Quotes from Agatha Christie

That's the curious part about speaking the truth. No one does believe it.

Mrs. Cavendish: I am charming to my friends one day, and forget all about them the next.

I mean, what can you say about how you write your books? What I mean is, first you've got to think of something, and then when you've thought of it you've got to force yourself to sit down and write it. That's all." ~ Mrs. Oliver

the truth is never horrible, only interesting.

Then there are some minor points that strike me as suggestive - for instance, the position of Mrs. Hubbard's sponge bag, the name of Mrs. Armstrong's mother, the detective methods of Mr. Hardman, the suggestion of Mr. MacQueen that Ratchett himself destroyed the charred note we found, Princess Dragomiroff's Christian name, and a grease spot on a Hungarian passport.

The popular view that a child forgets easily is not an accurate one. Many people go right through life in the grip of an idea which has been impressed on them in very tender years.

From now on, it is our task to suspect each and everyone amongst us. Forewarned is forearmed. Take no risks and be alert to danger. That is all.

Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid, spinsterish face and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it all as in the day's work....where crime is concerned, she's the goods.

Jealousy, you know, is usually not an affair of causes. It is much more-how shall I say?-fundamental than that. Based on the knowledge that one's love is not returned. And so one goes on waiting, watching, expecting...that the loved one will turn to someone else.

It is deplorable...to remove all the romance - all the mystery!

When you're in the middle of a nightmare, something ordinary is the only hope. Anyway, ordinary things are the best. I've always thought so.

How fast you go. You arrive at a conclusion much sooner than I would permit myself to do.

La vie est vaine. Un peu d'amour, Un peu de haine, Et puis bonjour. La vie est brève. Un peu d'espoir, Un peu de rêve, Et puis bonsoir.

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

I demand of you a thousand pardons, monsieur. I am without defence. For some months now I cultivate the marrows. This morning suddenly I enrage myself with these marrows. I send them to promenade themselves - alas! not only mentally but physically. I seize the biggest. I hurl him over the wall. Monsieur, I am ashamed. I prostrate myself.

Put that in your mustache and smoke it.

You say your life is your own. But can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer? Your cue may not come till the end of the play--it may be totally unimportant, a mere walking-on part, but upon it may hang the issues of the play if you do not give the cue to another player. The whole edifice may crumple. You as you, may not matter to anyone in the world, but you as a person in a particular place may matter unimaginably.

No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't tell a soul.' 'People who use that phrase are always the last to live up to it.

Underneath the quarrels,the misunderstandings, the apparent hostility of everyday life, a real and true affection can exist. Married life, I mused, as I went to bed, was a curious thing.

The rottenness comes from within.

Youth is a failing only too easily outgrown.

But Aunt Maureen makes smashing omelettes." Julia Upjohn. "She makes smashing omelettes." Poirot's voice was happy. He sighed. "Then Hercule Poirot has not lived in vain, he said. It was I who taught your Aunt Maureen to make an omelette.

Never part with information unnecessarily. That's my rule,

Do you believe in the value of truth, my dear, or don't you?" "Of course I believe in the truth," said Rhoda, staring. "Yes, you say that, but perhaps you haven't thought about it. The truth hurts sometimes – and destroys one's illusions." "I'd rather have it all the same." said Rhoda. "So would I. But I don't know that we're wise.