agatha christie quotes

Agatha Christie Quotes

The uncrowned queen of detective novels, and undeniably the most gripping writer of sleuth stories, get a glimpse into the world and psyche of Agatha Christie from some of her quotes. Here's what one of the greatest minds in human history had to say about variant aspects of life.

Agatha Christie is undeniably the 'Queen of Crime', as she is most often referred to as, and why not? She was not hailed only by the readers of her time, but rather posthumously continues to send cold shivers down the spines of the following generations as successfully as ever. Her books have been translated into more than 56 languages, and counting. It doesn't stop just there. Dame Christie, who once penned down romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and whose plays are wooing millions even now (given that 'The Mousetrap' has already seen 23,000 shows since it was first enacted in 1952), remains to be a record holder as an author whose write-ups have adorned the best seller lists for the longest time possible, and is the closest competitor to the Bible when it comes to sales figures. Generations have known the mystery lady through her books. But what was she like otherwise? How did that mind work when it came to views on life? Find out you voracious Christie readers, from these quotes. 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. ― They say that your grasp over mathematics is often a reflection of your grammar skills. You know about the lady's language skills alright. Now you know why. The author had very strange or rather antipodean viewpoints on failure and success when it came to their relationships with gaiety and melancholy. The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don't give a damn. On the contrary ... 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. And the contradiction with the socially accepted didn't stop just there. Read these quotes to know why I am saying so! 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. ―An Autobiography (1977). We owe most of our great inventions and most of the achievements of genius to idleness - either enforced or voluntary. It is completely unimportant. That is why it is so interesting! An ugly voice repels me where an ugly face would not. Never do anything yourself that others can do for you. 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. Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it. She also did have a lot to say on human pretense... 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. Very few of us are what we seem. And on war... One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one. ―An Autobiography (1977). 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. Of course, Agatha Christie's sayings encompassed views on human nature and values. Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody. One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life until it's too late. Everything that has existed, lingers in the Eternity. If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody. 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. Truth, however bitter, can be accepted, and woven into a design for living. It's astonishing in this world how things don't turn out at all the way you expect them to. Back in the year 1926, following her husband, Archibald's revelation of his extramarital affair and subsequent abandonment, Christie had chosen to disappear without a trace for 11 long days. This had caused tremendous public outcry. On being traced in Swan Hydropathic Hotel at Harrogate, she seemed to remember nothing. I somehow cannot help but feel her next quote gives away the reasons behind why she chose to keep away. 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. But she did believe in love ... Any woman can fool a man if she wants to and if he's in love with her. It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. Her second marriage to Max Mallowan had been a happy one, and lasted till her death day in 1976. I married an archaeologist because the older I grow, the more he appreciates me. An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her. However, Rosalind Margaret Hicks was the only child Christie bore during her first marriage. She felt strongly about motherhood nevertheless. A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no awe, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path. There is nothing more thrilling in this world, I think, than having a child that is yours, and yet is mysteriously a stranger. Christie seemed to love life to the fullest. Naturally she aged rather gracefully. 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. ―An Autobiography (1977). 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. But with age came flailing health and dementia ... 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. ―An Autobiography (1977). But throughout her lifetime, Agatha Christie had some very interesting things to say on what she specialized in―crime and criminals. Evil is not something superhuman, it's something less than human. There's too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will. 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. 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. As for her own methods of writing, she did make clear a few things... The Genre: I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest. The Author's Problem: Oh dear, I never realized what a terrible lot of explaining one has to do in a murder! The Time: The best time to plan a book is while you're doing the dishes. The Signature: 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. The Rotten Plank of the Character: There is nothing so dangerous for anyone who has something to hide as conversation! 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. The Rules: I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties. It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story. Her works were her own reflection and were part of her entity. Observe these quotes and you will but notice the similarity between her real life and pen life lines. She was sentimental, and yet her sharp mind shone through the depiction of her characters' mentality. And only such a person could have come up with a line like, Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend, observed Poirot philosophically. You cannot mix up sentiment and reason, ―The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

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