Link Copied!
Mickey Spillane Quotes (1918-2006)
Writer, Novelist
About Mickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane (9 March 1918 –17 July 2006), more commonly known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, famous for his series of novels featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer, among other works.
Best Mickey Spillane Quotes
Shortest
Earliest
Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Mickey Spillane quotes.
“I don't care what the editor likes or dislikes, I care what the people like.”
“I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.”
“If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.”
“Those big-shot writers … could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.”
“I'm actually a softie. Tough guys get killed too early... I've got a full head of hair and don't wear eyeglasses.”
“I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead...”
“When I started the paperback market, there were only a few good writers, now the market's loaded... you don't know which one to take.”
“I'm 82 years old, wherever I go everybody knows me, but here's why... I'm a merchandiser, I'm not just a writer, I stay in every avenue you can think of.”
“Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn't. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still... you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt.”
“We brought a man back who should have died long ago. The present can't stand a man like that anymore. Now they want indecision and compromise and reluctance and fear.”
“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 anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.”
“I threw back the sheet anyway and a curse caught in my throat. Jack was in shorts, his one hand still clutching his belly in agony. The bullet went in clean, but where it came out left a hole big enough to cram a fist into.”
“Hemingway hated me. I outsell him and he was steamed. One day he wrote a story for Bluebook berating me. So I'm going on a big TV show in Chicago and I don't get it, that's sour grapes... I mean if you can't say something nice about someone why say anything at all?”
“I know an awful lot of Hollywood people, who are so self-important, I can't understand it. My father was a good Irish saloon-keeper, my mother always said to him, 'Jack, how come you know everybody here' and he'd say, 'because I say hello'. I'm just like that, I've always been that way.”
“The woman inside was important now. Perhaps the most important in the world. What she knew would help destroy an enemy when she told it. My hands in my pockets balled into hard knots to keep from shaking and for a moment the throbbing ache of the welts and cuts that laced my skin stopped.”
“The phone rang.
It was a thing that had been sitting here, black and quiet like a holstered gun, unlisted, unknown to anybody, used only for local outgoing calls, and when it was triggered it had the soft, muted sound of a silenced automatic. The first ring was a warning sound. The second time would be death calling.”
It was a thing that had been sitting here, black and quiet like a holstered gun, unlisted, unknown to anybody, used only for local outgoing calls, and when it was triggered it had the soft, muted sound of a silenced automatic. The first ring was a warning sound. The second time would be death calling.”
Mickey Spillane Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Mickey Spillane quotes by topic.
Mickey Spillane on Anachronism
“Then, suddenly, you're there, outside a dark-faced building, a brownstone anachronism that stares back dully with the defiant expression of the moronic and you have an impending sense of being challenged”
Quotes About Mickey Spillane
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Mickey Spillane from others.
Lawrence Block on Mickey Spillane
“I learned a lot about transitions from reading Mickey Spillane. In the early Mike Hammer books, he hardly ever explained how Hammer got from one place to another, or wasted time setting up scenes elaborately. There were no slow dissolves in those books. They were all fast cuts, with each scene beginning right on the heels of the one before it. Since the books had enormous appeal to a generally unsophisticated audience, I would assume few readers had trouble following the action line, for all the abruptness of the transition.”
Fantastic on Mickey Spillane
“That's why everyone hates Spillane — except his millions of readers and his banker!”
About Mickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane (9 March 1918 –17 July 2006), more commonly known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, famous for his series of novels featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer, among other works.