I Have Enjoyed Greatly The Second Blooming That Comes When You Finish The Life Of The Emotions And Of Personal Relations; And Suddenly Find - At The Age Of Fifty, Say - That A Whole New Life Has Opened Before You, Filled With Things You Can Think About, Study, Or Read About...it Is As If A Fresh Sap Of Ideas And Thoughts Was Rising In You.

-Agatha Christie

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I Have Enjoyed Greatly

Agatha Christie

Topic

Life

Retirement

Thinking

More From Agatha Christie

I Was Thinking, That When My Time Comes, I Should Be Sorry If The Only Plea I Had To Offer Was That Of Justice. Because It Might Mean That Only Justice Would Be Meted Out To Me.

Sorry

Mean

Thinking

There Is Evil Everywhere Under The Sun.

Evil

Sun

Instinct Is A Marvelous Thing. It Can Neither Be Explained Nor Ignored.

Ignored

Instinct

Marvelous

The Point Is That One's Got An Instinct To Live. One Doesn't Live Because One's Reason Assents To Living. People Who, As We Say, 'would Be Better Dead' Don't Want To Die! People Who Apparently Have Everything To Live For Just Let Themselves Fade Out Of Life Because They Haven't Got The Energy To Fight.

Fighting

People

Would Be

Achievement Brings With It Its Own Anticlimax.

Success

Achievement

I Know Nothing About Pistols And Revolvers, Which Is Why I Usually Kill Off My Characters With A Blunt Instrument Or Better With Poisons. Besides, Poisons Are Neat And Clean And Really Exciting... I Do Not Think I Could Look A Really Ghastly Mangled Body In The Face. It Is The Means That I Am Interested In. I Do Not Usually Describe The End, Which Is Often A Corpse.

Character

Mean

Thinking

Don't Think. That Is The Wrong Way To Bring Anything Back. Let It Go. Sooner Or Later It Will Flash Into Your Mind.

Thinking

Mind

Let It Go

That Was What, Ultimately, War Did To You. It Was Not The Physical Dangers--the Mines At Sea, The Bombs From The Air, The Crisp Ping Of A Rifle Bullet As You Drove Over A Desert Track. No, It Was The Spiritual Danger Of Learning How Much Easier Life Was If You Ceased To Think.

Spiritual

War

Thinking

If One Sticks Too Rigidly To One's Principles, One Would Hardly See Anybody.

Principles

Literature

Sticks

The Best Time To Plan A Book Is While You're Doing The Dishes.

Time

Book

Memorable

Any Medical Man Who Predicts Exactly When A Patient Will Die, Or Exactly How Long He Will Live, Is Bound To Make A Fool Of Himself. The Human Factor Is Always Incalculable. The Weak Have Often Unexpected Powers Of Resistance, The Strong Sometimes Succumb.

Strong

Men

Long

The Bereaved Had Never Any Doubt About Their Dear Ones' Wishes And Those Wishes Usually Squared With Their Own Inclinations.

Dear Ones

Doubt

Wish

Elephants Can Remember, But We Are Human Beings And Mercifully Human Beings Can Forget.

Elephants

Remember

Forget

I Am Not Mad. I Am Eccentric Perhaps--at Least Certain People Say So; But As Regards My Profession. I Am Very Much As One Says, 'all There.

People

Mad

Eccentric

One Of The Luckiest Things That Can Happen To You In Life Is, I Think, To Have A Happy Childhood.

Life

Thinking

Childhood

... It's Always Interesting When One Doesn't See. If You Don't See What A Thing Means, You Must Be Looking At It Wrong Way Round.

Mean

Interesting

Way

I Do Not Argue With Obstinate Men. I Act In Spite Of Them.

Men

Arguing

Spite

I'm Sure You Have A Theme: The Theme Of Your Life. You Can Embellish It Or Desecrate It, But It's Your Theme, And As Long As You Follow It, You Will Experience Harmony And Peace Of Mind.

Long

Mind

Harmony

Beastly Things, Teeth. Give Us Trouble From The Cradle To The Grave.

Giving

Teeth

Trouble

To Feel Admiration For A Man All Through One's Married Life Would, I Think, Be Excessively Tedious.

Men

Thinking

Admiration

Heather Badcock Meant No Harm. She Never Did Mean Harm, But There Is No Doubt That People Like Heather Badcock (and Like My Old Friend Alison Wilde), Are Capable Of Doing A Lot Of Harm Because They Lack - Not Kindness, They Have Kindness - But Any Real Consideration For The Way Their Actions May Affect Other People. She Though Always Of What An Action Meant To Her, Never Sparing A Thought To What It Might Mean To Somebody Else.

Kindness

Real

Mean

It's Very Inconvenient To Be Loved. Nearly Everyone Has Found That Out, Sooner Or Later. The Fewer People Who Love You The Less You Will Have To Suffer.

Love You

People

Suffering

Where Do One's Fears Come From? Where Do They Shape Themselves? Where Do They Hide Before Coming Out Into The Open?

Shapes

Coming Out

Everyone Likes Talking About Himself. - Hercule Poirot

Talking

Likes

Hercule Poirot

Sometimes I Feel Sure He Is As Mad As A Hatter And Then, Just As He Is At His Maddest, I Find There Is A Method In His Madness.

Mad

Sometimes

Method

Never Tell All You Know—not Even To The Person You Know Best.

Persons

Knows

The Simplest Explanation Is Always The Most Likely.

Explanation

Simplest

The Happy People Are Failures Because They Are On Such Good Terms With Themselves They Don't Give A Damn.

Winning

People

Giving

What's Wrong With My Proposition?" Poirot Rose. "if You Will Forgive Me For Being Personal-i Do Not Like Your Face, M. Ratchett.

Rose

Forgive Me

Forgiving

And Yet," Said Poirot, "suppose An Accident-" "ah, No, My Friend-" "from Your Point Of View It Would Be Regrettable, I Agree. But Nevertheless Let Us Just For One Moment Suppose It. Then, Perhaps, All These Here Are Linked Together - By Death.

Views

Together

Would Be

I've Got An Uncle Myself. Nobody Should Be Held Responsible For Their Uncles. Nature's Little Throwbacks - That's How I Look At It.

Uncles

Aunt

Looks

"look Here," I Said, "people Like To Collect Disasters."

Loss

People

Looks

To Rush Into Explanations Is Always A Sign Of Weakness.

Weakness

Excuse

Explanation

There's Nothing So Dangerous For Anyone Who Has Something To Hide As Conversation.

Conversation

Dangerous

You're Shocked, Mr. Burton, At Hearing What Our Gossiping Little Town Thinks. I Can Tell You This - They Always Think The Worst!

Thinking

Towns

Littles

Poirot: Do Not Allow Hate Into Your Heart, For It Will Make A Home There. Jackie: If Love Cannot Live There, Hate Works Just As Well.

Hate

Home

Heart

There Are Some People Who Don't Conform To The Signals. An Ordinary Well-regulated Locomotive Slows Down Or Pulls Up When It Sees The Red Light Hoisted Against It. Perhaps I Was Born Color Blind. When I See The Red Signal -- I Can't Help Forging Ahead. And In The End, You Know, That Spells Disaster.

Light

Color

People

There Is Nothing So Dangerous For Anyone Who Has Something To Hide As Conversation!... A Human Being, Hastings, Cannot Resist Theopportunity To Reveal Himself And Express His Personality Which Conversation Gives Him. Every Time He Will Give Himself Away.

Women

Giving

Personality

It's Not A Man's Working Hours That Are Important--it's His Leisure Hours. That's The Mistake We All Make.

Mistake

Men

Important

We Are The Same People As We Were At Three, Six, Ten Or Twenty Years Old. More Noticeably So, Perhaps, At Six Or Seven, Because We Were Not Pretending So Much Then.

Years

People

Twenties

There Is Something About Conscious Tact That Is Very Irritating.

Conscious

Tact

Irritating

It Is Clear That The Books Owned The Shop Rather Than The Other Way About. Everywhere They Had Run Wild And Taken Possession Of Their Habitat, Breeding And Multiplying, And Clearly Lacking Any Strong Hand To Keep Them Down.

Running

Strong

Book

If You Place Your Head In A Lion's Mouth, Then You Cannot Complain One Day If He Happens To Bite It Off.

Philosophy

One Day

Complaining

There Is No Greater Mistake In Life Than Seeing Things Or Hearing Them At The Wrong Time.

Mistake

Hearing

Wrong Time

One Place Is Very Like Another.

A Woman Who Doesn't Lie Is A Woman Without Imagination And Without Sympathy.

Trains Are Wonderful.... To Travel By Train Is To See Nature And Human Beings, Towns And Churches And Rivers, In Fact, To See Life.

Rivers

Church

Towns

It Is Ridiculous To Set A Detective Story In New York City. New York City Is Itself A Detective Story.

New York

Writing

Cities

The Amount Of Missing Girls I've Had To Trace And Their Family And Their Friends Always Say The Same Thing. 'she Was A Bright And Affectionate Disposition And Had No Men Friends'. That's Never True. It's Unnatural. Girls Ought To Have Men Friends. If Not, Then There's Something Wrong About Them.

Girl

Men

Missing

In The Midst Of Life, We Are In Death.

Life

Midst

For In The Long Run, Either Through A Lie, Or Through Truth, People Were Bound To Give Themselves Away.

Running

Lying

Long

Mr. Jesmond Made A Peculiar Noise Rather Like A Hen Who Has Decided To Lay An Egg And Then Thought Better Of It.

Eggs

Peculiar

Noise

I Have Always Been So Sure - Too Sure... But Now I Am Very Humble And I Say Like A Little Child: "i Do Not Know..."

Children

Humble

Littles

It Is Curious - But You Cannot Make A Revolution Without Honest Men. ... Every Revolution Has Had Its Honest Men. They Are Soon Disposed Of Afterwards.

Men

Revolution

Honest

Bad Temper Is Its Own Safety Valve. He Who Can Bark Does Not Bite.

Anger

Safety

Doe

Curious Things, Habits. People Themselves Never Knew They Had Them. [witness For The Prosecution, Also Published In The Hound Of Death And Other Stories.]

People

Stories

Habit

In Old Days The Public Didn't Really Mind Much About Accuracy, But Nowadays Readers Take It Upon Themselves To Write To Authors On Every Possible Occasion, Pointing Out Flaws.

Writing

Mind

Flaws

There Is No Telling What A Human Character Is. Until The Test Comes. To Most Of Us The Test Comes Early In Life. A Man Is Confronted Quite Soon With The Necessity To Stand On His Own Feet, To Face Dangers And Difficulties And To Take His Own Line Of Dealing With Them. It May Be The Straight Way, It May Be The Crooked Way --- Whichever It Is, A Man Usually Learns Early Just What He Is Made Of.

Character

Men

Feet

I Often Wonder Why The Whole World Is So Prone To Generalise. Generalisations Are Seldom If Ever True And Are Usually Utterly Inaccurate.

World

Wonder

Generalisation

How Often Have I Not Heard A Perfectly Intelligent Female Says, In The Tone Of One Clinching An Argument, 'edgar Says -- ' And All The Time You Are Perfectly Aware That Edgar Is A Perfect Fool.

Intelligent

Perfect

Fool

I Have A Certain Experience Of The Way People Tell Lies.

Lying

People

Way

There Was A Moment When I Changed From An Amateur To A Professional. I Assumed The Burden Of A Profession, Which Is To Write Even When You Don't Want To, Don't Much Like What You're Writing, And Aren't Writing Particularly Well

Work

Writing

Commitment

One Does See So Much Evil In A Village,' Murmured Miss Marple In An Explanatory Voice.

Voice

Evil

Missing

Books Are A Habit-forming Drug.

Book

Drug

Habit

The Trouble With You And Me, Is That We Don't Live In The Real World. We Dream Of Fantastic Things That May Never Happen.

Dream

Real

World

People Who Can Be Very Good Can Be Very Bad Too.

People

Very Good

Bottled, Was He?" Said Colonel Bantry, With An Englishman's Sympathy For Alcoholic Excess. "oh, Well, Can't Judge A Fellow By What He Does When He's Drunk? When I Was At Cambridge, I Remember I Put A Certain Utensil - Well - Well, Nevermind.

Sympathy

Drunk

Judging

That Is What I Mean. A Bath! The Receptacle Of Porcelain, One Turns The Taps And Fills It, One Gets In, One Gets Out And Ghoosh - Ghoosh - Ghoosh, The Water Goes Down The Waste Pipe!" "m. Poirot Are You Quite Mad?" "no, I Am Extremely Sane.

Mean

Mad

Water

I Really Cannot Understand The Point Of What You're Saying. Really,' Said Clotilde, Looking At Her. 'what A Very Extraordinary Person You Are. What Sort Of A Woman Are You? Why Are You Talking Like This? Who Are You?' Miss Marple Pulled Down The Mass Of Pink Wool That Encircled Her Head, A Pink Wool Scarf Of The Same Kind That She Had Once Worn In The West Indies. 'one Of My Names,' She Said, 'is Nemesis.' 'nemesis? And What Does That Mean?' 'i Think You Know,' Said Miss Marple. 'you Are A Very Well Educated Woman. Nemesis Is Long Delayed Sometimes, But It Comes In The End.

Mean

Thinking

West Indies

It's No Good Starting Out By Thinking One Is A Heaven-born Genius- Some People Are, But Very Few. No, One Is A Tradesman - A Tradesman In A Good Honest Trade. You Must Learn The Technical Skills, And Then, Within That Trade, You Can Apply Your Own Creative Ideas, But You Must Submit Them To The Discipline Of Form.

Thinking

Skills

Ideas

Never Go Back To A Place Where You Have Been Happy. Until You Do It Remains Alive For You. If You Go Back It Will Be Destroyed.

Alive

Remains

Has Beens

All I Needed Was A Steady Table And A Typewriter...a Marble-topped Bedroom Washstand Table Made A Good Place; The Dining-room Table Between Meals Was Also Suitable.

Writing

Typewriters

Dining

Money ... Is Always The Great Clue To What Is Happening In The World.

World

Clue

Happenings

When You Find That People Are Not Telling You The Truth---look Out!

Honesty

People

Looks

You Agree - I'm Sure You Agree That Beauty Is The Only Thing Worth Living For.

Self Esteem

Agree

Esteem

I, Myself, Was Always Recognized . . . As The “slow One” In The Family. It Was Quite True, And I Knew It And Accepted It. Writing And Spelling Were Always Terribly Difficult For Me. My Letters Were Without Originality. I Was . . . An Extraordinarily Bad Speller And Have Remained So Until This Day.

Writing

Letters

Originality

... Nothing Is So Boring As Devotion.

Boring

Devotion

So Boring

It Had Come About Exactly In The Way Things Happened In Books.

Book

Way

Exes

Hate Doesn't Last. Love Does.

Hate

Doe

Lasts

Juliet Singles Out Romeo. Desdemona Claims Othello. They Have No Doubts, The Young, No Fear, No Pride.

Love

Pride

Doubt

When The Fact Doesn't Meet The Theory Then Let Go The Theory.

Letting Go

Facts

Theory

Too Much Safety Is Abhorrent To The Nature Of A Human Being.

Safety

Abhorrent

Too Much

I Would Like It To Be Said That I Was A Good Writer Of Detective And Thriller Stories.

Stories

Detectives

Thrillers

You Have A Tendency, Hastings, To Prefer The Least Likely. That, No Doubt, Is From Reading Too Many Detective Stories.

Reading

Doubt

Stories

There Is No Question Of Defence. I Have Always Acted In Accordance With The Dictates Of My Conscience. I Have Nothing With Which To Reproach Myself.

Defence

Reproach

Conscience

There Is No Detective In England Equal To A Spinster Lady Of Uncertain Age With Plenty Of Time On Her Hands.

Hands

Age

Detectives

Any Coincidencce Is Worth Noticing. You Can Throw It Away Later If It Is Only A Coincidence.

Noticing You

Coincidence

Ifs

If We Seek To Keep The Past Alive, We End, I Think, By Distorting It.

Thinking

Past

Alive

Use That Fluff Of Yours You Call A Brain.

Brain

Use

Fluff

At My Time Of Life, One Knows That The Worst Is Usually True.

Worst

My Time

Knows

What I Feel Is That If One Has Got To Have A Murder Actually Happening In One's House, One Might As Well Enjoy It, If You Know What I Mean.

Mean

House

Might

I'm Sorry, But I Do Hate This Differentiation Between The Sexes. The Modern Girl Has A Thoroughly Businesslike Attitude To Life! That Sort Of Thing. It's Not A Bit True! Some Girls Are Businesslike And Some Aren't. Some Men Are Sentimental And Muddle-headed, Others Are Clear-headed And Logical. There Are Just Different Types Of Brains.

Girl

Sex

Sorry

I Am All That There Is Of The Most Real.

Real

Wonderful Things, Horses. Never Know What They Will Do, Or Won't Do.

Horse

Wonderful

Knows

If You Are To Be Hercule Poirot, You Must Think Of Everything.

Thinking

Hercule Poirot

Ifs

You Are The Patient One, Mademoiselle,' Said Poirot To Miss Debenham. She Shrugged Her Shoulders Slightly. 'what Else Can One Do?' You Are A Philosopher, Mademoiselle.' That Implies A Detached Attitude. I Think My Attitude Is More Selfish. I Have Learned To Save Myself Useless Emotion.

Attitude

Selfish

Thinking

Talk And Tea Is His Specialty," Said Giles. "he Has About Five Cups Of Tea A Day. But He Works Splendidly When We Are Looking.

Tea

Cups

Said

If You Love, You Will Suffer, And If You Do Not Love, You Do Not Know The Meaning Of A Christian Life.

Christian

Love You

Suffering

You've A Pretty Good Nerve," Said Ratchett. "will Twenty Thousand Dollars Tempt You?" It Will Not." If You're Holding Out For More, You Won't Get It. I Know What A Thing's Worth To Me." I, Also M. Ratchett." What's Wrong With My Proposition?" Poirot Rose. "if You Will Forgive Me For Being Personal - I Do Not Like Your Face, M. Ratchett," He Said.

Rose

Forgive Me

Forgiving

Crime Is Terribly Revealing. Try And Vary Your Methods As You Will, Your Tastes, Your Habits, Your Attitude Of Mind, And Your Soul Is Revealed By Your Actions.

Attitude

Soul

Mind

The Human Mind Prefers To Be Spoon-fed With The Thoughts Of Others, But Deprived Of Such Nourishment It Will, Reluctantly, Begin To Think For Itself - And Such Thinking, Remember, Is Original Thinking And May Have Valuable Results.

Thinking

Mind

May

And, Of Course, Afterwards -- One Always Hears These Things Afterwards, So Much Better If One Heard Them Before -- We Found Out That Dozens Of Empty Brandy Bottles Were Taken Out Of The House Every Week!

Taken

House

Bottles

To Keep Something Wild Is Far More Difficult Than To Preserve It.

Difficult

Preserves

She Didn't Give George Any Too Easy A Time When She Was Alive. She Was One Of Those Semi-invalids – I Believe She Had Really Something Wrong With Her, But Whatever It Was She Played It For All It Was Worth. She Was Capricious, Exacting, Unreasonable. She Complained From Morning To Night. George Was Expected To Wait On Her, Hand And Foot And Everything He Did Was Always Wrong And He Got Cursed For It. Most Men, I'm Fully Convinced, Would Have Hit Her With A Hatchet Long Ago.

Morning

Believe

Men

The Science Of Tomorrow Is The Supernatural Of Today.

Today

Tomorrow

Everybody Always Knows Something," Said Adam, "even If It's Something They Don't Know They Know.

Adam

Said

Knows

You Cannot Give To People What They Are Incapable Of Receiving.

People

Giving

Receiving

The Supernatural Is Only The Natural Of Which The Laws Are Not Yet Understood.

Law

Natural

Understood

The Detective's Highest Talent Lay In The Gentle Art Of Seeking Favours Under The Guise Of Conferring Them!

Art

Favors

Detectives

When A Man Is Really In Love He Can't Help Looking Like A Sheep.

Men

Sheep

Helping

No Sign, So Far, Of Anything Sinister—but I Live In Hope.

Sinister

I Admit," I Said, "that A Second Murder In A Book Often Cheers Things Up." - Hastings

Cheer

Book

Murder

What Good Is Money If It Can't Buy Happiness?

Wealth

Ifs

I Like To Inquire Into Everything. Hercule Poirot Is A Good Dog. The Good Dog Follows The Scent, And If, Regrettably, There Is No Scent To Follow, He Noses Around - Seeking Always Something That Is Not Very Nice.

Dog

Nice

Noses

A Great Many Men Are Mad, And No One Knows It. They Do Not Know It Themselves

Men

Mad

Knows

There Are Doubtless Certain Unworldly People Who Are Indifferent To Money. I Myself Have Never Met One.

People

Mets

Certain

A Mother's Love For Her Child Is Like Nothing Else In The World.

Mothers Day

Mom

Daughter

He Laughs Best Who Laughs At The End.

Laughing

Ends

One Must Make One's Own Mistakes

Mistake

I Married An Archeologist Because The Older I Grow, The More He Appreciates Me.

Appreciate

Age

Aging

Writers Are Diffident Creatures -- They Need Encouragement.

Encouragement

Needs

Need Encouragement

She Was A Lucky Woman Who Had Established A Happy Knack Of Writing What Quite A Lot Of People Wanted To Read.

Writing

People

Lucky

In My Experience, People Who Go About Looking For Trouble Usually Find It.

People

Trouble

Youth Is A Failing Only Too Easily Outgrown.

Youth

Failing

I Like Living. I Have Sometimes Been Wildly, Despairingly, Acutely Miserable, Racked With Sorrow, But Through It All I Still Know Quite Certainly That Just To Be Alive Is A Grand Thing.

Inspirational

Life

Happiness

Until One Looks Back On One's Own Past One Fails To Realise What An Extraordinary View Of The World A Child Has.

Children

Past

Views

Exactly! It Is Absurd - Improbable - It Cannot Be. So I Myself Have Said. And Yet, My Friend, There It Is! One Cannot Escape From The Facts.

Facts

Absurd

Said

The Truth Often Does Sound Unconvincing.

Sound

Doe

You Want Beauty,' Said Hercules Poirot. 'beauty At Any Price. For Me, It Is Truth. I Want Always Truth.

Healing

Want

Said

Is There Ever Any Particular Spot Where One Can Put One's Finger And Say, "it All Began That Day, At Such A Time And Such A Place, With Such An Incident?

Incidents

Spots

Fingers

An Ugly Voice Repels Me Where An Ugly Face Would Not.

Voice

Ugly

Faces

Of Course I Despise Money When I Haven't Got Any. It's The Only Dignified Thing To Do.

Despise

Things To Do

Courses

I'm Going To Marry Him. And If He Thinks He Can Get Divorced And Married Every Two Or Three Years In The Approved Hollywood Fashion, Well, He Never Made A Bigger Mistake In His Life. He's Going To Marry And Stick To Me.

Fashion

Mistake

Divorce

These Little Grey Cells. It Is Up To Them.

Cells

Literature

Littles

Hercule Poirot: I Am An Imbecile. I See Only Half Of The Picture. Miss Lemon: I Don't Even See That.

Missing

Half

Imbeciles

A Man When He Is Making Up To Anybody Can Be Cordial And Gallant And Full Of Little Attentions And Altogether Charming. But When A Man Is Really In Love He Can't Help Looking Like A Sheep.

Men

Sheep

Littles

Very Few Of Us Are What We Seem.

Literature

Seems

Evil Is Not Any Superhuman, But It Is Human.

Evil

Superhuman

Humans

Sitting Here With One's Knitting, One Just Sees The Facts. -"the Blood-stained Pavement

Knitting

Blood

Sitting

When The Sea Goes Down, There Will Come From The Mainland Boats And Men. And They Will Find Ten Dead Bodies And An Unsolved Problem On Indian Island.

Men

Sea

Islands

An Archaeologist Is The Best Husband A Woman Can Have. The Older She Gets The More Interested He Is In Her.

Love

Funny

Birthday

In My End Is My Beginning - That's What People Are Always Saying. But What Does It Mean?

Mean

People

Doe

Everybody Is Very Much Alike, Really. But Fortunately, Perhaps, They Don't Realise It. - Miss Marple

Missing

Miss Marple

Realising

Bitterness Leads Nowhere. It Turns Back On Itself. It Is The Eternal Cul-de-sac.

Bitterness

Turns

Eternal

The Truth, However Ugly In Itself, Is Always Curious And Beautiful To Seekers After It.

Beautiful

Ugly

Curious

No Innocent Person Ever Has An Alibi.

Innocent Person

Innocent

Persons

Our Weapon Is Our Knowledge. But Remember, It May Be A Knowledge We May Not Know That We Possess.

May

Weapons

Remember

Nobody Believes In Magicians Any More, Nobody Believes That Anyone Can Come Along And Wave A Wand And Turn You Into A Frog. But If You Read In The Paper That By Injecting Certain Glands Scientists Can Alter Your Vital Tissues And You'll Develop Froglike Characteristics, Well, Everybody Would Believe That.

Believe

Paper

Frogs

I Don't Go In For Being Sorry For People. For One Thing It's Insulting. One Is Only Sorry For People When They're Sorry For Themselves. Self-pity Is One Of The Biggest Stumbling Blocks In The World Today.

Sorry

Block

Our World

You Don't Realize What Fine Fighting Material There Is In Age. ... You Show Me Any One Who's Lived To Over Seventy And You Show Me A Fighter - Some One Who's Got The Will To Live.

Fighting

Age

Fighter

To Count - Really And Truly To Count - A Woman Must Have Goodness Or Brains.

Brain

Goodness

Things Go Entirely Differently From The Way You Planned Them.

Way

Too Much Mercy... Often Resulted In Further Crimes Which Were Fatal To Innocent Victims Who Need Not Have Been Victims If Justice Had Been Put First And Mercy Second.

Justice

Needs

Too Much

It Is The Brain, The Little Gray Cells On Which One Must Rely. One Must Seek The Truth Within--not Without." ~ Poirot

Cells

Brain

Littles

In Conversation, Points Arise! If A Human Being Converses Much, It Is Impossible For Him To Avoid The Truth! (hercule Poirot)

Impossible

Arise

Conversation

At The Small Table, Sitting Very Upright, Was One Of The Ugliest Old Ladies He Had Ever Seen. It Was An Ugliness Of Distinction - It Fascinated Rather Than Repelled.

Sitting

Tables

Distinction

I Always Take Abroad With Me One Really Good Soft Pillow--to Me It Makes All The Difference Between Comfort And Misery.

Differences

Comfort

Misery

Now I Am Old-fashioned. A Woman, I Consider, Should Be Womanly. I Have No Patience With The Modern Neurotic Girl Who Jazzes From Morning To Night, Smokes Like A Chimney, And Uses Language Which Would Make A Billingsgate Fishwoman Blush!

Girl

Morning

Night

Courage Is The Resolution To Face The Unforeseen.

Faces

Resolution

Unforeseen

The Contemporary Historian Never Writes Such A True History As The Historian Of A Later Generation.

Writing

History

Generations

One Must Accept The Fact That We Have Only One Companion In This World, A Companion Who Accompanies Us From The Cradle To The Grave - Our Own Self. Get On Good Terms With That Companion - Learn To Live With Yourself.

Accompany Us

Self

World

Words Are Such Uncertain Things, They So Often Sound Well But Mean The Opposite Of What One Thinks They Do.

Mean

Thinking

Opposites

If You Confront Anyone Who Has Lied With The Truth, He Will Usually Admit It - Often Out Of Sheer Surprise. It Is Only Necessary To Guess Right To Produce Your Effect.

Surprise

Lied

Produce

From An Early Age I Knew Very Strongly The Lust To Kill.

Lust

Age

Very Strong

More Children Suffer From Interference Than From Non-interference.

Children

Suffering

Interference

Imagination Is A Good Servant, And A Bad Master.

Imagination

Masters

Servant

I Can't Imagine Why Everybody Is Always So Keen For Authors To Talk About Writing. I Should Have Thought It Was An Author's Business To Write, Not Talk.

Writing

Should Have

Imagine

Fiction Is Founded On Truth....unless Things Did Happen,people Couldn't Think Of Them.

Thinking

People

Fiction

I Continued To Do Arithmetic With My Father, Passing Proudly Through Fractions To Decimals. I Eventually Arrived At The Point Where So Many Cows Ate So Much Grass, And Tanks Filled With Water In So Many Hours. I Found It Quite Enthralling.

Education

Father

Math

It Is My Experience That No One, In The Course Of Conversation, Can Fail To Give Themselves Away Sooner Or Later. Everyone Has An Irresistible Urge To Talk About Themselves.

Giving

Failing

Conversation

Never Do Anything Yourself That Others Can Do For You.

Memorable

Crime Novels

Literature

There Is Too Much Tendency To Attribute To God The Evils That Man Does Of His Own Free Will. I Must Concede You The Devil. God Doesn't Really Need To Punish Us, Miss Barton. We're So Busy Punishing Ourselves.

Men

Evil

Missing

I Never Can Stand Seeing People Pleased With Themselves,” Said Joanna. “it Arouses All My Worst Instincts.

People

Instinct

Said

And If You Cast Down An Idol, There's Nothing Left.

Idols

Casts

Left

Lawyers Never Go To Law, Do They? They Know Better.

Law

Lawyer

Knows

Three Months Seems To Me Quite A Reasonable Time To Complete A Book, If One Can Get Right Down To It.

Book

Writing

Months

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

Suicide

Strong

Lying

God Bless My Soul, Woman, The More Personal You Are The Better! This Is A Story Of Human Beings - Not Dummies! Be Personal - Be Prejudiced - Be Catty - Be Anything You Please! Write The Thing Your Own Way. We Can Always Prune Out The Bits That Are Libellous Afterwards!

Writing

Soul

Stories

If I Were At Any Time To Set Out On A Career Of Deceit, It Would Be Of Miss Marple That I Should Be Afraid.

Careers

Missing

Deceit

Why Shouldn't I Hate Her? She Did The Worst Thing To Me That Anyone Can Do To Anyone Else. Let Them Believe That They're Loved And Wanted And Then Show Them That It's All A Sham.

Heartbreak

Betrayal

Hate

The Whole Thing Was Like A Nine-month Ocean Voyage To Which You Never Got Acclimatized.

Ocean

Pregnancy

Voyages

Coffee In England Always Tastes Like A Chemistry Experiment.

Coffee

Taste

England

I Have No Pity For Myself Either. So Let It Be Veronal. But I Wish Hercule Poirot Had Never Retired From Work And Come Here To Grow Vegetable Marrows.

Vegetables

Wish

Pity

Nothing, I Believe, Is So Full Of Life Under The Microscope As A Drop Of Water From A Stagnant Pool.

Believe

Water

Pool

You'll Be Glad Too, When The End Comes.

Ends

Glad

It Is Completely Unimportant. That Is Why It Is So Interesting.

Interesting

Unimportant

With Method And Logic One Can Accomplish Anything.

Logic

Method

Accomplish

You Can Only Really Get Under Anybody's Skin If You Are Married To Them.

Skins

Married

Ifs

I Am Not One To Rely Upon The Expert Procedure. It Is The Psychology I Seek, Not The Fingerprint Or The Cigarette Ash.

Rely Upon

Psychology

Experts

Everybody Said, "follow Your Heart". I Did, It Got Broken

Heart

Broken

Rejection

Ideas Are Like Everything Else. They've Got To Be Marketed.

Ideas

Words, Mademoiselle, Are Only The Outer Clothing Of Ideas.

Ideas

Clothings

That Is Why Most Great Love Stories Are Tragedies.

Great Love

Tragedy

Stories

I Don't Know. I Don't Know At All. And That's What's Frightening The Life Out Of Me. To Have No Idea.

Ideas

Frightening

Knows

A Man Doesn't Wasnt To Feel That A Woman Cares More For Him Than He Cares For Her. He Doesn't Want To Feel Owned, Body And Soul. It's That Damned Possessive Attitude. This Man Is Mine---he Belongs To Me! He Wants To Get Away --- To Get Free. He Wants To Own His Woman; He Doesn't Want Her To Own Him.(simon Boyle)

Attitude

Men

Soul

... Obsessions Are Always Dangerous.

Obsession

Dangerous

One Is Alone When The Last One Who Remembers Is Gone.

Gone

Lasts

Remember

I Believe, Messieurs, In Loyalty---to One's Friends And One's Family And One's Caste.

Loyalty

Believe

I Believe

Desperate Ills Need Desperate Remedies.

Needs

Desperate

Remedy

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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