Agatha Christie Quotes

If you confront anyone who has lied with the truth, he will usually admit it - often out of sheer surprise. It is only necessary to guess right to produce your effect.

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

Things go entirely differently from the way you planned them.

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

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

There is no greater mistake in life than seeing things or hearing them at the wrong time.

Words, mademoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas.

I can think of nothing more soul destroying in life than to persist in trying to do a thing you want desperately to do well, and to know that you are at the best second rate.

A great many men are mad, and no one knows it. They do not know it themselves

Use that fluff of yours you call a brain.

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

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.

In old days the public didn't really mind much about accuracy, but nowadays readers take it upon themselves to write to authors on every possible occasion, pointing out flaws.

There's no agony like [getting started]. You sit in a room, biting pencils, looking at a typewriter, walking about, or casting yourself down on a sofa, feeling you want to cry your head off.

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

Words are such uncertain things, they so often sound well but mean the opposite of what one thinks they do.

Everyone likes talking about himself. - Hercule Poirot

If you are to be Hercule Poirot, you must think of everything.

To count - really and truly to count - a woman must have goodness or brains.

A weak man in a corner is more dangerous than a strong man.

The past is the father of the present.

there is no fanatic like a religious fanatic.

There are many things that are unbelievable. Especially before breakfast, is it not? That is what one of your classics says. Six impossible things before breakfast.

One does what one can, not what one cannot.

To all those who lead monotonous lives in the hope that they may experience at second hand the delights and dangers of adventure. [author's dedication]

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.

One knows so little. When one knows more it is too late.

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

When you find that people are not telling you the truth---look out!

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

But I know human nature, my friend, and I tell you that, suddenly confronted with the possibility of being tried for murder, the most innocent person will lose his head and do the most absurd things.

What an absurdity to go and bury oneself in South America, where they are always having revolutions.

At the small table, sitting very upright, was one of the ugliest old ladies he had ever seen. It was an ugliness of distinction - it fascinated rather than repelled.

I believe, Messieurs, in loyalty---to one's friends and one's family and one's caste.

To rush into explanations is always a sign of weakness.

What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean.

You know, Emily was a selfish old woman in her way. She was very generous, but she always wanted a return. She never let people forget what she had done for them - and, that way she missed love.

Why shouldn't I hate her? She did the worst thing to me that anyone can do to anyone else. Let them believe that they're loved and wanted and then show them that it's all a sham.

I have no pity for myself either. So let it be Veronal. But I wish Hercule Poirot had never retired from work and come here to grow vegetable marrows.

There hung about her the restrained energy of a whiplash.

Where do one's fears come from? Where do they shape themselves? Where do they hide before coming out into the open?

Authors were shy, unsociable creatures, atoning for their lack of social aptitude by inventing their own companions and conversations.

It is curious - but you cannot make a revolution without honest men. ... Every revolution has had its honest men. They are soon disposed of afterwards.

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.

One is alone when the last one who remembers is gone.

The rottenness comes from within.

The bereaved had never any doubt about their dear ones' wishes and those wishes usually squared with their own inclinations.

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.

"Look here," I said, "people like to collect disasters."

The truth often does sound unconvincing.