"I don't pretend to be an author or to know anything about writing. I'm doing this simply because Dr Reilly asked me to, and somehow when Dr Reilly asks you to do a thing you don't like to refuse."

Agatha Christie Literature See all quotes by Agatha Christie →

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“Words had become to him a means of obscuring facts — not of revealing them. He was an adept in the art of the useful phrase — that is to say the phrase that falls soothingly on the ear and is quite empty of meaning.”

“The rottenness comes from within.”

“It would be difficult Bland thought, to forget Hercule Poirot, and this not entirely for complimentary reasons.”

“Ah, my friend, one may live in a big house and yet have no comfort.”

“We had three servants, which was a minimum then.”

“‘I have often noticed that being a devoted wife saps the intellect,’ murmured Tommy.”

Resonant Thoughts

"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much."

— Ronald Reagan

Politics1911–2004

#writing

"I believe that any form of writing exercise is good for you. I also believe that any form of tuition which helps develop your awareness of the different properties, styles, and effects of writing is g…"

— David Crystal

1941

#writing

"I tried to tell you, but words will not convey it. One has to be inside it to comprehend the magnitude. … It was the beginning. It's the only thing there is. But it was haphazard for so many aeons tha…"

— R. A. Lafferty

Literature1914–2002

#philosophy

"A meeting we accordingly had, and conned the paper over. I was delighted with its high tone and the flights of oratory with which it abounded, especially that concerning negro slavery, which, though I…"

— John Adams

Politics1947

#love