"... go down to the country, take a house, get interested in local politics, in local scandal, in village gossip. Take an inquisitive and violent interest in your neighbours."

"Truth however bitter can be accepted and woven into a design for living."

"When engaged in eating, the brain should be the servant of the stomach."

"You are, madame, so perfectly armoured, so completely sure of yourself.''Now I wonder, if I am to take that as a compliment?''It is, perhaps, a warning--not to treat life with arrogance."

"It is so unkind--' 'Perhaps. But sometimes a compulsion comes over one to speak the truth!"

"When a man's neck's in danger, he doesn't stop to think too much about sentiment."

"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 am pointing to you that under these conditions--mental strain, physical malaise--it is highly probable that dislikes that were before merely mild and disagreements that were trivial might suddenly assume a more serious note. The result of pretending to be a more amiable, a more forgiving, a more high-minded person than one really is, has sooner or later the effect of causing one to behave as a more disagreeable, a more ruthless and an altogether more unpleasant person than is actually the case! If you dam the stream of natural behavior, mon ami, sooner or later the dam bursts and cataclysm occurs."

"The longer the time that has elapsed, the more things fall into proportion. One sees them in their true relationship to one another."

"She looked at them with shining eyes. Her chin went up. She said: "You regard it as impossible that a sinner should be struck down by the wrath of God! I do not!" The judge stroked his chin. He murmured in a slightly ironic voice: "My dear lady, in my experience of ill-doing, Providence leaves the work of conviction and chastisement to us mortals-and the process is often fraught with difficulties. There are no short cuts."

"I often wonder why the whole world is so prone to generalise. Generalisations are seldom if ever true and are usually utterly inaccurate."

"Those words of hers had meant nothing - you could not dismiss [however] a human being so easily."

"The only clue to what is in people's minds is in their behavior. If a man behaves strangely, oddly, is not himself--Then you suspect him?No. That is just what I mean. A man whose mind is evil and whose intentions are evil is conscious of that fact and he knows that he must conceal it all costs. He dare not, therefore, afford any unusual behavior."

"I always think loyalty's such a tiresome virtue."

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

"Besides a burial service is rather lovely. Makes you feel uplifted, the grief is real. It makes you feel awful but it does something to you. I mean, it works it out like perspiration."

"Child's evidence is always the best evidence there is. I'd rely on it every time. No good in court, of course. Children can't stand being asked direct questions. They mumble or else look idiotic and say they don't know. They're at their best when they're showing off."

"I have always noticed that these artists and writers are very unbalanced."

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

"Business is based on the well-known principle of supply and demand. You want something, the other man has it. The only thing left to settle is the price."

"One always has hope for human nature."

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

"A man in love is an awful sight."

"In fact,' said Poirot, 'she stabbed him in the dark, not realising that he was dead already, but somehow deduced that he had a watch in his pyjama pocket, took it out, put back the hands blindly and gave it the requisite dent."

"I think I said that every generation had its weaklings--that that was one of the penalties of greatness--but that their failings were seldom remembered by posterity."

"I help those who can help themselves."

"The human mind prefers to be spoonfed with the thoughts of others but deprived of such nourishment it will reluctantly begin to think for itself- and such thinking remember is original thinking and may have valuable results."

"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."

"The things she said seemed to have very little relation to the last thing she had said a minute before. She was the sort of person, Tommy thought, who might know a great deal more than she chose to reveal."

"There! Now we're friends!" declared the minx. "Say you're sorry about my sister -""I am desolated!""That's a good boy!"

"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes."

"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."

"The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don't give a damn."

"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."

"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."

"Don't go, said Cedric. "Murder has made you practically one of the family."

"A man in love is a sorry spectacle."

"Discussions of death and such matters do more to unlock the human tongue than any other subject."

"Nature repeats herself more than one would imagine. The sea has infinitely more variety."

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

"One little Indian left all alone, he went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

"There are, of course, the people who revolve around themselves--but I agree with you, she's not one of that kind. She's totally uninterested in herself. And yet she's got a strong character--there must be something. I thought at first it was her art--but it isn't. I've never met anyone so detached from life. That's dangerous.''Dangerous? What do you mean?''Well, you see--it must mean an obsession of some kind, and obsessions are always dangerous."

"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."

"Nobody knows what another person is thinking. They may imagine they do, but they are nearly always wrong."

"Poirot, watching him, felt suddenly a doubt--an uncomfortable twinge. Was there, here, something that he had missed? Some richness of the spirit? Sadness crept over him. Yes, he should have become acquainted with the classics. Long ago. Now, alas, it was too late...."

"Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them."

"The best time to plan a book is while you're doing the dishes."

"Poirot said "you will find,M.le docteur,if you have much to do with cases of this kind,that they all resemble each other in one thing.""what is that?" I asked curiously"everyone concerned in them has something to hide."

"Such nice people, the Hillingdons, though she's not really very easy to know, is she? I mean, she's always very pleasant and all that, but one never seems to get to know her better.'Miss Marple agreed thoughtfully. 'One never knows what she is thinking.''Perhaps that is just as well.''I beg your pardon?''Oh nothing really, only that I've always had the feeling that perhaps her thoughts might be rather disconcerting."

"I always feel that young doctors are only too anxious too experiment. After they've whipped out all our teeth, and administered quantities of very peculiar glands, and removed bits of our insides, they then confess that nothing can be done for us. I really prefer the old-fashioned remedy of big black bottles of medicine. After all, one can always pour those down the sink."