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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

-Agatha Christie

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Lie Is More Worth

Agatha Christie

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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

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

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

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

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

With Thought, All Problems Can Be Resolved.

These Little Grey Cells. It Is Up To Them.

One Is Left With The Horrible Feeling Now That War Settles Nothing; That To Win A War Is As Disastrous As To Lose One.

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.

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!

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

... Obsessions Are Always Dangerous.

The Things Young Women Read Nowadays And Profess To Enjoy Positively Frighten Me.

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

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

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

Assumptions Are Dangerous Things.

Dangerous Things

There Is Nothing More Thrilling In This World, I Think, Than Having A Child That Is Yours, And Yet Is Mysteriously A Stranger.

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

The Science Of Tomorrow Is The Supernatural Of Today.

The First Time You Do A Thing Is Always Exciting.

Love Is Not Everything ... It Is Only When We Are Young That We Think It Is.

Many Years Ago, When I Was Once Saying Sadly To Max It Was A Pity I Couldn't Have Taken Up Archaeology When I Was A Girl, So As To Be More Knowledgeable On The Subject, He Said, 'don't You Realize That At This Moment You Know More About Prehistoric Pottery Than Any Woman In England?'

To Win A War Is As Disasterous As To Lose One.

It Often Seems To Me That's All Detective Work Is, Wiping Out Your False Starts And Beginning Again." Yes, It Is Very True, That. And It Is Just What Some People Will Not Do. They Conceive A Certain Theory, And Everything Has To Fit Into That Theory. If One Little Fact Will Not Fit It, They Throw It Aside. But It Is Always The Facts That Will Not Fit In That Are Significant.

One Of The Saddest Things In Life, Is The Things One Remembers.

There's No Agony Like [getting Started]. You Sit In A Room, Biting Pencils, Looking At A Typewriter, Walking About, Or Casting Yourself Down On A Sofa, Feeling You Want To Cry Your Head Off.

There Is Evil Everywhere Under The Sun.

Who Are You? You Don't Belong To The Police?' 'i Am Better Than The Police,' Said Poirot. He Said It Without Conscious Arrogance. It Was, To Him, A Simple Statement Of Fact.

Very Few Of Us Are What We Seem.

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

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!

Plots Come To Me At Such Odd Moments, When I Am Walking Along The Street, Or Examining A Hat Shop… Suddenly A Splendid Idea Comes Into My Head.

There Are More Important Things Than Finding The Murderer. And Justice Is A Fine Word, But It Is Sometimes Difficult To Say Exactly What One Means By It. In My Opinion, The Important Thing Is To Clear The Innocent. - Hercule Poirot

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

Evil Is Not Something Superhuman, It's Something Less Than Human.

Those Who Never Think Of Money Need A Great Deal Of It.

A Lot Of Trouble Has Been Caused By Memoirs. Indiscreet Revelations, That Sort Of Thing. People Who Have Been Close As An Oyster All Their Lives Seem Positively To Relish Causing Trouble When They Themselves Shall Be Comfortably Dead.

It's Like All Those Quiet People, When They Do Lose Their Tempers They Lose Them With A Vengeance.

... Evil Was, Perhaps, Necessarily Always More Impressive Than Good.

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

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

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

Truth, However Bitter, Can Be Accepted, And Woven Into A Design For Living.

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

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

Speech ... Is An Invention Of Man's To Prevent Him From Thinking.

Men Don't Understand How Their Mannerisms Can Get On Women's Nerves So That You Feel You Just Have To Snap.

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

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.

Things Go Entirely Differently From The Way You Planned Them.

Books Are A Habit-forming Drug.

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.

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.

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

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

If Only-if Only, Hastings, You Would Part Your Hair In The Middle Instead Of At The Side! What A Difference It Would Make To The Symmetry Of Your Appearance. And Your Moustache. If You Must Have A Moustache, Let It Be A Real Moustache-a Thing Of Beauty Such As Mine.

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

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.

I Just Woke Up Feeling Happy This Morning. You Know Those Days When Everything In The World Seems Right.

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.

Evil Is Not Any Superhuman, But It Is Human.

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

I Suppose It Is Because Nearly All Children Go To School Nowadays And Have Things Arranged For Them That They Seem So Forlornly Unable To Produce Their Own Ideas.

I Always Think Loyalty's Such A Tiresome Virtue.

Sensationalism Dies Quickly, Fear Is Long-lived.

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

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.

I'm Not Often Bored,' I Assured Her. "life's Not Long Enough For That.

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

As You Yourself Have Said, What Other Explanation Can There Be?' Poirot Stared Straight Ahead Of Him. 'that Is What I Ask Myself,' He Said. 'that Is What I Never Cease To Ask Myself.

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.

Every Man Should Have Aunts. They Illustrate The Triumph Of Guess Work Over Logic.

Nobody Knows What Another Person Is Thinking. They May Imagine They Do, But They Are Nearly Always Wrong.

It's What's In *yourself* That Makes You Happy Or Unhappy.

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

Most Successes Are Unhappy. That's Why They Are Successes - They Have To Reassure Themselves About Themselves By Achieving Something That The World Will Notice.

But Surely For Everything You Love You Have To Pay Some Price.

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

A Weak Man In A Corner Is More Dangerous Than A Strong Man.

Life Itself Is An Unsolved Mystery", Said The Clergyman Gravely.

Unsolved Mysteries

He Was Very Much A Man Of Moods, Possibly Owing To What Is Styled The Artistic Temperment. I Have Never Seen, Myself, Why The Possession Of Artistic Ability Should Be Supposed To Excuse A Man From A Decent Exercise Of Self-control.

The Out-of-date Returns In Due Course As The Picturesque.

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

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

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)

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

Surfing Is Like That. You Are Either Vigorously Cursing Or Else You Are Idiotically Pleased With Yourself.

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

Jealousy, You Know, Is Usually Not An Affair Of Causes. It Is Much More-how Shall I Say?-fundamental Than That. Based On The Knowledge That One's Love Is Not Returned. And So One Goes On Waiting, Watching, Expecting...that The Loved One Will Turn To Someone Else.

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.

I Did Not Deceive You, Mon Ami. At Most, I Permitted You To Deceive Yourself.

Achievement Brings With It Its Own Anticlimax.

Who Is There Who Has Not Felt A Sudden Startled Pang At Reliving An Old Experience Or Feeling An Old Emotion?

Do You Know My Friend That Each One Of Us Is A Dark Mystery, A Maze Of Conflicting Passions And Desire And Aptitudes?

There Speaks The Passion And The Rebellion That Go With Red Hair. My Second Wife Had Red Hair. She Was A Beautiful Woman, And She Loved Me. Strange, Is It Not? I Have Always Admired Red-haired Women. Your Hair Is Very Beautiful. There Are Other Things I Like About You. Your Spirit, Your Courage; The Fact That You Have A Mind Of Your Own. ~mr. Aristides

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

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

One Little Indian Boy Left All Alone; He Went And Hanged Himself And Then There Were None.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Good Advice Is Always Certain To Be Ignored, But That's No Reason Not To Give It.

Mother And Daughter

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.

Poirot," I Said. "i Have Been Thinking." "an Admirable Exercise My Friend. Continue It.

I Don't Think Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention. Invention, In My Opinion, Arises Directly From Idleness, Possibly Also From Laziness - To Save Oneself Trouble.

Curious Things, Habits. People Themselves Never Knew They Had Them.

... The Belief In A Superstratum Of Human Beings ... Is The Most Evil Of All Beliefs. For When You Say, 'i Am Not As Other Men' -- You Have Lost The Two Most Valuable Qualities We Have Ever Tried To Attain: -- Humility And Brotherhood.

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

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.

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

Fey...a Scotch Word...it Means The Kind Of Exalted Happiness That Comes Before Disaster. You Know--it's Too Good To Be True.

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

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!

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

Ah, But Life Is Like That! It Does Not Permit You To Arrange And Order It As You Will. It Will Not Permit You To Escape Emotion, To Live By The Intellect And By Reason! You Cannot Say, 'i Will Feel So Much And No More.' Life, Mr. Welman, Whatever Else It Is, Is Not Reasonable. [hercule Poirot]

There Is No Fanatic Like A Religious Fanatic.

Religious Fanatics

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

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

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.

It Is Really A Hard Life. Men Will Not Be Nice To You If You Are Not Good-looking, And Women Will Not Be Nice To You If You Are.

It Is Deplorable...to Remove All The Romance - All The Mystery!

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?

... There Are Many To Whom Money Has No Personal Appeal, But Who Can Be Tempted By The Power It Confers.

I Know There's A Proverb Which That Says 'to Err Is Human,' But A Human Error Is Nothing To What A Computer Can Do If It Tries.

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.

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

In The Midst Of Life, We Are In Death.

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

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

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.

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

I Suppose Without Curiosity A Man Would Be A Tortoise. Very Comfortable Life, A Tortoise Has.

You Know, Emily Was A Selfish Old Woman In Her Way. She Was Very Generous, But She Always Wanted A Return. She Never Let People Forget What She Had Done For Them - And, That Way She Missed Love.

Where Large Sums Of Money Are Concerned, It Is Advisable To Trust Nobody.

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

If You've Had A Happy Childhood, Nobody Can Take That Away From You.

Happy Childhood

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.

I Looked At Her. Sheila Was My Girl--the Girl I Wanted--and Wanted For Keeps. But It Wasn't Any Use Having Illusions About Her. Sheila Was A Liar And Probably Always Would Be A Liar. It Was Her Way Of Fighting For Survival--the Quick Easy Glib Denial. It Was A Child's Weapon--and She'd Probably Never Got Out Of Using It. If I Wanted Sheila, I Must Accept Her As She Was--be At Hand To Prop Up The Weak Places. We've All Got Our Weak Places. Mine Were Different From Sheila's, But They Were There.

Dogs Are Wise. They Crawl Away Into A Quiet Corner And Lick Their Wounds And Do Not Rejoin The World Until They Are Whole Once More.

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

I Specialize In Murders Of Quiet, Domestic Interest.

Murder Mysteries

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

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

Youth Is A Failing Only Too Easily Outgrown.

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.

To Every Problem, There Is A Most Simple Solution.

Simple Solutions

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

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

A Great Man Always Knows Better Than To Explain Unless An Explanation Is Demanded. To Rush Into Explanations And Excuses Is Always A Sign Of Weakness.

Difficulties Are Made To Be Overcome ~ Miss Felicity Lemon, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Plymouth Express

People Should Be Interested In Books, Not Their Authors.

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

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

Writers Are Diffident Creatures -- They Need Encouragement.

Need Encouragement

The Urge To Write One's Autobiography, So I Have Been Told, Overtakes Everyone Sooner Or Later.

Sooner Or Later

I Live Now On Borrowed Time, Waiting In The Anteroom For The Summons That Will Inevitably Come. And Then - I Go On To The Next Thing, Whatever It Is. One Doesn't, Luckily, Have To Bother About That.

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.

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

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.

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.

Oh, No, I'm Not Brave. When A Thing Is Certain, There's Nothing To Be Brave About. All You Can Do Is To Find Your Consolation.

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

A Mother's Love For Her Child Is Like Nothing Else In The World. It Knows No Law, No Pity, It Dares All Things And Crushes Down Remorselessly All That Stands In Its Path.

One Of The Oddest Things In Life, As We All Know, Is The Way That When You Have Heard A Thing Mentioned, Within Twenty-four Hours You Nearly Always Come Across It Again.

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.

"i Think You're Begging The Question," Said Haydock, "and I Can See Looming Ahead One Of Those Terrible Exercises In Probability Where Six Men Have White Hats And Six Men Have Black Hats And You Have To Work It Out By Mathematics How Likely It Is That The Hats Will Get Mixed Up And In What Proportion. If You Start Thinking About Things Like That, You Would Go Round The Bend. Let Me Assure You Of That!"

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

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

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.

As Life Goes On It Becomes Tiring To Keep Up The Character You Invented For Yourself, And So You Relapse Into Individuality And Become More Like Yourself Everyday.

The Steamship Whose Machinery Is Broken May Be Brought Into Port And Made Fast To The Dock. She Is Safe, But Not Sound. Repairs May Last A Long Time. Christ Designs To Make Us Both Safe And Sound. Justification Gives The First - Safety; Sanctification Gives Us The Second - Soundness.

Everyone Is A Potential Murderer-in Everyone There Arises From Time To Time Thewish To Kill-though Not The Will To Kill.

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

Coffee In England Always Tastes Like A Chemistry Experiment.

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.

Real Evidence Is Usually Vague And Unsatisfactory. It Has To Be Examined---sifted. But Here The Whole Thing Is Cut And Dried. No, My Friend, This Evidence Has Been Very Cleverly Manufactured---so Cleverly That It Has Defeated Its Own Ends.

The Popular Idea That A Child Forgets Easily Is Not An Accurate One. Many People Go Right Through Life In The Grip Of An Idea Which Has Been Impressed On Them In Very Tender Years.

Mother And Daughter

Women Observe Subconsciously A Thousand Little Details, Without Knowing They Are Doing So. Their Subconscious Mind Adds These Little Things Together - And They Call The Result Intuition.

How Tedious Is Retirement! You Cannot Imagine To Yourself The Monotony With Which Day Comes After Day.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

... Nothing Is So Boring As Devotion.

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.

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.

There Are Questions That You Don't Ask Because You're Afraid Of The Answers To Them.

It's So Much Nicer To Be A Secret And Delightful Sin To Anybody Than To Be A Feather In His Cap.

All Women, Without In The Least Meaning It, Consider Every Man They Meet As A Possible Husband For Themselves Or For Their Best Friend.

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.

They Tried To Be Too Clever---and That Was Their Undoing.

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.

Women Can Accept The Fact That A Man Is A Rotter, A Swindler, A Drug Taker, A Confirmed Liar, And A General Swine, Without Batting An Eyelash, And Without Its Impairing Their Affection For The Brute In The Least. Women Are Wonderful Realists.

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

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.

I've Got A Stomach Now As Well As A Behind. And I Mean - Well, You Can't Pull It In Both Ways, Can You? ... I've Made It A Rule To Pull In My Stomach And Let My Behind Look After Itself.

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