Subject: Work vs. Leisure
Quote: “Eh bien, I have got on very well without them [the classics].”
“Got on! Got on? It’s not a question of getting on. That’s the wrong view altogether. The classics aren’t a ladder leading to quick success, like a modern correspondence course! It’s not a man’s working hours that are important—it’s his leisure hours. That’s the mistake we all make.”
Character: M. Hercule Poirot and Dr. Burton
Chapter/Story: “How It All Came About”
Book Title/Copyright: The Labors of Hercules, 1947Subject: Work Ethic
Quote: “I sent the boys out. They do what they can—good lads—good lads all of them, but not what they used to be in the old days. They don’t come that way nowadays. Not willing to learn, that’s what it is. Think they know everything after they’ve only been a couple of years on the job. And they work to time. Shocking the way they work to time…. And all this education racket. It gives them ideas. They come back and tell us what they think. They can’t think, most of them, anyway. All they know is things out of books. That’s no good in our business. Bring in the answers—that’s all that’s needed—no thinking.”
Character: Mr. Goby
Chapter/Story: 12
Book Title/Copyright: Funerals Are Fatal, 1953
