Quotes from The Mysterious Mr. Quin

Agatha Christie ·  396 pages

Rating: (8.7K votes)


“You say your life is your own. But can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer? Your cue may not come till the end of the play--it may be totally unimportant, a mere walking-on part, but upon it may hang the issues of the play if you do not give the cue to another player. The whole edifice may crumple. You as you, may not matter to anyone in the world, but you as a person in a particular place may matter unimaginably.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“Sometimes one sees things clearly years afterwards than one could possibly at the time.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“Is death the greatest evil that can happen to anyone?”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“In moments of great stress, the mind focuses itself upon some quite unimportant matter which is remembered long afterwards with the utmost fidelity, driven in, as it were, by the mental stress of the moment. It may be some quite irrelevant detail, like the pattern of a wallpaper, but it will never be forgotten.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“The longer the time that has elapsed, the more things fall into proportion. One sees them in their true relationship to one another.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin



“To get at the cause for a thing, we must study the effect.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“Nobody knows what another person is thinking. They may imagine they do, but they are nearly always wrong.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“There are, of course, the people who revolve around themselves--but I agree with you, she's not one of that kind. She's totally uninterested in herself. And yet she's got a strong character--there must be something. I thought at first it was her art--but it isn't. I've never met anyone so detached from life. That's dangerous.'
'Dangerous? What do you mean?'
'Well, you see--it must mean an obsession of some kind, and obsessions are always dangerous.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“Sixty-nine was an interesting age--an age of infinite possibilities--an age when at last the experience of a lifetime was beginning to tell. But to feel old--that was different, a tired, discouraged state of mind when one was inclined to ask oneself depressing questions. What was he after all? A little dried-up elderly man, with neither chick nor child, with no human belongings, only a valuable Art collection which seemed at the moment strangely unsatisfying. No one to care whether he lived or died...”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“I mean that success has come early. And that is dangerous. Always dangerous.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin



“You may put it that way if you like—but damn it all, it’s my life. I’ve a right to do what I like with it.” “That is a cliché,” said Mr. Satterthwaite wearily.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“The eye is diverted from the real business, it is caught by the spectacular action that means nothing--nothing at all.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“She's very selfish. Not exactly self-centered, but totally indifferent to everyone and everything. Don't you agree?'
'I don't think that's possible,' said Mr Satterthwaite, slowly. 'I mean everyone's interest must go somewhere.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“He was not fond of young people in herds. He thought them uninteresting and crude.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“What was he after all? A little dried-up elderly man, with neither chick nor child, with no human belongings, only a valuable Art collection which seemed at the moment strangely unsatisfying. No one to care whether he lived or died… At this point in his meditations Mr Satterthwaite pulled himself up short. What he was thinking was morbid and unprofitable. He knew well enough, who better, that the chances were that a wife would have hated him or alternatively that he would have hated her, that children would have been a constant source of worry and anxiety, and that demands upon his time and affection would have worried him considerably. ‘To be safe and comfortable,’ said Mr Satterthwaite firmly–that was the thing. The”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin



“¿Quién puede afirmar que aquel niño no podría haberse convertido en un gran músico o en el descubridor de la vacuna contra el cáncer? O algo menos melodramático: podría convertirse en una persona feliz y normal...”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“The evidence of history is against you. The contemporary historian never writes such a true history as the historian of a later generation. It is a question of getting the true perspective, of seeing things in proportion.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“Thought is yours only. Nobody can alter or influence the use you mean to make of it.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“... suppose if something very terrible had happened, so terrible as to be almost unbearable, one might get like that. One might run away from reality into a half world of one's own and then, of course, after a time, one wouldn't be able to get back...”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


“one of the worst things in the world today, the unkindness of woman to woman. You”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin



“He was clearly marked with the stamp of the Philistine.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Mysterious Mr. Quin


About the author

Agatha Christie
Born place: in Torquay, Devon, England, The United Kingdom
Born date September 15, 1890
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“What should a man strive for? Kama—love, dharma—duty, artha—wealth, and moksha—salvation.”
― Ashwin Sanghi, quote from Chanakya's Chant


“You are young still. Naturally, one tries this, that and the other, but what one eventually settles down into is the life one prefers.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Death in the Clouds


“Will these books be comedies or tragedies?”
“Both. Just like life.”
― Tiffany Reisz, quote from The Mistress


“Mrs. Grant glanced at her
husband. “She’s always so fidgety.
Like a canary.” She narrowed her
eyes at me. “I hate canaries.”
I squeaked again. But not like a
canary. I hoped.”
― A.E. Kirk, quote from Drop Dead Demons


“Witchcraft and salt go hand in hand. Your body practically runs on it," he said, summing it up. "And I'm out of salt."
"I'll be fine. It's just a craving."
"When you crave something, it means you need it." He breathed a laugh and his eyes momentarily turned inward. "A crucible cravings is her mechanic's mandate.”
― Josephine Angelini, quote from Trial by Fire


Interesting books

The Other Boleyn Girl
(411.5K)
The Other Boleyn Gir...
by Philippa Gregory
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(336.7K)
Extremely Loud and I...
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Last Sacrifice
(231.1K)
Last Sacrifice
by Richelle Mead
Fallen
(427.8K)
Fallen
by Lauren Kate
His Dark Materials
(106.7K)
His Dark Materials
by Philip Pullman
Schindler's List
(116K)
Schindler's List
by Thomas Keneally

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.