Quotes by Agatha Christie

I always think loyaltys such a tiresome virtue.

Im going to marry him. And if he thinks he can get divorced and married every two or three years in the approved Hollywood fashion, well, he never made a bigger mistake in his life. Hes going to marry and stick to me.

Intuition is like reading a word without having to spell it out. A child cant do that because it has had so little experience. A grown-up person knows the word because theyve seen it often before.

In a well-balanced, reasoning mind there is no such thing as an intuition - an inspired guess! You can guess, of course - and a guess is either right or wrong. If it is right you can call it an intuition. If it is wrong you usually do not speak of it again. But what is often called an intuition is really impression based on logical deduction or experience. When an expert feels that there is something wrong about a picture or a piece of furniture or the signature on a cheque he is really basing that feeling on a host of a small signs and details. He has no need to go into them minutely - his experience obviates that - the net result is the definite impression that something is wrong. But it is not a guess, it is an impression based on experience.

How true is the saying that man was forced to invent work in order to escape the strain of having to think.

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 ones love is not returned. And so one goes on waiting, watching, expecting...that the loved one will turn to someone else.

You are not the happy, unthinking child you have always appeared to be, accepting everything at its face value. You are not just one of the women of the household. You are Renisenb who wants to think for herself, who wonders about other people.

Whether he acted rightly or not, I have never been sure. It was the future of a child that was at stake. A child, he felt, ought to be given the benefit of a doubt.

...It was borne in upon her audience that the outside of Janes charming head was distinctly superior to the inside.

I help those who can help themselves.

Eh bien, then, you are crazy, or appear crazy or you think you are crazy, and possibly you may be crazy.

But when you say crazy, that describes very well what the general appearance may be to ordinary, everyday people.

That is the word of reality - need.

Shes very selfish. Not exactly self-centered, but totally indifferent to everyone and everything. Dont you agree? I dont think thats possible, said Mr Satterthwaite, slowly. I mean everyones interest must go somewhere.

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.

I always feel that young doctors are only too anxious too experiment. After theyve 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.

For somewhere, said Poirot to himself, indulging in an absolute riot of mixed metaphors, there is in the hay a needle, and among the sleeping dogs there is one on whom I shall put my foot, and by shooting the arrows into the air, one will come down and hit a glass house!

To cry at will is not an easy accomplishment.

Sloppy crying had never helped anyone yet.

For, once theres a death, one doesnt like to think theres been harsh words spoken and no chance of taking them back.