Subject: Historical perspective
Quote: “A problem is not necessarily unsolvable because it has remained unsolved.”
“Oh! Come, man, if nothing came out at the time, it’s not likely to come out now—ten years afterward?”
Mr. Quin shook his head gently. “I disagree with you. 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. If you like to call it so, it is, like everything else, a question of relativity.”
Character: Sir Richard Conway and Mr. Harley Quin
Chapter/Story: “The Coming of Mr. Quin”
Book Title/Copyright: The Mysterious Mr. Quin, 1930
Subject: Historical perspective
Quote: “That is a curious idea of yours,” said Mr. Satterthwaite slowly. “That one sees things better afterward than at the time.”
“The longer the time that has elapsed, the more things fall into proportion. One sees them in their true relationship to one another.”
Character: Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin
Chapter/Story: “At the Bells and Motley”
Book Title/Copyright: The Mysterious Mr. Quin, 1930
Subject: Past vs. Present
Quote: “You believe in the past, not the present. Why?”
“You used, not long ago, the word atmosphere. There is no atmosphere in the present.”
“That is true, perhaps,” said Mr. Satterthwaite thoughtfully. “Yes, it is true. The present is apt to be—parochial.”
Character: Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Harley Quin
Chapter/Story: “At the Bells and Motley”
Book Title/Copyright: The Mysterious Mr. Quin, 1930
Subject: Tomorrow
Quote: “Tomorrow! Sometimes, M. Poirot, tomorrow is a long way off.”
“On the contrary,” said Poirot, “I always find that it succeeds today with monotonous regularity.”
Character: M. Hercule Poirot to Dr. Donaldson
Chapter/Story: 27
Book Title/Copyright: Poirot Loses a Client, 1937
Subject: The Past
Quote: “But I do think it is—well—unprofitable to keep on going back over the past. ‘It’s a pity this happened—or that!’ It’s all over now. Why rake it up? We’ve got to go on living our lives in the present.”
Character: Audrey Savage
Chapter/Story: “Snow White and Rose Red—VII”
Book Title/Copyright: Towards Zero, 1944
