bugs or change oil. He didn’t sit down to put on his shoes. He had enough money for retirement. He wished vehemently for male-hormonal birth control. He had a slight unease with the concept of women’s shaved vaginas, but not enough to take a stance one way or another. He thought Mindy Kaling was funny. He liked throw pillows. He didn’t care if we made more money than him. He liked women his own age. We were reasonable and irrational, cynical and naïve, but always, always on the hunt. Of course, this story isn’t about perfect men, but Ardie Valdez unfortunately didn’t know that yet when, the day after Desmond’s untimely death, Ardie’s phone lit up: a notification from her dating app.
”
”
Chandler Baker (Whisper Network)
“
I tell you, Captain Marlow, nobody had a chance against us with a strange ship when Jim was out. The other ship-chandlers just kept their old customers, and . . .” ‘Egstrom appeared overcome with emotion. ‘“Why, sir — it seemed as though he wouldn’t mind going a hundred miles out to sea in an old shoe to nab a ship for the firm. If the business had been his own and all to make yet, he couldn’t have done more in that way. And now . . . all at once . . . like this! Thinks I to myself: ‘Oho! a rise in the screw — that’s the trouble — is it?’ ‘All right,’ says I, ‘no need of all that fuss with me, Jimmy. Just mention your figure. Anything in reason.’ He looks at me as if he wanted to swallow something that stuck in his throat. ‘I can’t stop with you.’ ‘What’s that blooming joke?’ I asks. He shakes his head, and I could see in his eye he was as good as gone already, sir. So I turned to him and slanged him till all was blue. ‘What is it you’re running away from?’ I asks. ‘Who has been getting at you? What scared you? You haven’t as much sense as a rat; they don’t clear out from a good ship. Where do you expect to get a better berth? — you this and you that.’ I made him look sick, I can tell you. ‘This business ain’t going to sink,’ says I. He gave a big jump. ‘Good-bye,’ he says, nodding at me like a lord; ‘you ain’t half a bad chap, Egstrom. I give you my word that if you knew my reasons you wouldn’t care to keep me.’ ‘That’s the biggest lie you ever told in your life,’ says I; ‘I know my own mind.’ He made me so mad that I had to laugh. ‘Can’t you really stop long enough to drink this glass of beer here, you funny beggar, you?’ I don’t know what came over him; he didn’t seem able to find the door;
”
”
Joseph Conrad (Delphi Complete Works of Joseph Conrad)
“
The other part of me wanted to get out and stay out, but this was the part I never listened to.
Because if I ever had I would have stayed in the town where I was born and worked in the hardware store and married the boss's daughter and had five kids and read them the funny paper on Sunday morning and smacked there heads when the get out of line and squabbled with the wife about how much spending money they were to get and what programs the could have on the radio or TV set. I might even have got rich -small town rich- an eight-room house, two cars in the garage, chicken every Sunday and the Reader's Digest on the living room table, the wife with cast iron permanent and me with a brain like a sack of Portland cement. You take it, friend. I'll take the big sordid dirty crooked city.
”
”
Raymond Chandler (The Long Goodbye (Philip Marlowe, #6))
“
then again, they might not! Here’s something funny. A strange man came here last summer and he gave Mr. Moss ten dollars for an old quarter.
”
”
Gertrude Chandler Warner (Schoolhouse Mystery (The Boxcar Children Mysteries Book 10))
“
He looked earnestly at me, as if that was important to me.
”
”
Raymond Chandler
“
Grandfather, there’s something we want to talk to you about.”
Grandfather looked concerned. “There’s nothing wrong, is there?”
“It’s about the Roth house,” Benny said. “It’s a funny house.”
“Funny?” Grandfather asked.
“Well,” Violet began. “Benny is right. There are funny things in the house and funny people outside the house.”
The Mystery of the Singing Ghost
”
”
Gertrude Chandler Warner (The Boxcar Children Halloween Special (The Boxcar Children Mysteries))
“
Well, children, I guess we’ll need to get all these statues and skeletons back to the house,” Charlotte said, in a happier voice. “Thank you so much for finding them for me! I had no idea that they were made by a well-known sculptor.” She turned to Grandfather. “James, does the name Clover Dodge ring a bell with you?” she asked.
Grandfather looked at his cousin Charlotte as if remembering something long ago. “Dodge? Yes, yes,” Grandfather began. “I vaguely recall the name--that was the name of the original family that owned Skeleton Point--before it was Skeleton Point, that is. But I had no idea she was a sculptor as well.”
A smile slowly lit up Charlotte’s face.
“What’s funny?” Benny asked.
Charlotte sighed. “In some ways, I’m better off than I was before all this happened! I have all these valuable statues back, including the ones I didn’t even know were missing. And now I have experts--Greeny and Hilda--who can help me bring Skeleton Point back to life.”
Benny walked over to Mister Bones. He was hanging just inside the doorway of Dead Man’s Cave. “Did you hear that, Mister Bones? You might be coming back to life.”
The Mystery at Skeleton Point
”
”
Gertrude Chandler Warner (The Boxcar Children Halloween Special (The Boxcar Children Mysteries))
“
Think P.I.G. - that’s my motto. P stands for Persistence, I stands for Integrity, and G stands for Guts. These are the ingredients for a successful business and a successful life. -Linda Chandler
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
Queer how that was always cropping up. Here she was highly respectable, married, mother of a small boy, and, in spite of all that, knowing all that, these people took one look at her and immediately got that now-I-wonder look. Apparently it was an automatic reaction of white people—if a girl was colored and fairly young, why, it stood to reason she had to be a prostitute. If not that—at least sleeping with her would be just a simple matter, for all one had to do was make the request. In fact, white men wouldn't even have to do the asking because the girl would ask them on sight.
She grew angrier as she thought about it. Of course, none of them could know about your grandmother who had brought you up, she said to herself. And ever since you were big enough to remember the things that people said to you, had said over and over, just like a clock ticking, 'Lutie, baby, don't you never let no white man put his hands on you. They ain't never willin' to let a black woman alone. Seems like they all got a itch and a urge to sleep with 'em. Don't you never let any of 'em touch you.'
Something that was said so often and with such gravity it had become a part of you, just like breathing, and you would have preferred crawling in bed with a rattlesnake to getting in bed with a white man. Mrs. Chandler's friends and her mother couldn't possibly know that, couldn't possibly imagine that you might have a distrust and a dislike of white men far deeper than the distrust these white women had of you. Or know that, after hearing their estimation of you, nothing in the world could ever force you to be even friendly with a white man.
And again she thought of the barrier between her and these people. The funny part of it was she was willing to trust them and their motives without questioning, but the instant they saw the color of her skin they knew what she must be like; they were so confident about what she must be like they didn't need to know her personally in order to verify their estimate.
”
”
Ann Petry (The Street)
“
It's even worse than you think. They have three sexes and lay eggs, but we've been trading dirty jokes and they're funny.
”
”
Mackey Chandler (Secrets in the Stars (Family Law, #3))
“
Benny said, “Oh, I can hardly wait to wash my hands! It has been two days since I’ve really washed them!” “Funny to hear you say that, Ben,” said Henry. “I’m going to take a shower the first thing I do.
”
”
Gertrude Chandler Warner (The Boxcar Children Bookshelf (Books #1-12) (The Boxcar Children Mysteries Book 1))