Quotes from The Body in the Library

“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.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid, spinsterish face and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it all as in the day's work....where crime is concerned, she's the goods.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“No innocent person ever has an alibi.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“One does see so much evil in a village,' murmured Miss Marple in an explanatory voice.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“No, I wouldn't. I wouldn’t tell a soul.'

'People who use that phrase are always the last to live up to it.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Because when you’re in love, you think you’re invincible. It blinds you. And you don’t seem to care.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Bottled, was he?" Said Colonel Bantry, with an Englishman's sympathy for alcoholic excess. "Oh, well, can't judge a fellow by what he does when he's drunk? When I was at Cambridge, I remember I put a certain utensil - well - well, nevermind.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“So I suggest you cut the cackle and come to the horses.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Melchett said gloomily, 'Well, we know where we are -- or rather, where we aren't!'

'Where we aren't expresses it rather better, sir.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“People who ought to die of shock and exposure don't die of shock and exposure, et cetera, et cetera. The human frame is tougher than one can imagine possible. Moreover, in my experience, a physical shock is more often fatal than a mental shock.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Yes. She rebelled, I suppose, against being made to live in the past. After all, there's a time for everything. You can't sit in the house with the blinds down forever.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“She belonged to the class that wear their best clothes, however unsuitable to the occasion. Last year, you know, we had a picnic outing at Scrantor Rocks. You'd be surprised at the unsuitable clothes the girls wore. Foulard dresses and patent-leather shoes and quite elaborate hats, some of them. For climbing about over rocks and in gorse and heather. And the young men in their best suits. Of course, hiking's different again. That's practically a uniform, and girls don't seem to realize that shorts are very unbecoming unless they are very slender.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“When people ask “Do you put real people in your books?” the answer is that, for me, it is quite impossible to write about anyone I know, or have ever spoken to, or indeed have even heard about! For some reason, it kills them for me stone dead.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“The vicar, a gentle, middle-aged man, was always the last to hear anything.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“With a sigh the young mother returned to the hearthrug and, by way of carrying out her principles of stern neglect, butted her son three times in the stomach so that he caught hold of her hair and pulled it with gleeful yells. Then they rolled over and over in a grand rough-and-tumble until the door opened”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“La verità è che la maggior parte della gente, non esclusi i poliziotti, si fida troppo di questo mondo perverso. Crede troppo a quanto viene loro raccontato. Io no. Mi dispiace, ma io voglio sempre rendermi conto personalmente delle cose.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Activity was always to Inspector Slack’s taste. To rush off in a car, to silence rudely those people who were anxious to tell him things, to cut short conversations on the plea of urgent necessity. All this was the breath of life to Slack.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Mrs. Bantry reflected a minute and then applied an urgent conjugal elbow to her sleeping spouse.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Det kan du stole på. Liker du detektivfortellinger? Det gjør jeg. Jeg leser alle sammen, og har navnetrekkene til Dorothy Sayers og Agatha Christie og Dickson Carr og H.C. Bailey.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Either her dream had taken a very odd turn or else - or else Mary had really rushed into the room and had said (incredible! fantastic!) that there was a body in the library.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“One does see so much evil in a village,” murmured Miss Marple in an explanatory voice.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Here was a man who would never rail against fate but accept it and pass on to victory”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Felébredéskor az álmok gyakran csodálatosan valódinak hatnak. Az ember meg van győződve arról, hogy a dolgok valóban megtörténtek.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“for a minute her good-natured blue eyes were hard and sharp; she was the female fighting for existence—“that”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“A maguk… veszekedései jellemzőek a házasság első hónapjaiban. Teljesen… mások, mint egy törvénytelen kapcsolatnál. Tudja, azt mondják… és azt hiszem, ez igaz, hogy csak akkor lehet igazán nekimenni valakinek, ha az ember össze van vele házasodva. Ha nincsen… törvényes kötelék, akkor az emberek sokkal óvatosabbak; állandóan bizonygatják önmaguknak, hogy minden milyen szép és jó. Igazolniuk kell magukat önmaguk előtt. Nem mernek veszekedni! Észrevettem, hogy a házastársak még élvezik is a csatáikat, és… a megfelelő kibéküléseket.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

“Colonel Melchett silently marvelled at the amount of aids to beauty that women could use. Rows of jars of face cream, cleansing cream, vanishing cream, skin-feeding cream! Boxes of different shades of powder. An untidy heap of every variety of lipstick. Hair lotions and “brightening” applications. Eyelash black, mascara, blue stain for under the eyes, at least twelve different shades of nail varnish, face tissues, bits of cotton wool, dirty powder-puffs. Bottles of lotions—astringent, tonic, soothing, etc. “Do you mean to say,” he murmured feebly, “that women use all these things?” Inspector Slack, who always knew everything, kindly enlightened him. “In private life, sir, so to speak, a lady keeps to one or two distinct shades, one for evening, one for day. They know what suits them and they keep to it. But these professional girls, they have to ring a change, so to speak. They do exhibition dances, and one night it’s a tango and the next a crinoline Victorian dance and then a kind of Apache dance and then just ordinary ballroom, and, of course, the makeup varies a good bit.” “Good lord!” said the Colonel. “No wonder the people who turn out these creams and messes make a fortune.” “Easy money, that’s what it is,” said Slack. “Easy money. Got to spend a bit in advertisement, of course.” Colonel”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Body in the Library

About the author

Popular quotes

“Phelan chuckled at Deirdre’s outrage as her precious wyrran were being beaten by Warriors she didn’t control. There were times Phelan thoroughly enjoyed his power. Like now. If only the rest of his life could give him such enjoyment he might be able to put aside the resentment that filled his soul. Until then, however, he was going to relish hurting Deirdre.”
― Donna Grant, quote from Darkest Highlander

“Equality of condition, though it is certainly a basic requirement for justice, is nevertheless among the greatest and most uncertain ventures of modern mankind. The more equal conditions are, the less explanation there is for the differences that actually exist between people; and thus all the more unequal do individuals and groups become.”
― Hannah Arendt, quote from The Origins of Totalitarianism

“Another husband, another new house, another new country, but I never belong anywhere and I never own anything in my own right.”
― Philippa Gregory, quote from The Red Queen

“taking your son to a whorehouse, thought”
― Caddy Rowland, quote from House of Pleasure

“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will avoid a hundred days of sorrow.”
― Robin S. Sharma, quote from Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.