Donald E. Westlake Quotes

13 Sourced Quotes

The cops are after me, I'm on my way to join an organization of lunatics and bombers, I'm wired for sound, my necktie turns into a smokescreen, my handkerchief will make you throw up, my Diner's Club card explodes, I'm the leader of a subversive terrorist organization composed entirely of undercover federal agents, newspapers all over the country are saying I killed my girl, and I'm on my way to meet a twenty-five-year-old Nazi built like Bronco Nagurski. If relaxed means limp, don't worry about it. I'm relaxed. I'm relaxed all over.

Donald E. Westlake
If Chester had a failing, it was that he believed people were what they thought they were.

Donald E. Westlake
Everybody in New York City is looking for something. Men are looking for women and women are looking for men. Down at the Trucks, men are looking for men, while at Barbara's and at the Lib women are looking for women. Lawyers' wives in front of Lord & Taylor are looking for taxis, and lawyers' wives' husbands down on Pine Street are looking for loopholes. The hookers in front of the Americana hotel are looking for johns, and the kids opening cab doors in front of the Port Authority are looking for tips. So are the riders on the Aqueduct Special. So are the cabbies, the bellboys, the waiters and the undercover narcs.

Donald E. Westlake
In order to hold your faith intact be sure it's kept unsullied by fact.

Donald E. Westlake
New York doesn't exactly have neighborhoods, the way most cities do. What it has is closer to distinct and separate villages, some of them existing on different continents, some of them existing in different centuries, and many of them at war with one another. English is not the primary language in many of these villages, but the Roman alphabet does still have a slight edge.

Donald E. Westlake
His face was a chipped chunk of concrete, with eyes of flawed onyx. His mouth was a quick stroke, bloodless. His suit coat fluttered behind him, and his arms swung easy as he walked.

Donald E. Westlake
What did Jesus Christ say to the Teamsters? 'Do nothing till I get back.'

Donald E. Westlake
A grifter's got an irresistible urge to be the guy who's wise. There's nothin' to whipping a fool. Hell, fools are made to be whipped. But to take another pro. Even your partner, who knows you and has his eye on you. That's a score! No matter what happens.

Donald E. Westlake
Eyes wide and blank as the buttons on a first Communion coat.

Donald E. Westlake
Brian had all that day to figure out what was going on, and yet he didn't.

Donald E. Westlake
It was apparent... that, all over America, thousands of people threw down a book or got up from a television show and said, 'I can write better than that!' It was amazing how many of them were wrong.

Donald E. Westlake
Sickness comes to us all, Mr. Dillon.... We never know when, we never know why, we never know how. The only blessed thing we know is it'll come at the most inconvenient, unexpected time. Just when you've got tickets to the World Series. And that's the way the permanent waves.

Donald E. Westlake
Nobody gets everything in this life. You decide your priorities and you make your choices. I'd decided long ago that any cake I had would be eaten.

Donald E. Westlake