Who said “There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building…”?

Verified

Raymond Chandler. A published source records them saying or writing it.

Sourceletter, 22 April 1949, published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962)

Evidence: Wikiquote · How we check

Source checked · Something wrong? Report a correction

Authors A–Z
“There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn acrimonious struggle to make something important which we all know will be gone forever in a few years, the miasma of failure which is to me almost as offensive as the cheap gaudiness of popular success.”
— Raymond Chandler
Verifiedletter, 22 April 1949, published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962) · evidenceWriters and Writing
Report

Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: letter, 22 April 1949, published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962).

APA

Chandler, R. (n.d.). There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn acrimonious struggle to make something important which we all know will be gone forever in a few years, the miasma of failure which is to me almost as offensive as the cheap gaudiness of popular success. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/42829-there-is-something-about-the-literary-life-that/

MLA

Chandler, Raymond. “There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn acrimonious struggle to make something important which we all know will be gone forever in a few years, the miasma of failure which is to me almost as offensive as the cheap gaudiness of popular success.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/42829-there-is-something-about-the-literary-life-that/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Chandler, Raymond. “There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn acrimonious struggle to make something important which we all know will be gone forever in a few years, the miasma of failure which is to me almost as offensive as the cheap gaudiness of popular success.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/42829-there-is-something-about-the-literary-life-that/.

Related quotes

More quotes by Raymond Chandler

“A really good detective never gets married.”
Verified"Casual Notes on the Mystery Novel" (essay, 1949), first published in Raymond Chandler Speaking (1962) · evidenceDetails & citePolice
Report
“The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.”
VerifiedThe Long Goodbye (1954), chapter 8 · evidenceDetails & citeLaw and Lawyers
Report
“What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you.”
VerifiedThe Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 32, Phillip Marlowe · evidenceDetails & citeDeath and Dying
Report
“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.”
Verifiedessay, first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly (November, 1945) · evidenceDetails & citeHeroes and Heroism
Report
All 54 Raymond Chandler quotes →