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The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12) QUOTES

The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12) QUOTES

1 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

2 " In fact there is only your own instinct?

Not instinct, Hastings. Instinct is a bad word. It is my knowledge-my experience-that tells me that something about that letter is wrong- "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

3 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

4 " Women were very queer. Unexpectedly cruel and unexpectedly kind. "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

5 " A man in drink can be like a ravening wolf. "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

6 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

7 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

8 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

9 " Words, madmoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas. "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

10 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

11 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

12 " I admit," I said, "that a second murder in a book often cheers things up." - Hastings "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

13 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

14 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

15 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

16 " If the little grey cells are not exercised, they grow the rust. "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

17 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

18 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)

19 " I admit that the second murder in the book often cheers things up. "

― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)

20 " 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 (Hercule Poirot, #12)