Quotes from Agatha Christie

the real tragedy of life was that you got what you wanted...

But it is not everything in life that has its ticket, so much. There are things that are not for sale.

One's own troubles sharpen one's eyes sometimes.

Men have the best of this world. I hope that it will not always be so.

Sanity is the one unbelievable bore. One must be mad, slightly twisted - then one sees life from a new and entrancing angle.

You tell your lies and you think nobody knows. But there are two people who know. Yes- two people. One is le bon Dieu - and the other is Hercule Poirot

A diary is useful for recording the idiosyncrasies of other people—but not one's own.

It is completely unimportant," said Poirot. "That is why it is so interesting," he added softly.

That is what I mean. A bath! The receptacle of porcelain, one turns the taps and fills it, one gets in, one gets out and ghoosh - ghoosh - ghoosh, the water goes down the waste pipe!" "M. Poirot are you quite mad?" "No, I am extremely sane.

I know when a couple are really in love with each other. And by that I do not mean just sexually attracted. There is too much talk about sex, too much attention is paid to it. I do not mean that anything about sex is wrong. That is nonsense. But sex cannot take the place of love, it goes with love, but cannot succeed by itself.

The little grey cells, my friend, the little grey cells! They told me.

There is at Christmas time a great deal of hypocrisy, honourable hypocrisy, hypocrisy undertaken pour le bon motif, c'est entendu, but nevertheless hypocrisy!

In fact-Dr. Sheppard!

In every profession and walk of life there is someone who is vulnerablle to temptation. (Mr. Barnes)

What's wrong with my proposition?" Poirot rose. "If you will forgive me for being personal - I do not like your face.

It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever! sooner or later they will give themselves away.

My remarks are, as always, apt, sound, and to the point. (Hercule Poirot)

No one human being knows the full truth about another human being. Not even one's nearest and dearest.

It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them

Yes, I like that—loyalty, I mean. It's out of fashion nowadays. She's an odd character, that girl—proud, reserved, stubborn, and terribly warm-hearted underneath, I fancy.

If the thing you want beyond anything cannot be, it is much better to recognize it and go forward, instead of dwelling on one's regrets and hopes.

One cannot be interested in crime without being interested in psychology. It is not the mere act of killing, it is what lies behind it that appeals to the expert.

Man is an unoriginal animal. Unoriginal within the law in his daily respectable life, equally unoriginal outside the law. If a man commits a crime, any other crime he commits will resemble it closely.

It seems dreadful to say so, but there is something attractive to a girl in being told anyone is a bad man. She thinks at once that her love will reform him.