The A.B.C. Murders Quotes

“Words, madmoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“It's like all those quiet people, when they do lose their tempers they lose them with a vengeance.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Our weapon is our knowledge. But remember, it may be a knowledge we may not know that we possess.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Death, mademoiselle, unfortunately creates a prejudice. A prejudice in favour of the deceased. I heard what you said just now to my friend Hastings. ‘A nice bright girl with no men friends.’ You said that in mockery of the newspapers. And it is very true—when a young girl is dead, that is the kind of thing that is said. She was bright. She was happy. She was sweet-tempered. She had not a care in the world. She had no undesirable acquaintances. There is a great charity always to the dead. Do you know what I should like this minute? I should like to find someone who knew Elizabeth Barnard and who does not know she is dead! Then, perhaps, I should hear what is useful to me—the truth.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Speech, so a wise old Frenchman said to me once, is an invention of man's to prevent him from thinking.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Who are you? You don't belong to the police?'
'I am better than the police,' said Poirot. He said it without conscious arrogance. It was, to him, a simple statement of fact.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“I admit," I said, "that a second murder in a book often cheers things up." - Hastings”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“If the little grey cells are not exercised, they grow the rust.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“If one could order a crime as one does a dinner, what would you choose? . . . Let’s review the menu. Robbery? Frogery? No, I think not. Rather too vegetarian. It must be murder—red-blooded murder—with trimmings, of course.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“There is nothing so terrible as to live in an atmosphere of suspicion - to see eyes watching you and the love in them changing to fear - nothing so terrible as to suspect those near and dear to you - It is poisonous - a miasma.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Vous eprouves trop d'emotion, Hastings, It affects your hands and your wits. Is that a way to fold a coat? And regard what you have done to my pyjamas. If the hairwash breaks what will befall them?'
'Good heavens, Poirot,' I cried, 'this is a matter of life and death. What does it matter what happens to our clothes?'
'You have no sense of proportion Hastings. We cannot catch a train earlier than the time that it leaves, and to ruin one's clothes will not be the least helpful in preventing a murder.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“I suppose next time I come home I shall find you wearing false moustaches—or are you doing so now?'
Poirot winced. His moustaches had always been his sensitive point. He was inordinately proud of them. My words touched him on the raw.
'No, no, indeed, mon ami. That day, I pray the good God, is still far off. The false moustaches! Quelle Horreur!’
He tugged at them vigorously to assure me of their genuine character.
'Well, they are very luxuriant still,' I said.
'N’est-ce pas? Never, in the whole of London, have I seen a pair of moustaches to equal mine.'
A good job too, I thought privately.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“And then?"
"And then," said Poirot. "We will talk! Je vous assure, Hastings - there is nothing so dangerous for anyone who has something to hide as conversation! Speech, so a wise old Frenchman said to me once, is an invention of man's to prevent him from thinking. It is also an infallible means of discovering that which he wishes to hide. A human being, Hastings, cannot resist the opportunity to reveal himself and express his personality which conversation gives him. Every time he will give himself away."
"What do you expect Cust to tell you?"
Hercule Poirot smiled.
"A lie," he said. "And by it, I shall know the truth!”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“The spoken word and the written - there is an astonishing gulf between them. There is a way of turning sentences that completely reverses the meaning.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Death, mademoiselle, unfortunately creates a prejudice. A prejudice in favour of the deceased... There is a great charity always to the dead.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“...Murder, I have often noticed, is a great matchmaker.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“But I believe in luck - in destiny, if you will. It is your destiny to stand beside me and prevent me from committing the unforgivable error."
"What do you call the unforgivable error?"
"Overlooking the obvious.!”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“To say a man does mad things because he is mad is merely unintelligent and stupid. A madman is as logical and reasoned in his action as a sane man--given his peculiar biased point of view. For example, if a man insists on going out and squatting about in nothing but a loin cloth his conduct seems eccentric in the extreme. But once you know that the man himself is firmly convinced that he is Mahatma Gandhi, then his conduct becomes perfectly reasonable and logical.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“In the midst of tragedy we start the comedy.”
― Agatha Christie, The ABC Murders

“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.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“Romance can be a by-product of crime.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“You yourself are English and yet you do not seem to appreciate the quality of the English reaction to a direct question. It is invariably one of suspicion and the natural result is reticence.”
― Agatha Christie, The ABC Murders

“Words, mademoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas.”
― Agatha Christie, The ABC Murders

“The human and personal element can never be ignored.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“There is nothing so dangerous for any one who has something to hide as conversation!”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“His mind, shrinking from reality, ran for safety along these unimportant details.”
― Agatha Christie, The ABC Murders

“Speech, so a wise old Frenchman said to me once, is an invention of man's to prevent him from thinking. It is also an infallible means of discovering that which he wishes to hide.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“It's often when you're talking over things that you seem to see your way clear. Your mind gets made up for you sometimes without your knowing how it's happened. Talking leads to a lot of things one way or another.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders

“A madman is a very dangerous thing.”
― Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders