Subject: Murder, as habit
Quote: “There are things that my profession has taught me. And one of these things, the most terrible thing is this: Murder is a habit….”
Character: M. Hercule Poirot
Chapter/Story: 17 – The Stain by the Washstand
Book Title/Copyright: Murder in Mesopotamia, 1935Subject: Dangerousness
Quote: “It is not the victim who concerns me so much. It is the effect on the character of the slayer…. In war you do not exercise the right of private judgment. That is what is so dangerous. Once a man is imbued with the idea that he knows who ought to be allowed to live and who ought not—then he is half way to becoming the most dangerous killer there is, the arrogant criminal who kills not for profit but for an idea. He has usurped the functions of le bon Dieu.”
Character: M. Hercule Poirot
Chapter/Story: 19—Consultation
Book Title/Copyright: Cards on the Table, 1936
Quote: "I do not approve of murder."
Character: M. Hercule Poirot
Chapter/Story: "The Regatta Mystery"
Book Title/Copyright: The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories, 1939
Subject: Manner
Quote: “[H]is manner is unfortunate.”
Hercule Poirot said drily: “Perhaps—but a manner does not make a murderer!”
Character: Colonel Weston and M. Hercule Poirot
Chapter/Story: 8
Book Title/Copyright: Evil Under the Sun, 1941
Subject: Murder
Quote: “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.”
Character: Sir Arthur Hayward
Chapter/Story: 12
Book Title/Copyright: Crooked House, 1949
Subject: Murderer’s Vanity
Quote: “I’ve never met a murderer who wasn’t vain…. It’s their vanity that leads to their undoing, nine times out of ten. They may be frightened of being caught, but they can’t help strutting and boasting and usually they’re sure they’ve been far too clever to be caught.”
Character: Sir Arthur Hayward
Chapter/Story: 12
Book Title/Copyright: Crooked House, 1949
Subject: Murderer’s Loneliness
Quote: “And here’s another thing, a murderer wants to talk…. Yes, you see, having committed a murder puts you in a position of great loneliness. You’d like to tell somebody all about it—and you never can.”
Character: Sir Arthur Hayward
Chapter/Story: 12
Book Title/Copyright: Crooked House, 1949
Subject: Murderous State of Mind
Quote: “Once you have got into that state of mind where the taking of human lives no longer counts, then if it is simpler to put a little explosive package under a seat in a plane, than to wait about at the corner on a dark night and stick a knife into someone, then the package will be left and the fact that six other people will die also is not even considered.”
Character: Investigator Leblanc
Chapter/Story: 14
Book Title/Copyright: So Many Steps to Death, 1954
Subject: Murderers
Quote: “The one thing I do know about murderers is that they can never let well alone. Or perhaps one should say, ill alone. At any rate…they can’t once they’ve done a second murder.”
Character: Miss Jane Marple
Chapter/Story: 25
Book Title/Copyright: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw! [4:50 From Paddington], 1957
