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See, heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. Otherwise you don't have a hero. You can't kill a hero. That's why I never let him get older.

— Mickey Spillane Crime Time interview (2001)

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Heroes

More quotes by Mickey Spillane

Those big-shot writers … could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.

The Making of a Bestseller: From Author to Reader (1999)

If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes.

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.

The Snake (1964)

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 any more. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.

I don't care what the editor likes or dislikes, I care what the people like.

Crime Time interview (2001)

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Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.

Will Rogers

The grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within four walls and in domestic privacy.

Jean Paul Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

The blood of the heroes is closer to God than the ink of the philosophers and the prayers of the faithful.

Julius Evola Revolt Against the Modern World (1934)

Heroism is a myth you tell idealistic young people—specifically when you want them to go bleed for you.

Brandon Sanderson Rhythm of War (2020)

Attribution

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