“He was a big man but not more than six feet five inches tall and not wider than a beer truck.” ~ Raymond Chandler, Farewell My Lovely

“The wind blows my hair across my face, cutting my vision into strips, and I leave it there.” ~ Veronica Roth, Divergent

“. . . though I have stood still while knives spun toward my face and jumped off a roof, I never thought I would need bravery in the small moments of my life. I do.” ~ Veronica Roth, Divergent

“Who shot him? I asked.
The grey man scratched the back of his neck and said: Somebody with a gun.” ~ Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest

“There was both invitation and rejection in the roll of her hip.” ~ John D. MacDonald, A Tan and Sandy Silence

“Outside it was as black as a tax collector’s heart.” ~ Philip R. Craig, A Beautiful Place to Die

Archie Goodwin describing the woman showing up at Nero Wolfe’s door:
“It was a human female in her twenties, with unprecedented eyes, a fine wholesome figure, a highly polished leather suitcase, and a hatbox.” ~ Rex Strout, Prisoner’s Base (1952)

“My mom wasn’t the effusive type anyway, had one of those event-horizon personalities–shit just fell into her and you never really knew how she felt about it. She just seemed to take it, never gave anything off, not light, not heat.” ~ Junot Diaz, from the short story collection This is How You Lose Her

“He doesn’t speak for a moment, as if the silence is the elastic that will bring his next words forward.” ~ Junot Diaz, from the short story collection This is How You Lose Her

“The day is the color of pigeons.” ~ Junot Diaz, from the short story collection This is How You Lose Her

“He snorted and hit me in the solar plexus.
I bent over and took hold of the room with both hands and spun it. When I had it nicely spinning I gave it a full swing and hit myself on the back of the head with the floor.” ~ Raymond Chandler, Pearls Are a Nuisance (short story, 1939)

“Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.” ~ Raymond Chandler, Farewell My Lovely

“She’s dark and heavy-browed and has a mouth like unswept glass–when you least expect it she cuts you.” ~Junot Diaz, from the short story collection This is How You Lose Her

“It’s good for the glands to get terrified once in a while.” ~John D. MacDonald, Darker Than Amber

“Everybody lies. Cops lie. Lawyers lie. Witnesses lie. The victims lie. A trial is a contest of lies. And everybody in the courtroom knows this.” ~ Michael Connelly, The Brass Verdict

“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, winner of the Nobel Prize

“Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.” ~ John Irving, Cider House Rules