Agatha Christie Quotes

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“I must have a talk with you, David, and learn all the new ideas. As far as I can see, one must hate everybody but at the same time give them free medical attention and a lot of extra education, poor things! All those helpless little children herded into schoolhouses every day — and cod liver oil forced down babies’ throats whether they like it or not — such nasty-smelling stuff.”

“What any woman saw in some particular man was beyond the comprehension of the average intelligent male. It just was so. A woman who could be intelligent about everything else in the world could be a complete fool when it came to some particular man.”

“Like most Englishmen, he felt something strongly, and proceeded to muddle around until he had, somehow or other, cleared up the mess.”

“Yes. I like to see people get angry. I like it very much. But here in England they do not get angry like they do in Spain. In Spain they take out their knives and they curse and shout. In England they do nothing, just get very red in the face and shut up their mouths tight.”

“From a distance he had the bland aspect of a philanthropist.”

“She came in with coffee and biscuits at half-past eleven with her mouth pursed up very prunes and prisms, and would hardly speak to me.”

“You’re frightfully BBC in your language this afternoon, Albert,’ said Tuppance, with some exasperation.
Albert looked slightly taken aback and reverted to a more natural form of speech.
‘I was listening to a very interesting talk on pond life last night,’ he explained.”

“What else will you have? Nice banana and bacon sandwich?”

““Here are my roses. Like ’em?”
“They’re beautiful,” said Laura politely.
“On the whole,” said Mr. Baldock, “I prefer them to human beings. They don’t last as long for one thing.””

“The fellow is an absolute outsider, anyone can see that. He’s got a great black beard, and wears patent leather boots in all weathers!”

“Well, of course, Gwenda dear, you can always do that when you’ve exhausted every other line of approach, but I always think myself it’s better to examine the simplest and most commonplace explanations first.”

“He could have shot her from behind a hedge in the good old Irish fashion and probably got away with it.”

“Proof must be solid break walls of facts.”

“Blood tells — always remember that — blood tells.”

“I could think of nothing more insufferable than members of one’s own gang dropping in full of sympathy and their own affairs.”

“Pilar sat squeezed up against the window and thought how very odd the English smelt.”

“It’s so messy bleeding like a pig.”

“The reason he liked attending rich patients rather than poor ones was the he could exercise his active imagination in prescribing for their ailments.”

“But when investing money, keep, I beg of you, Hastings, strictly to the conservative.”

““Well, what are you doing? What have you done?”
“I am sitting in this char,” said Poirot. “Thinking,” he added.
“Is that all?” said Mrs. Oliver.
“It is the important thing,” said Poirot.”

“Do you always travel first-class, Mr. Hardman?”
“Yes, sir. The firm pays my travelling expenses.”

“Poirot shook his forefinger so fiercely at me that I quailed before it. “Beware! Peril to the detective who says: ‘It is so small — it does not matter. It will not agree. I will forget it.’ That way lies confusion! Everything matters.””

“There’s no reason why women shouldn’t behave like rational beings,” said Simon stolidly.
Poirot said dryly:
“Quite frequently they do. That is even more upsetting!”

““Tcha! Tcha!” cried Poirot irritably. “You argue like a child.””

“How averse human beings were ever to admit ignorance!”

““It makes her rather alarming,” I said.
“Sincerity has that effect,” said Miss Marple.”

“Remember, he was a fanatic, and there is no fanatic like a religious fanatic.”

““Me, I am convinced it is the truth,” said M. Bouc, becoming more and more enamoured of his theory.”

“It's as easy to utter lies as truth.”

“He had not remembered her name, but he had seen her dance — had been carried away and fascinated by the supreme art that can make you forget art.”

“"Life is like a train Mademoiselle. It goes on. And it is a good thing that that is so."
"Why?"
"Because the train gets to its journey's end at last, and there is a proverb about that in your language, Mademoiselle."
"'Journeys end in lovers meeting'" Lenox laughed. "That is not going to be true for me."
"Yes — yes, it is true. You are young, younger than you yourself know. Trust the train Mademoiselle, for it is le bon Dieu who drives it".”

“Without interest (hers not the type to wonder why!) but with perfect efficiently, Miss Lemon had fulfilled her task.”

“For Poirot, uttering a hoarse and inarticulate cry, again annihilated his masterpiece of cards and putting his hands over his eyes swayed backwards and forwards, apparently suffering the keenest agony.
“Good heavens Poirot!” I cried. “What is the matter? Are you taken ill?””

“There is always something about conscious tact that is very irritating.”

““No,” said Miss Marple. “Murder isn’t a game.”

“Ah, but it is incredible how often things force one to do the thing one would like to do.”

“And if you cast down an idol, there's nothing left.”

“How true is the saying that man was forced to invent work in order to escape the strain of having to think.”

“Weak and kindly people are often very treacherous. And if they’ve got a grudge against life it saps the little moral strength that they may posses.”

“Not if the butcher had become a butcher simply in order to have a chance of murdering the baker. One must always look one step behind, my friend.”

“And then, startling in its crisp transatlantic tones, a voice said:
“Stick ’em up.”
They swerved around. Schwartz, dressed in a peculiarly vivid set of striped pyjamas stood in the doorway. In his hand he held an automatic.
“Stick ’em up, guys. I’m pretty good at shooting.”
He pressed the trigger — and a bullet sang past the big man’s ear and buried itself in the woodwork of the window.
Three pairs of hands were raised rapidly.”

“Mon ami, if you wish to catch a rabbit you put a ferret into the hole, and if the rabbit is there he runs. That is all I have done.”

“To commit a successful murder must be very much like bringing off a conjuring trick.”

“Mademoiselle,” I said, “it is sometimes difficult for a dog to find a scent, but once he has found it, nothing on earth will make him leave it! That is if he is a good dog! And I, mademoiselle, I, Hercule Poirot, am a very good dog.”

“Elinor was still staring at this missive, her plucked brows drawn together in distaste, when the door opened. The maid announced, "Mr Welman," and Roddy came in.”

““Aha? You have been very clever, madame.”
“No, I haven’t really. It was a pure accident. I mean, I walked into a small café place and there the girl was, just sitting there.”
“Ah. You had the good fortune then. That is just as important.””

““That’s all very well — they’re not educated, poor creatures.”
“No, and a good thing too. Education has devitalised the white races. Look at America — goes in for an orgy of culture. Simply disgusting.””

“Even the sensible and the competent have been given tongues by le bon Dieu — and they do not always employ their tongues wisely.”

“I have made my choice, Hori. I will share my life with you for good or evil, until death comes…”