Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18) QUOTES

1 " 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. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

2 " Ah, but you must have a Christmas uncomplicated by murder. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

3 " And families now, families who have been separated throughout the year, assemble once more together. Now under these conditions, my friend, you must admit that there will occur a great amount of strain. People who do not feel amiable are putting great pressure on themselves to appear amiable! There is at Christmas time a great deal of hypocrisy, honourable hypocrisy, hypocrisy undertaken pour le bon motif, c'est entendu, but nevertheless hypocrisy. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

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

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

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

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

6 " It is the quietest and meekest people who are often capable of the most sudden and unexpected violences for the reason that when their control does snap, it goes entirely. (Hercule Poirot) "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

7 " In conversation, points arise! If a human being converses much, it is impossible for him to avoid the truth! (Hercule Poirot) "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

8 " I believe the present matters --- not the past! The past muust go. If we seek to keep the past alive, we end, I think, by distorting it. We see it in exaggerated terms --- a false perspective. - Hilda Lee "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

9 " Stephen pulled up the collar of his coat as he walked briskly along the platform. Overhead a dim fog clouded the station. Large engines hissed superbly, throwing off clouds of steam into the cold raw air. Everything was dirty and smoke‐grimed. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

10 " I know enough of life to know that you can never judge any case on its outside merits. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

11 " —Creo en el presente (…). No en el pasado. El pasado debe olvidarse. Si tratamos de mantener vivo el pasado, acabamos desfigurándolo. Lo vemos en términos exagerados, desde una falsa perspectiva.
—Puedo recordar perfectamente todos los invidentes y palabras de aquellos días (…).
—Sí, pero no debieras recordarlos. No es natural. Estás aplicando a aquellos días el juicio de un niño, en vez de mirarlos con los ojos de un hombre. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

12 " Do you mean to tell me, Superintendent, that this is one of those damned cases you get in detective stories where a man is killed in a locked room by some apparently supernatural agency. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

13 " He said, and there was a wistful note in his voice: ‘It is true that your moustache is superb…Tell me, do you use for it a special pomade?’ ‘Pomade? Good lord, no!’ ‘What do you use?’ ‘Use? Nothing at all. It—it just grows.’ Poirot sighed. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

14 " I believe the present matters - not the past! The past must go. If we seek to keep the past alive, we end, I think, by distorting it. We see it in exaggerated terms - a false perspective. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

15 " But all the same, it is true what I say--artificial conditions bring about their natural reaction. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

16 " Hercule Poirot stared hard at Superintendent Sugden’s moustache. Its luxuriance seemed to fascinate him. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

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

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

18 " 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 behaviour, mon ami, sooner or later the dam bursts and a cataclysm occurs! "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

19 " Dunque," mormorò, "secondo lei le feste natalizie sono un'epoca poco favorevole ai delitti."
"E' quel che penso."
"Perché?"
"Perché?" Johnson parve un pò perplesso. "Perché, come ho detto, c'è un senso diffuso di allegria, di buona volontà...di buoni pranzi..."
"Come siete sentimentali, voi inglesi!"
"Bé, e anche se fosse così, che male ci vede? E' forse un male amare le tradizioni, le vecchie feste?"
"Oh no, nessun male, anzi è una cosa molto poetica! Ma esaminiamo i fatti. Lei ha detto che Natale è un'epoca di buoni pranzi. Questo significa che in questi giorni si mangia e si beve troppo...Per conseguenza...indigestioni, e all'indigestione si accompagna spesso una speciale irritabilità del carattere."
"Ma i delitti non vengono commessi per irritabilità."
"uhm! Non ne sono troppo sicuro...Ma partiamo anche da un altro punto di vista. A Natale impera lo spirito di "buona volontà". Vecchi litigi vengono dimenticati, coloro che si trovano in disaccordo fanno la pace...Sia pure provvisoriamente, le famiglie che sono state separate per tutto l'anno si raccolgono ancora una volta. In queste occasioni, amico mio, deve ammettere che i nervi possono venir sottoposti a dura prova. Persone che non hanno alcuna voglia di essere amabili fanno uno sforzo per apparirlo...C'è in essi molta ipocrisia, a Natale, onorevole ipocrisia, senza dubbio, ipocrisia pour le bon motif, ma sempre ipocrisia."
"Bé...io non presenterei le cose in questo modo," disse Johnson con aria dubbiosa.
Poirot gli sorrise.
"No, no, sono io che le presento così...e che sostengo come lo sforzo per essere buoni e amabili crei un malessere che può riuscire in definitiva pericoloso. Chiudete le valvole di sicurezza del vostro contegno naturale, e, presto o tardi, la caldaia scoppierà provocando un disastro."
Il colonnello Johnson guardò il piccolo belga.
"Non riesco mai a capire quando parla sul serio e quando si sta burlando di me."
"Non parlo sul serio, no!" disse Poirot ridendo. "Nemmeno per sogno. Ma sostengo che condizioni artificiali di vita finiscono sempre con una naturale reazione. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)

20 " Everyone must die! That is so, is it not? If it comes quickly from the sky—bouff—like that, it is as well as any other way. One is alive for a time—yes, and then one is dead. That is what happens in this world. "

― Agatha Christie , Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Hercule Poirot, #18)