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1 " The truth must be quite plain, if one could just clear away the litter. "
― Agatha Christie , A Caribbean Mystery
2 " The truth is, that one doesn't really know anything about anybody. Not even the people who are nearest to you...''Isn't that going a little too far--exaggerating too much?''I don't think it is. When you think of people, it is in the image you have made of them for yourself. "
3 " It's all very well to talk like that,” said Mr. Rafiel. “We, you say? What do you think I can do about it? I can't even walk without help. How can you and I set about preventing a murder? You're about a hundred and I'm a broken-up old crock. "
4 " People bicker so and have such rows. Even if they're fond of each other, they still seem to have rows and not to mind a bit whether they have them in public or not. "
5 " Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide. "
6 " Lie is more worth living, more full of interest when you are likely to lose it. It shouldn't be, perhaps, but it is. When you're young and strong and healthy, and life stretches ahead of you, living isn't really important at all. It's young people who commit suicide easily, out of despair from love, sometimes from sheer anxiety and worry. But old people know how valuable life is and how interesting. - Jane Marple "
7 " How can you and I set about preventing a murder? You're about a hundred and I'm a broken-up old crock. "
8 " They found he’d had a lethal dose of something that only a doctor could pronounce properly. As far as I remember it sounds vaguely like di-flor, hexagonal-ethylcarbenzol. That’s not the right name. But that’s roughly what it sounds like. "
9 " He had had a lonely life and a lonely death. But it had been the kind of loneliness that spends itself in living amongst people, and in passing the time that way not unpleasantly. Major Palgrave might have been a lonely man, he had also been quite a cheerful one. "
10 " Like many old people she slept lightly and had periods of wakefulness which she used for the planning of some action or actions to be carried out on the next or following days. "
11 " IF anybody had been there to observe the gentle-looking elderlylady who stood meditatively on the loggia outside her bungalow,they would have thought she had nothing more on her mind thandeliberation on how to arrange her time that day. An expedition, perhaps, to Castle Cliff; a visit to Jamestown; a nice drive andlunch at Pelican Point_ or just a quiet morning on the beach.But the gentle old lady was deliberating quite other matters. Shewas in a militant mood. "
12 " Modern novels. So difficult—all about such unpleasant people, doing such very odd things and not, apparently, even enjoying them. “Sex” as a word had not been mentioned in Miss Marple’s young days; but there had been plenty of it—not talked about so much—but enjoyed far more than nowadays, or so it seemed to her. Though usually labelled Sin, she couldn’t help feeling that that was preferable to what it seemed to be nowadays—a kind of Duty. "
13 " Miss Marple had her breakfast brought to her in bed as usual. Tea, a boiled egg, and a slice of pawpaw. "
14 " The weather was always the same—fine. No interesting variations. “The many-splendoured weather of an English day,” she "
15 " Yes, it’s horrid having a death here. It makes everyone depressed. Of course—he was quite old.” “He seemed quite well and cheerful yesterday,” said Miss Marple, slightly resenting this calm assumption that everyone of advanced years was liable to die at any minute. "
16 " He had high blood pressure,” said Molly. “But surely there are things one takes nowadays—some kind of pill. Science is so wonderful. "
17 " He had had a lonely life and a lonely death. But it had been the kind of loneliness that spends itself in living amongst people, and in passing the time that way not unpleasantly. "
18 " How wonderful science is nowadays,” said Miss Marple. “Doctors can do so much, can’t they?” “We all have one great competitor,” said Dr. Graham. “Nature, you know. And some of the good old-fashioned home remedies come back from time to time. "
19 " There was a gay family from Caracas complete with children. "
20 " I tell you he brought bad luck—I say it is the Evil Eye he had.” Her hand shot out again in the well-known Latin gesture—the first finger and the little finger sticking out, the two middle ones doubled in. "
