Agatha Christie

The law. Lady Frances, is an uncertain animal. It has twists and turns that surprise the non-legal mind.

It's a rotten job, but somebody's got to do it.

The eye is diverted from the real business, it is caught by the spectacular action that means nothing--nothing at all.

When he passed me in the restaurant," he said at last, "I had a curious impression. It was as though a wild animal _ an animal savage, but savage! you understand _ had passed me by.""And yet he looked altogether of the most respectable.""Précisément! The body _ the cage _ is everything of the most respectable _ but through the bars, the wild animal looks out.""You are fanciful, mon vieux," said M. Bouc. "It may be so. But I could not rid myself of the impression that evil had passed me by very close." (1.2.52-56)

I know there's a proverb which that says 'To err is human,' but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.

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.

A susceptible child is capable of great hero worship, and a young mind can easily be obsessed by an idea which persists into adult life.

It is romantic, yes,_ agreed Hercule Poirot. __t is peaceful. The sun shines. The sea is blue. But you forget, Miss Brewster, there is evil everywhere under the sun_.

I_like_a_good_detective_story,"_he_said._"But,_you_know,_they_begin_in_the_wrong place!_They_begin_with_the_murder._But_the_murder_is_the_end._The_ story begins_long before that__ears before_sometimes with_all_the_causes_and_events_that_bring_certain_people_to_a_certain_place_at_a certain_time on a certain day.

If Hori were to die, I should not forget! Hori is a song in my heart for ever... That means-that there is no more death...

It's all very well to talk like that,_ said Mr. Rafiel. __e, you say? What do you think I can do about it? I can't even walk without help. How can you and I set about preventing a murder? You're about a hundred and I'm a broken-up old crock.

I think people more often kill those they love than those they hate. Possible because only the people you love can really make life unendurable to you.

Her sleep was enlivened by several dreams. One where Professor Wanstead's bushy eyebrows fell off because they were not his own eyebrows, but false ones. As she woke again, her first impression was that which often follows dreams, a belief that the dream in question had solved everything. 'Of course,' she thought, 'of course!' His eyebrows were false and that solved the whole thing. He was the criminal.

The great thing in these cases is to keep an absolutely open mind. Most crimes, you see, are so absurdly simple.

She breathed an enormous sigh, looked at Poirot, Looked away, and suddenly blurted out, "You're too old. Nobody told me you were so old. I really don't want to be rude but - there it is. You're too old. I'm really sorry." She turned abruptly and blundered out of the room, rather like a desperate moth in lamplight. Poirot, his mouth open, heard the bang of the front door. He ejaculated: "Non d'un nom d'un nom...

The Roar of the engine penetrated through Bertram's Hotel from the street outside. Colonel Luscombe perceived that Ladislaus Malinowski was one of Elvira's heroes. "Well," he thought to himself, "better than one of those pop singers or crooners or long-haired Beatles or whatever they called themselves." Luscombe was old-fashioned in his views of young men.

Miss Howard: Like a good detective story myself. Lots of nonsense written, though. Criminal discovered in last Chapter. Everyone dumbfounded. Real crime - you'd know at once.

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.