The Big Sleep

by

Raymond Chandler

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Eddie Mars is a “well-dressed,” manicured racketeer who runs a casino called the Cypress Club in a suburb of L.A. He first meets Philip Marlowe when the two run into each other at the house of his tenant, Arthur Gwynn Geiger, after the latter’s murder. At first Mars is suspicious of Marlowe’s intentions, but learns to trust and respect the detective, although he always considers Marlowe a gun for hire rather than an equal. Mars hires Lash Canino to keep his wife, Mona, in hiding after he helps Mrs. Regan hide her murdered husband Rusty Regan’s body; after Mrs. Regan’s mentally unstable younger sister Carmen Sternwood shot Rusty in a fit of rage, Mars had created the story that Rusty and Mona ran off together, to protect them all. Mars is one of the L.A. criminal underworld’s elite, with his manicured hands reflecting his ability to stay out of the dirty work himself. He is often surrounded by hired thugs, and appears to have connections within the city police department, including Captain Gregory, demonstrating the corruption underlying the city’s day-to-day operations.

Eddie Mars Quotes in The Big Sleep

The The Big Sleep quotes below are all either spoken by Eddie Mars or refer to Eddie Mars. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Corruption of Society Theme Icon
).
Chapter 13 Quotes

His eyes went narrow. The veneer had flaked off him, leaving a well-dressed hard boy with a Luger.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:

I know you, Mr. Mars. The Cypress Club at Las Olindas. Flash gambling for flash people. The local law in your pocket and a wellgreased line into L.A. In other words, protection.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars, Arthur Gwynn Geiger
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel, but I didn’t move. Not being bullet proof is an idea I had had to get used to.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

He’s got friends in town, or he wouldn’t be what he is.

Related Characters: Captain Al Gregory (speaker), Philip Marlowe, Eddie Mars, Terrence “Rusty” Regan, Mona Mars
Page Number: 125
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

Eddie Mars would have been very unlikely to involve himself in a double murder just because another man had gone to town with the blonde he was not even living with … If there had been a lot of money involved, that would be different. But fifteen grand wouldn't be a lot of money to Eddie Mars. He was no two-bit chiseler like Brody.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars, Terrence “Rusty” Regan, Joe Brody, Mona Mars
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 128
Explanation and Analysis:

I have my pipe line into headquarters, or I wouldn’t be here. I get them the way they happen, not the way you read them in the papers.

Related Characters: Eddie Mars (speaker), Philip Marlowe, Captain Al Gregory
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:

I wish old Sternwood would hire himself a soldier like you on a straight salary, to keep those girls of his home at least a few nights a week.

Related Characters: Eddie Mars (speaker), Philip Marlowe, General Sternwood, Vivian Regan, Carmen Sternwood
Related Symbols: Knights, Money
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Once outside the law you’re all the way outside. You think he’s just a gambler. I think he’s a pornographer, a blackmailer, a hot car broker, a killer by remote control, and a suborner of crooked cops. He’s whatever looks good to him, whatever has the cabbage pinned to it. Don’t try to sell me on any high-souled racketeers. They don’t come in that pattern.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars, Mona Mars
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Being a copper I like to see the law win. I'd like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred hard guys that got knocked over on their first caper and never had a break since. That’s what I’d like. You and me both lived too long to think I’m likely to see it happen. Not in this town, not in any town half this size, in any part of this wide, green and beautiful U.S.A. We just don’t run our country that way.

Related Characters: Captain Al Gregory (speaker), Philip Marlowe, Eddie Mars, Mona Mars
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:
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Eddie Mars Quotes in The Big Sleep

The The Big Sleep quotes below are all either spoken by Eddie Mars or refer to Eddie Mars. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Corruption of Society Theme Icon
).
Chapter 13 Quotes

His eyes went narrow. The veneer had flaked off him, leaving a well-dressed hard boy with a Luger.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:

I know you, Mr. Mars. The Cypress Club at Las Olindas. Flash gambling for flash people. The local law in your pocket and a wellgreased line into L.A. In other words, protection.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars, Arthur Gwynn Geiger
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

The muzzle of the Luger looked like the mouth of the Second Street tunnel, but I didn’t move. Not being bullet proof is an idea I had had to get used to.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

He’s got friends in town, or he wouldn’t be what he is.

Related Characters: Captain Al Gregory (speaker), Philip Marlowe, Eddie Mars, Terrence “Rusty” Regan, Mona Mars
Page Number: 125
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

Eddie Mars would have been very unlikely to involve himself in a double murder just because another man had gone to town with the blonde he was not even living with … If there had been a lot of money involved, that would be different. But fifteen grand wouldn't be a lot of money to Eddie Mars. He was no two-bit chiseler like Brody.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars, Terrence “Rusty” Regan, Joe Brody, Mona Mars
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 128
Explanation and Analysis:

I have my pipe line into headquarters, or I wouldn’t be here. I get them the way they happen, not the way you read them in the papers.

Related Characters: Eddie Mars (speaker), Philip Marlowe, Captain Al Gregory
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:

I wish old Sternwood would hire himself a soldier like you on a straight salary, to keep those girls of his home at least a few nights a week.

Related Characters: Eddie Mars (speaker), Philip Marlowe, General Sternwood, Vivian Regan, Carmen Sternwood
Related Symbols: Knights, Money
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Once outside the law you’re all the way outside. You think he’s just a gambler. I think he’s a pornographer, a blackmailer, a hot car broker, a killer by remote control, and a suborner of crooked cops. He’s whatever looks good to him, whatever has the cabbage pinned to it. Don’t try to sell me on any high-souled racketeers. They don’t come in that pattern.

Related Characters: Philip Marlowe (speaker), Eddie Mars, Mona Mars
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Being a copper I like to see the law win. I'd like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred hard guys that got knocked over on their first caper and never had a break since. That’s what I’d like. You and me both lived too long to think I’m likely to see it happen. Not in this town, not in any town half this size, in any part of this wide, green and beautiful U.S.A. We just don’t run our country that way.

Related Characters: Captain Al Gregory (speaker), Philip Marlowe, Eddie Mars, Mona Mars
Related Symbols: Money
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis: