100 Best Agatha Christie Quotes About Life, Love, And Writing

Agatha Christie is in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling fiction writer in history.

She has written at least 75 books, which include 14 short story collections and 66 more detective novels. Her most notable creations are detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

She also wrote a few books under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott and in total, she's worth approximately $600 million. She has been recorded saying that she loved writing plays more than anything. She has also written the world's longest-running play, named 'The Mousetrap'. Fun fact: she once went missing for eleven days in 1926.

You may be a fan of her work, or maybe you haven't read any of her stories. Here, we've got some of her best quotes for everyone to enjoy. We also have other articles about quotes for you to enjoy, such as Stephen King Quotes and Jane Austen Quotes.

Here are some quotes from the interviews and wise words spoken by Agatha Christie on writing, life, and love.

1. "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes."

- The Detroit Free Press, March 1954.

2. "By the time I was 16 or 17, I'd written quite a number of short stories and one long, dreary novel. By the time I was 21, I had finished the first book of mine ever to be published, 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles'."

- Interview on BBC Radio, 1955.

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

- Life Magazine, 1956.

4. "I think the real work is done in thinking out the development of your story and worrying about it until it comes right. That may take quite a while. Then, when you've got all your material together, all that remains is to find time to write the thing."

- Interview on BBC Radio, 1955.

5. "An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her."

- "The Life of the Party" by Bennett Cerf, 1956.

6. "You must write pretty fast, keep in the mood and to keep the talk flowing naturally. I prefer to write a play as a play, that is rather than to adapt a book."

- Interview on BBC Radio, 1955.

7. "I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest."

- Life Magazine, 1956.

8. "What is your method, they (her friends) want to know. The disappointing truth is I haven't much method. I type my own drafts on an ancient faithful machine I've owned for years."

- Interview on BBC Radio, 1955.

9. "I found myself making up stories and acting the different parts. There's nothing like boredom to make you write."

- Interview on BBC Radio, 1955.

10. "Plays I think are better written quickly. Writing plays is much more fun than writing books. You haven't got to bother about long descriptions of places and people or deciding how to space out your material."

- Interview on BBC Radio, 1955.

The Queen of Crime might be the best at detective stories but here are some of her words on love that everyone remembers.

11. "The heart of a woman who loves will forgive many blows."

- 'The Murder on the Links', 1923.

12. "What any woman saw in some particular man was beyond the comprehension of the average intelligent male. It just was so. A woman who could be intelligent about everything else in the world could be a complete fool when it came to some particular man."

- 'After the Funeral', 1953.

13. "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."

- 'The Hound of Death', 1933.

14. "The happiness of one man and one woman is the greatest thing in all the world."

- 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', 1920.

15. "I think people more often kill those they love, than those they hate. Possibly because only the people you love can really make life unendurable to you."

- 'Crooked House', 1949.

16. "What life would be with Hori, she did not know. In spite of his gentleness, in spite of his love for her, he would remain in some respects incalculable and incomprehensible. They would share moments of great beauty and richness together - but what of their common daily life?"

- 'Death Comes as the End', 1944.

17. "Love can be a very frightening thing. That is why most great love stories are tragedies."

- 'Death on the Nile', 1937.

18. "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."

- 'The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side', 1962.

19. "Liking is more important than loving. It lasts. I want what is between us to last, Luke. I don't want us just to love each other and marry and get tired of each other and then want to marry some one else."

- 'Murder Is Easy', 1938.

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

- 'The Mousetrap', 1952.

21. "When will a woman lie? Sometimes for herself. Usually for the man she loves. Always for her children."

- 'The Murder on the Links', 1923.

22. "All women, without in the least meaning it, consider every man they meet as a possible husband for themselves or for their best friend."

- 'The Man in the Brown Suit', 1924.

23. "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."

- 'The Mystery of the Blue Train', 1928.

24. "To care passionately for another human creature brings always more sorrow than joy; but at the same time, Elinor, one would not be without experience. Anyone who has never really loved has never really lived…"

- 'Sad Cypress', 1940.

25. "It's so much nicer to be a secret and delightful sin to anybody than to be a feather in his cap."

- 'Murder at the Vicarage', 1930.

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Agatha Christie was as wise as they come, and she is till date one of the most successful women in literature. So, here we've got some of her quotes on life and life lessons like Hercule Poirot quotes to guide you through your life.

26. "If you place your head in a lion's mouth, then you cannot complain one day if he happens to bite it off."

- 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', 1920.

27. "One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life until it's too late."

- 'Endless Night', 1967.

28. "Pilar - remember - nothing is so boring as devotion."

- 'Hercule Poirot's Christmas', 1938.

29. "I suppose without curiosity a man would be a tortoise. Very comfortable life, a tortoise has."

- 'Postern of Fate', 1973.

30. "Instinct is a marvelous thing. It can neither be explained nor ignored."

- 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', 1920.

31. "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."

- 'The Man in the Brown Suit', 1924.

32. "It's astonishing in this world how things don't turn out at all the way you expect them to!"

- 'Endless Night', 1967.

33. "Too much safety is abhorrent to the nature of a human being."

- 'Curtain', 1975.

34. "Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody."

- 'Endless Night', 1967.

35. "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."

- 'Murder in Mesopotamia', 1936.

36. "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."

- 'Hallowe'en Party', 1969.

37. "Time does not dispose of a question—it only presents it anew in a different guise. "

- 'The Mysterious Mr Quin', 1930.

38. "Never tell all you know—not even to the person you know best."

- 'The Secret Adversary', 1922.

39. "You agree — I'm sure you agree, that beauty is the only thing worth living for."

- 'The Moving Finger', 1942.

40. "Nothing, I believe, is so full of life under the microscope as a drop of water from a stagnant pool."

- 'Murder at the Vicarage', 1930.

Here are some Agatha Christie quotes for writers that idolize her and aspiring to become just as good.

41. "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."

- 'Agatha Christie: An Autobiography', 1977.

42. "I must behave rather as dogs do when they retire with a bone; they depart in a secretive manner and you do not see them again for an odd half hour. They return self-consciously with mud on their noses. I do much the same."

- 'Daily Rituals: How Artists Work', 2013.

43. "I have always noticed that these artists and writers are very unbalanced."

- 'Dead Man's Folly', 1956.

44. "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."

- 'Agatha Christie: An Autobiography', 1977.

45. "Oh, dear, it's quite true what Dr. Reilly said. How does one stop writing? If I could find a really good telling phrase... Like the one M. Poirot used. In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate... Something like that."

- 'Murder in Mesopotamia', 1936.

46. "Toss it around, play tricks with it, work it up, tone it down, and gradually get it into shape. Then, of course, you have to start writing it. That’s not nearly so much fun – it becomes hard work."

- 'Passenger to Frankfurt', 1970.

47. "I don't want to write about it at all.

I want, you see, to think about it as little as possible. Hercule Poirot was dead - and with him died a good part of Arthur Hastings."

- 'Curtain', 1975.

48. "I mean, what can you say about how you write your books? What I mean is, first you've got to think of something, and then when you've thought of it you've got to force yourself to sit down and write it. That's all."

- 'Dead Man's Folly', 1956.

49. "It was not until I was over twenty that I realised that my home standard had been unusually high and that actually I was quite as quick or quicker than the average. Inarticulate I shall always be. It is probably one of the causes that have made me a writer."

- 'Agatha Christie: An Autobiography', 1977.

50. "But no artist, I now realize, can be satisfied with art alone. There is a natural craving for recognition which cannot be gain-said."

- 'And Then There Were None', 1939.

51. "The right length for a detective story is fifty thousand words. I know it is considered by some publishers as too short. But if your book runs to more than that, I think you usually find that it would have been better if it had been shorter."

- 'Agatha Christie: An Autobiography', 1977.

52. "The spoken word and the written - there is an astonishing gulf between them. There is a way of turning sentences that completely reverses the meaning."

- 'The A.B.C. Murders', 1936.

53. "She was a lucky woman who had established a happy knack of writing what quite a lot of people wanted to read."

- 'Elephants Can Remember', 1972.

54. "Nothing turns out quite in the way you thought it would when you are sketching out notes for the first chapter, or walking about muttering to yourself and seeing a story unroll."

- 'Agatha Christie: An Autobiography', 1977.

55. "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!"

- 'Murder in Mesopotamia', 1936.

Get the inspiration you need for the day with a Miss Marple quote from this list of inspirational quotes from the inspirational writer.

56. "The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don’t give a damn."

- 'Sparkling Cyanide', 1944.

57. "To every problem, there is a most simple solution."

- 'The Clocks', 1963.

58. “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."

- 'The Moving Finger', 1942.

59. "Never worry about what you say to a man. They're so conceited that they never believe you mean it if it's unflattering."

- 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', 1926.

60. "Never do anything yourself that others can do for you."

- 'The Labours of Hercules', 1947.

61. "Evil is not something superhuman, it’s something less than human."

- 'The Pale Horse', 1961.

62. "The past is the father of the present."

- 'Hallowe'en Party', 1969.

63. "Bad temper is its own safety valve. He who can bark does not bite."

- 'The Under Dog', 1951.

64. "It's what's in yourself that makes you happy or unhappy."

- 'A Murder is Announced', 1950.

65. "If one sticks too rigidly to one’s principles, one would hardly see anybody."

- 'The Mousetrap', 1952.

66. "Everything that has existed, lingers in the Eternity."

- 'Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories', 1986.

67. "Courage is the resolution to face the unforeseen."

- 'Death Comes as the End', 1944.

68. "I'm afraid of death... Yes, but that doesn't stop death coming…"

- 'And Then There Were None', 1939.

69. "I just woke up feeling happy this morning. You know those days when everything in the world seems right."

- 'Endless Night', 1967.

70. "Difficulties are made to be overcome."

- 'Poirot: The Plymouth Express', 1939.

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Agatha Christie got the nickname of Queen of Crime for being the best at writing thrilling crime and detective stories. So, here are some of the best thrilling and famous quotes that include Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple quotes.

71. "Very few of us are what we seem."

- 'The Man in the Mist', 1972.

72. "Everything must be taken into account. If the fact will not fit the theory - let the theory go. You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely."

- 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', 1920.

73. “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."

- 'The A.B.C. Murders', 1936.

74. "It is completely unimportant. That is why it is so interesting!"

- 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', 1926.

75. "The young people think the old people are fools — but the old people know the young people are fools!"

- 'Murder at the Vicarage', 1930.

76. "There is too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own free will."

- 'The Moving Finger', 1942.

77. "The human face is, after all, nothing more nor less than a mask."

- 'Sad Cypress', 1940.

78. "Evil never goes unpunished, Monsieur. But the punishment is sometimes secret."

- 'Peril at End House', 1932.

79. "A weak man in a corner is more dangerous than a strong man."

- 'The Under Dog', 1951.

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

- 'The Witness for the Prosecution', 1925.

81. "Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend."

- 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', 1920.

82. "It's so dreadfully easy - killing people… And you begin to feel that it doesn't matter… That it's only you that matters! It's dangerous - that."

- 'Death on the Nile', 1937.

83. "It really is very dangerous to believe people. I never have for years."

- 'Sleeping Murder', 1976.

84. "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."

- 'The Secret of Chimneys', 1925.

85. "I often wonder why the whole world is so prone to generalize. Generalizations are seldom if ever true and are usually utterly inaccurate."

- 'Murder at the Vicarage', 1930.

Here are some introspect quotes from the writer herself that we've accumulated from her autobiography, 'Agatha Christie: An Autobiography', 1977 .

86. "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."

87. "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."

88. "I think, myself, that one's memories represent those moments which, insignificant as they may seem, nevertheless represent the inner self and oneself as most really oneself."

89. "If you love, you will suffer, and if you do not love, you do not know the meaning of a Christian life."

90. "I live now on borrowed time, waiting in the ante-room 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."

91. "I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention . . . arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble."

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

93. "What can I say at seventy-five? "Thank God for my good life, and for all the love that has been given to me."

94. "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."

95. "Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it."

96. "One of the luckiest things that can happen to you in life is, I think, to have a happy childhood."

97. "But surely for everything you love you have to pay some price."

98. "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."

99. "You must always be polite to people whose position forbids them to be rude to you."

100. "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."

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 100 Best Agatha Christie Quotes then why not take a look at T.S. Eliot quotes, or Sylvia Plath quotes.