Agatha Christie Quotes

Sometimes I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is a method in his madness.

If I were at any time to set out on a career of deceit, it would be of Miss Marple that I should be afraid.

I was thinking, that when my time comes, I should be sorry if the only plea I had to offer was that of justice. Because it might mean that only justice would be meted out to me.

Nothing, I believe, is so full of life under the microscope as a drop of water from a stagnant pool.

You cannot mix up sentiment and reason.

Does the real thing ever have the perfection of a stage performance?

marriage is an extraordinary thing - and I doubt if any outsider - even a child of the marriage - has the right to judge.

In conversation, points arise! If a human being converses much, it is impossible for him to avoid the truth! (Hercule Poirot)

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them. [Witness for the Prosecution, also published in The Hound of Death and Other Stories.]

People should be interested in books, not their authors.

The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.

That is why most great love stories are tragedies.

Of course I despise money when I haven't got any. It's the only dignified thing to do.

Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more.

Talk and tea is his specialty," said Giles. "He has about five cups of tea a day. But he works splendidly when we are looking.

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.

the science of tomorrow is the supernatural of today.

You want beauty,' said Hercules Poirot. 'Beauty at any price. For me, it is truth. I want always truth.

And yet," said Poirot, "suppose an accident-" "Ah, no, my friend-" "From your point of view it would be regrettable, I agree. But nevertheless let us just for one moment suppose it. Then, perhaps, all these here are linked together - by death.

Your not reliable. You wouldn't be at all a comfortable sort of person to live with.

My remarks are, as always, apt, sound, and to the point. (Hercule Poirot)

One must accept the fact that we have only one companion in this world, a companion who accompanies us from the cradle to the grave - our own self. Get on good terms with that companion - learn to live with yourself.

One does see so much evil in a village,' murmured Miss Marple in an explanatory voice.

It is odd how, when you have a secret belief of your own which you do not wish to acknowledge, the voicing of it by someone else will rouse you to a fury of denial.

Bottled, was he?" Said Colonel Bantry, with an Englishman's sympathy for alcoholic excess. "Oh, well, can't judge a fellow by what he does when he's drunk? When I was at Cambridge, I remember I put a certain utensil - well - well, nevermind.

I always think loyalty's such a tiresome virtue.

I live now on borrowed time, waiting in the anteroom for the summons that will inevitably come. And then - I go on to the next thing, whatever it is. One doesn't, luckily, have to bother about that.

The supernatural is only the natural of which the laws are not yet understood.

Any coincidencce is worth noticing. You can throw it away later if it is only a coincidence.

I know nothing about pistols and revolvers, which is why I usually kill off my characters with a blunt instrument or better with poisons. Besides, poisons are neat and clean and really exciting... I do not think I could look a really ghastly mangled body in the face. It is the means that I am interested in. I do not usually describe the end, which is often a corpse.

All I needed was a steady table and a typewriter...a marble-topped bedroom washstand table made a good place; the dining-room table between meals was also suitable.

An ugly voice repels me where an ugly face would not.

Tea! Bless ordinary everyday afternoon tea!

I learned ... that one can never go back, that one should not ever try to go back - that the essence of life is going forward. Life is really a one way street, isn't it?

You'll be glad too, when the end comes.

fiction is founded on truth....unless things did happen,people couldn't think of them.

Our weapon is our knowledge. But remember, it may be a knowledge we may not know that we possess.

I, myself, was always recognized . . . as the “slow one” in the family. It was quite true, and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was . . . an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day.

Evil never goes unpunished, Monsieur. But the punishment is sometimes secret.

Juliet singles out Romeo. Desdemona claims Othello. They have no doubts, the young, no fear, no pride.

Mr. Jesmond made a peculiar noise rather like a hen who has decided to lay an egg and then thought better of it.

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.

You agree - I'm sure you agree that beauty is the only thing worth living for.

I continued to do arithmetic with my father, passing proudly through fractions to decimals. I eventually arrived at the point where so many cows ate so much grass, and tanks filled with water in so many hours. I found it quite enthralling.

There are more important things than finding the murderer. And justice is a fine word, but it is sometimes difficult to say exactly what one means by it. In my opinion, the important thing is to clear the innocent. - Hercule Poirot

I am not one to rely upon the expert procedure. It is the psychology I seek, not the fingerprint or the cigarette ash.

How often have I not heard a perfectly intelligent female says, in the tone of one clinching an argument, 'Edgar says -- ' And all the time you are perfectly aware that Edgar is a perfect fool.

I'm sure you have a theme: the theme of your life. You can embellish it or desecrate it, but it's your theme, and as long as you follow it, you will experience harmony and peace of mind.