Skip to content

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

— Dashiell Hammett

Another quote →

Topics

Faith

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.

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

All successful bunko men come in time to believe the world, except for themselves, is populated with a race of human sheep who may be trusted to conduct themselves with true sheeplike docility.

All Dashiell Hammett quotes →

You may also like

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

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.