Quotes About Integrity

The trouble with cops is not that they're dumb or crooked or tough, but that they think just being a cop gives them a little something that they didn't have before. Maybe it did once, but not anymore. They're topped by too many smart minds.

As for asking favors or handouts, no.' But you'll take them from a stranger.' He looked me straight in the eye. 'The stranger can keep going and pretend not to hear.

Well, George Anson Phillips is a kind of pathetic case... He was the sort of cop who would be likely to hang a pinch on a chicken thief, if he saw the guy steal the chicken and the guy fell down running away and hit his head on a post or something and knocked himself out. Otherwise it might get a little tough and George would have to go back to the office for instructions.

But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

Just keep your nose clean and everything will be jake.

It's like this with us baby. We're coppers and everybody hates our guts....nothing we do is right, not ever. If we get a confession we beat it out of a guy, they say, and some shyster lawyer calls us Gestapo.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid....He must be the best man in his world, and a good enough man for any world. from Raymond Chandler's, The Simple Act of Murder.

The impulse to perfection cannot exist where the definition of perfection is the arbitrary decision of authority. That which is born in loneliness and from the heart cannot be defended against the judgment of a committee of sycophants.

down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

You know what's wrong with this country, baby?...A man can't stay honest if he wants to...he gets chiseled out of his pants if he does. You play the game dirty or you don't eat.

No trial, no sensational headlines, no mud-slinging just to sell newspapers without the slightest regard for truth or fair play or for the feelings of innocent people.

down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid....He must be the best man in his world, and a good enough man for any world. From The Simple Art of Murder

If I wasn't hard, I wouldn't be alive. If I couldn't ever be gentle, I wouldn't deserve to be alive." I

What kind of work do you do mostly?" "Anything that's reasonably honest

I am quite sure he would not spoil a virgin; if he is a man of honor in one thing, he is that in all things.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean.

Intentan ser honestos, pero la honestidad es un arte. El mal escritor es deshonesto sin saberlo, y el escritor más o menos bueno puede que sea deshonesto porque no sabe sobre qué ser honesto.

In our time we have seen a shocking decline in both public and private morals. You can't expect quality from people whose lives are a subjection to a lack of quality.

In our time we have seen a shocking decline in both public and private morals. You can't expect quality from people whose lives are a subjection to a lack of quality. You can't have quality with mass production. You don't want it because it lasts too long.

I never drink on duty, she said coldly. Besides somebody might smell my breath. You're working for me now. All my employees are required to get liquored up from time to time. Besides, if you had a good dinner and were to eat a couple of the Chasers in the kitchen cabinet, nobody would smell your breath.

If I'm wrong, you can prove it on me and I'll eat my chair cushion.

If he is a man on honor in one thing, he is that in all things.

Sheriff Petersen just went right on getting re-elected, a living testimonial to the fact that you can hold an important public office for ever in our country with no qualifications for it but a clean nose, a photogenic face, and a close mouth. If on top of that you look good on a horse, you are unbeatable.