Home > Work > The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)
41 " There is nothing so dangerous for any one who has something to hide as conversation! "
― Agatha Christie , The A.B.C. Murders (Hercule Poirot, #12)
42 " deadly logic is one of the special characteristics of acute mania. "
43 " appears Strange was a whale on dominoes and to his surprise Cust was pretty hot stuff too. Queer game, dominoes. People go mad about it. They’ll play for hours. That’s what Strange and Cust did apparently. Cust wanted to go to bed but Strange wouldn’t hear of it—swore they’d keep it up until midnight at least. And that’s what they did do. "
44 " what is often called an intuition is really an impression based on logical deduction or experience. "
45 " Even the most sober of us is liable to have his head turned by success. "
46 " Not instinct, Hastings. Instinct is a bad word. It is my knowledge—my experience—that tells me that something about that letter is wrong— "
47 " You’re a man milliner, Poirot. I never notice what people have on.” “You should join a nudist colony.” As "
48 " Speech, so a wise old Frenchman said to me once, is an invention of man’s to prevent him from thinking. "
49 " One's body is a nuisance, M. Poirot, especially when it gets the upper hand. One is conscious of nothing else-- whether the pain will hold off or not--nothing else seems to matter. "
50 " When I know what the murderer is like, I shall be able to find out who he is. "
51 " But man was a ridiculous animal anyway.... "
52 " 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. "
53 " I recalled the leering drunken old man, and the toil-worn face of the dead woman—and I shivered a little at the remorselessness of time…. "
54 " I know, Hastings—I know. The spoken word and the written—there is an astonishing gulf between them. There is a way of turning sentences that completely reverses the original meaning. "
55 " But what is often called an intuition is really an impression based on logical deduction or experience. "
56 " You can't rightly estimate what a man will do when he's in drink. "
57 " ... Some people, under a nervous and self-effacing manner, conceal a great deal of vanity and self-satisfaction. "
58 " Death, mademoiselle, unfortunately creates a prejudice. A prejudice in favour of the deceased. "
59 " A madman in particular has always a very strong reason for the crimes he commits. "
60 " It is looking for the needle in the haystack, I grant—but in the haystack there is a needle—of that I am convinced! "