Quotes by James M. Cain

About James M. Cain:

James Mallahan Cain is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir. Several of his crime novels inspired highly successful movies.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I had done all that for her, and I never wanted to see her again as long as I lived. That's all it takes, one drop of fear, to curdle love into hate.

James M. Cain

I had killed a man, for money and a woman. I didn't have the money and I didn't have the woman.

James M. Cain

...if he can write a book at all, a writer cannot do it by peeping over his shoulder at somebody else, any more than a woman can have a baby by watching some other woman have one. It is a genital process, and all of its stages are intra-abdominal;

James M. Cain

Love, when you get fear in it, it's not love any more. It's hate.

James M. Cain

I ripped all her clothes off. She twisted and turned, slow, so they would slip out from under her. Then she closed her eyes and lay back on the pillow. Her hair was falling over her shoulders in snaky curls. Her eye was all black, and her breasts wer...

James M. Cain

I write of the wish that comes true - for some reason, a terrifying concept.

James M. Cain

I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called.

James M. Cain

You have to wait for your mind to catch up with whatever it is it’s working on; then you can write a novel.

James M. Cain

That's all it takes, one drop of fear to curdle love into hate.

James M. Cain

If your writing doesn't keep you up at night, it won't keep anyone else up either

James M. Cain

I write of the wish that comes true--for some reason, a terrifying thought.

James M. Cain

Author Bio

  • NameJames M. Cain
  • DescriptionNovelist, short story writer, journalist
  • BornJuly 1, 1892
  • DiedOctober 27, 1977
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionScreenwriter; Novelist; Journalist; Reporter; Writer