Agatha Christie

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 married an archaeologist because the older I grow, the more he appreciates me.

The best time to plan a book is while you're doing the dishes.

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.

Never do anything yourself that others can do for you.

I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.

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.

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.

There is nothing more thrilling in this world, I think, than having a child that is yours, and yet is mysteriously a stranger.

Any woman can fool a man if she wants to and if he's in love with her.

If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody.

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.

There's too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will.

Evil is not something superhuman, it's something less than human.

It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.

Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend.

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.

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story.

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.

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.