9 Quotes & Sayings By James M Cain

James M. Cain was born in 1888 in San Francisco, California. By the time he reached the age of 17, he had already written over a thousand pieces for newspapers and magazines. In 1906, he published his first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice Read more

He wrote many more novels during the next several years, but between 1914 and 1928 (the year he died) he wrote few. Among his best-known novels are Mildred Pierce (1941), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), Double Indemnity (1943), The Star Chamber (1944), and The Blue Dahlia (1946).

I write of the wish that comes true--for some reason,...
1
I write of the wish that comes true--for some reason, a terrifying thought. James M. Cain
Love, when you get fear in it, it's not love...
2
Love, when you get fear in it, it's not love any more. It's hate. James M. Cain
That's all it takes, one drop of fear to curdle...
3
That's all it takes, one drop of fear to curdle love into hate. James M. Cain
4
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 weren’t drawn up and pointing up at me, but soft, and spread out in two big pink splotches. She looked like the great grandmother of every whore in the world. The devil got his money’s worth that night. . James M. Cain
5
...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
6
I knew then what I had done. I had killed a man. I had killed a man to get a woman. I had put myself in her power, so there was one person in the world that could point a a finger at me, and I would have to die. I had done all that for her, and I never want 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
7
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
8
If your writing doesn't keep you up at night, it won't keep anyone else up either James M. Cain