Agatha Christie

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.

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.

I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.