You are the patient one, Mademoiselle,' said Poirot to Miss Debenham. She shrugged her shoulders slightly. 'What else can one do?' You are a philosopher, Mademoiselle.' That implies a detached attitude. I think my attitude is more selfish. I have learned to save myself useless emotion.

Self-preservation's a man's first duty. And natives don't mind dying, you know. They don't feel about it as Europeans do.

People should be interested in books, not their authors.

Oh, I'm not afraid of death! What have I got to live for after all? I suppose you believe it's very wrong to kill a person who has injured you-even if they've taken away everything you had in the world?

It's very inconvenient to be loved. Nearly everyone has found that out, sooner or later. The fewer people who love you the less you will have to suffer.

I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.

I'm afraid of death... Yes, but that doesn't stop death coming.