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Most people—even women—get discouraged after you've caught them in the third or fourth straight lie and fall back on either the truth or silence, but not Mimi. She keeps trying and you've got to be careful or you'll find yourself believing her, not because she seems to be telling the truth, but simply because you're tired of disbelieving her.

— Dashiell Hammett The Thin Man (1934)

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Women

More quotes by Dashiell Hammett

"A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit."

The Thin Man (1929)

"The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter."

The Maltese Falcon (1930)

Emotions are useless during business hours.

If a man says a thing often enough, he is very likely to acquire some sort of faith in it sooner or later.

But where knowledge of trickery is evenly distributed, honesty not infrequently prevails.

All Dashiell Hammett quotes →

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Dashiell Hammett (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.