Home / Topics / Noir Quotes

Noir Quotes

Browse 232 quotes about Noir.

Related topics

Noir Quotes

“I envied women with signature hair-dos, signature perfumes, signature sign-offs. Novelists who tell Vogue Magazine: “I can’t live without my Smythson notebook, Pomegranate Noir cologne by Jo Malone and Frette sheets”. In the grip of madness, materialism begins to look like an admirable belief system.”

Looks I Can Belief Hair Madness Magazines Novelists Materialism Sheets Perfume Notebook Admirable Signatures Noir Belief Systems Vogue Envied Cologne Pomegranates Vogue Magazine

Book:Your Voice in My Head

Source: Your Voice in My Head

“In Greek tragedy, they fall from great heights. In noir, they fall from the curb.”

Fall Tragedy Greek Height Noir Curb Greek Tragedy Great Heights

Author:Dennis Lehane

“No viticultural region in America has demonstrated as much progress in quality and potential for greatness as... the Santa Barbara region, where the Burgundian varietals Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are planted in its cooler climates.”

America Quality Progress Greatness Wine Climate Regions Santa Noir Barbara Potential For Greatness Santa Barbara Chardonnay Chardonnay Wine Pinot Noir

Author:Robert M. Parker, Jr.

“As the tall dark and handsome male star, Carey Grant always stands for male beauty and desirability, whether in a 30s screwball, a 40s film noir, or a 50s romantic comedy. He consequently turns around the orthodox gender between the one who looks and so desires, and the one who is looked at, and so is being desired.”

Looks Film Desire Turns Stars Dark Beauty Comedy Males Gender Orthodox Grants Tall Handsome Noir Desirability Male Beauty Film Noir

Author:Steven A. Cohen

“I think the original Matrix was really incredible. It was so original and it did so many innovative things with film. It was a much bigger film. Bound was just a smaller film. It was kind of like an old noir film”

Thinking Kind Film Bigger Originals Bounds Incredibles Innovative Noir Film Noir

Author:Gina Gershon

“I wouldn't care to speculate about what it is in Westlake's psyche that makes him so good at writing about Parker, much less what it is that makes me like the Parker novels so much. Suffice it to say that Stark/Westlake is the cleanest of all noir novelists, a styleless stylist who gets to the point with stupendous economy, hustling you down the path of plot so briskly that you have to read his books a second time to appreciate the elegance and sober wit with which they are written.”

Writing Book Care Novel Economy Path Written Appreciate Wit Novelists Plot Sober Elegance Hustle Starks Noir Stylist

Author:Terry Teachout

“I always find myself gravitating to the analogy of a maze. Think of film noir and if you picture the story as a maze, you don't want to be hanging above the maze watching the characters make the wrong choices because it's frustrating. You actually want to be in the maze with them, making the turns at their side, that keeps it more exciting...I quite like to be in that maze.”

Ifs Thinking Want Character Stories Motivational Film Turns Choices Sides Exciting Frustrating Analogies Noir Mazes Wrong Choices Film Noir

Author:Christopher Nolan

“Yes, to me that's one of the most compelling fears in film noir and the psychological thriller genre - that fear of conspiracy. It's definitely something that I have a fear of - not being in control of your own life. I think that's something people can relate to, and those genres are most successful when they derive the material from genuine fears that people have.”

People Thinking Film Successful Materials Genuine Psychological Relate Genre Conspiracy Compelling Thrillers Noir Psychological Thrillers Film Noir Thriller Genre

Author:Christopher Nolan

“That's what noir feels like to me. It feels like some kind of recurring dream, with very strong archetypes operating. You know, the guilty girl being pursued, falling, all kinds of stuff that we see in our dreams all the time”

Knows Feels Kind Dream Fall Girl Strong Stuff All Kinds Guilty Very Strong Our Dreams Pursued Noir Archetype Recurring Recurring Dreams

Author:Brian De Palma

“But, number one, I think traditional noir doesn't work in contemporary storytelling because we don't live in that world anymore”

Thinking World Numbers Contemporary Storytelling Traditional Noir

Author:Brian De Palma

“I am grateful for what I call well-spent moments: Making a tuna fish sandwich with the works. Taking at least a half hour to eat it outside. Ironing my vintage tea towels while watching old black-and-white film noir movies and sipping one martini with extra olives - a quirky combination, but it works.”

“When I pair food and wine, I start with the food. If I have a beautiful roasted bird, I might choose a Cabernet or Pinot Noir, or maybe a Syrah, depending on the sauce and what is in my cellar.”

Ifs Might Beautiful Bird Wine Pairs Sauce Noir Cellars Food And Wine Cabernet Pinot Noir

Author:Jacques Pepin

“I'm a huge fan of Cabernet and Bordeaux, and am passionate about Pinot Noir and Burgundies.”

Fans Huge Passionate Noir Burgundy Bordeaux Cabernet Pinot Noir

Author:Raymond E. Feist

“Robert Pattinson has the face of a film-noir dupe. It's a face that is searching and open and kind. It's a face that a certain type of woman might want to fool because, in its intensely old-fashioned kindness, the face says, I love you. Fool me.”

Want Kind Might Film Faces Certain Kindness Love You Type Fool Old Fashioned I Love You Noir Say I Love You Dupes Film Noir Fool Me

Author:Wesley Morris

“I wouldn't presume to define noir - if we could define it, we wouldn't need to use a French word for it - but it seems to me it's more a way of looking at the world than what one sees.”

Ifs World Way Needs Use Seems Noir

Author:Lawrence Block

“When I was making these damned pictures, I never knew about film noir. If you had asked me about it then, I probably would have pointed to something like Bill Wellman's The Ox Bow Incident, the best Western I ever saw and very much in the style of film noir I don't care if it's a mystery story, a Western, or the story of Julius Caesar. To me it's the emotion, the lies, the double-cross that defines what kind of drama it is.”

Ifs Kind Stories Care Film Lying Emotion Saws Mystery Style Drama Crosses Bills Western Don't Care I Don't Care Bows Incidents Noir Julius Film Noir

Author:Samuel Fuller

“Like art, love, and pornography, noir is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. For the purposes of the book and my longtime working understanding and definition of it, noir stories are bleak, existential, alienated, pessimistic tales about losers--people who are so morally challenged that they cannot help but bring about their own ruin.”

People Knows Art Book Hard Helping Stories Purpose Understanding Definitions Tales Ruins Loser Existential Pornography Pessimistic Noir Bleak Art Love

Author:Otto Penzler

“There were some things that I found I really enjoyed singing about; like, on the title track, there's this film-noir character of a woman who's sort of losing it in a room.”

Character Film Found Rooms Losing Singing Track Enjoyed Titles Noir Film Noir

Author:Diana Krall

“Her cooking suggested she had attended the Cordon Noir.”

Women Cooking Noir

Book:Leo Rosten's giant book of laughter

Source: Leo Rosten's giant book of laughter

“God made Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas the Devil made Pinot Noir.”

Made Devil Noir Cabernet Pinot Noir

Author:Andre Tchelistcheff

“Flawed characters... a ticking clock... morally questionable acts on all sides... moody, evocative art... oh yeah, this the stuff crime noir fans love!”

Art Character Stuff Sides Fans Crime Yeah Clock Flawed Noir Questionable Moody

Author:Christos Gage

“CEREMONY OF FLIES hits the road like a nitrous-fueled GTO...and then pulls the ultimate stunt of getting better. What starts as a deceptively simple hard-boiled noir story twists on itself and adds layers and grows stranger and before you know it, BAM - it's the end of the world and all you can do is hang on by your fingernails. This really, truly is one of the best novellas I've read in years.”

Knows World Years Ends Hard Stories Grows Can Do Simple Ultimate Add Stranger Get Better Layers Twists Ceremony End Of The World Noir Fingernails

Author:Lisa Morton

“Dastardly devious, cleverly conceived, and just a whole lot of fun to read, DEATH PERCEPTION is Lee Allen Howard on fire and at his finest. Rife with winsome weirdness, it's like the mutant stepchild of Carl Hiaasen and Stephen King, mixing a truly unique paranormal coming-of-age story with a quirky cast of offbeat noir characters into a novel that's simply unforgettable... and hilariously original. A supernatural crime story, blazing with creative intrigue... don't miss it.”

“Film noir has a mood that everyone can feel. It’s people in trouble, at night, with a little bit of wind and the right kind of music. It’s a beautiful thing.”

People Feels Kind Littles Beautiful Film Night Bits Trouble Wind Little Bit Mood Beautiful Things Noir Film Noir

Author:David Lynch

“This is what noir is, what it can be when it stops playing nice--blunt force drama stripped down to the bone, then made to dance across the page.”

Made Force Nice Drama Pages Bones Noir Blunt Playing Nice

Author:Stephen Graham Jones

“One difference between film noir and more straightforward crime pictures is that noir is more open to human flaws and likes to embed them in twisty plot lines.”

Humans Film Differences Lines Crime Likes Plot Flaws Straightforward Noir Film Noir Plot Lines

Author:Roger Ebert

“Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit.”

Thinking Turns Taught Trust Jungle Policemen Noir Asphalt Film Noir Legit

Author:Ben Maddow

“Drawing Dead is a brilliant noir from one of Australia's most exciting new novelists.”

Exciting Brilliant Drawing Novelists Australia Noir

Author:Adrian McKinty

“Yeah, I was always a big fan of noir.”

Bigs Fans Yeah Noir

Author:Robert Rodriguez

“Noir is dead for me because historically, I think it's a simple view. I've taken it as far as it can go. I think I've expanded on it a great deal, taken it further than any other American novelist.”

Thinking Simple Views Deals Taken Novelists Noir

Book:Conversations with James Ellroy

Source: Conversations with James Ellroy

“That was certainly true the first time, when I did Body Heat, the first movie that I directed. I was looking for a vessel to tell a certain kind of story, and I was a huge fan of Film Noir, and what I liked about it was that it was so extreme in style.”

Firsts Kind Stories Body Film Certain Fans Style Huge First Time Extremes Heat Vessel Noir Film Noir Body Heat

Author:Lawrence Kasdan

“I don't know anybody who doesn't hate being called alt.country. It just sounds like a website. I don't mind being called Americana, I don't mind being called country noir, or independent country is fine, but the words alt.country make me insane.”

Knows Mind Country Hate Sound Fine Independent Insane Website Noir Americana Independent Country

Author:Neko Case