Hercule Poirot quotes from Agatha Christie's Poirot

Hercule Poirot

Poirot, he has seen much evil in this world. It should not be the subject of such mockery.

Oh, it's just a bit of fun, sir. I love a good blood-curdler, me. And very appropriate for the time of year.

Hercule Poirot

George, at this time of year in Belgium, it is the custom to light the candles in memory of the dead, not to tell the stories macabre.

I don't mind what people think. You'll always get the truth out of Mother Goodbody, mister. More than from most others 'round here. I's always been on the outside me, looking in. That ways, you get to see things different. I sees things all the time. Sometimes with me eyes, sometimes in the leaves.

Hercule Poirot

Comment? The leaves?

Tea leaves, me duck. You can see a lot in 'em. Past, future, sometimes just tea.

Hercule Poirot

Chère madame, you should not work, you should rest.

Ariadne Oliver

I have deadlines, Poirot, in sickness and in health.

There is a higher justice than the rule of law, monsieur.

Hercule Poirot

Then you let God administer it, not you!

And when He doesn't? When He creates a Hell on Earth for those wronged? When priests who are supposed to act in His name forgive what must never be forgiven? Jesus said, "Let those without sin throw the first stone."

Hercule Poirot

Oui.

Well, we were without sin, monsieur. I was without sin!

When you've been denied justice, you are incomplete. It feels that God has abandoned you in a stark place. I asked God (I think we all did) what we should do. And he said, "Do what is right". And I thought if I did, it would make me complete again.

Hercule Poirot

And are you?

...But I did what was right.

The irony is, Lieutenant, it's in our country's interests to have peace with Germany, to stop the Communists creeping ever westward. We are patriots who pass information to Hitler because if Chamberlain's policy of appeasement doesn't hold and someone like Churchill gets his hands on power, we will be dragged into a war a hundred times worse than the last one. And in that scenario, the quicker Germany knocks out a weak liberal England, the better for all Europe.

Poirot

Or what would remain of Europe under the Nazis. Monsieur, you have not seen your country overrun by foreign tyranny. I have. And I tell you, monsieur, that I value the "weak liberal England," as you call it, as a country well worth the fighting for.

But you won't do the fighting, will you, monsieur? It will be the young boys again. And if I can save one life by keeping this country weak so it cannot engage in war with Germany, then I will be proud of what I've done.

Fiona Hanbury had a life.

I think people like that are called collateral, Lieutenant. They die for a greater good.

Ariadne Oliver

Give me one moment of your time. My friend Margaret Ravenscroft died a horrible death. I have to find out why. What should I do?

Hercule Poirot

Bien sûr. Madame, what have you told to me? A husband and wife who never argue, who live in complete harmony. Whoever has heard of such a thing?! There was a motive. There is always a motive. And if the police, they could not find this motive at the time, then this motive, it is ... How do you say? It is unorthodox. The answer, madame, lies in the past. You must delve into the past. You say they lived near to Eastbourne? You have acquaintance there? Then go! Allez-y! Allez-y! Drive about, ask the questions. Be the person with a nose.

Ariadne Oliver

Oh, I see. Someone will remember something.

Hercule Poirot

Always someone remembers something.

Ariadne Oliver

You mean elephants. [off Poirot's confused look] Sorry. I was thinking of elephants at that dinner last night.

Hercule Poirot

With hesitation, I ask why?

Ariadne Oliver

Because the meringue got stuck in my teeth.

Hercule Poirot

I see. Well, the pathway of logic, it is there somewhere, but...

Ariadne Oliver

Meringue, dentures. Ivory, elephants. Must find the elephants. Elephants can remember.

Ariadne Oliver

You and I are elephants, you know. We're good at remembering.

Hercule Poirot

Non, non, non, madame. We are the human beings. And human beings, mercifully, they can forget.

I just had to wind you up like a clockwork toy and off you went. You and your little newspaper. Spreading fear, confusion, hate. An emotional soup, pulsing. You really have been a most useful ally.

But my informer? The letters? The playing cards?

Hercule Poirot

All sent from Monsieur Darrell.

James Japp

So the fella who turned up with a knife in his back?

Hercule Poirot

In reality a tramp dressed in a theatrical costume, the clues of the playing cards planted upon him.

Reality, Monsieur Poirot? Who is to say where fantasy ends and reality begins?

Hercule Poirot

Well, let us speak of beginnings, monsieur! Act One of a drama so very strange. Albert Whalley. A boy, an orphan, poor and unloved, who was sent away to live with his uncle who was cold and aloof.

Albert Whalley is a name I haven't used in years.

Hercule Poirot

Non, but an uncle who disapproved of your fantasies and your desire to tread the boards.

All those years of listening to that old fool. Going on about his precious Chinaman, Li Chang Yen. I began to see possibilities.

Hercule Poirot

Oui. But then you had the task most difficult, non? To worm your way into the confidences of the members of the Peace Party.

Child's play. I forged my references and quietly took up my position as Dr Quentin. Paynter's condition, it's not really very difficult to research. I'm an actor, Monsieur Poirot, and a bloody good one.

Hercule Poirot

Oh, yes, indeed, monsieur, your ability to blend in, to pass yourself off in all manner of disguises, which has proven so useful. You have the genius of the character actor. Savaranoff was killed to implicate Abe Ryland. Your uncle died to throw suspicion onto Li Chang Yen. And Stephen Paynter, who was innocent, murdered to incriminate Madame Olivier.

He was a weak fool. His weakness was his conscience. I merely persuaded him that it wasn't decent for them to continue their silly love affair.

James Japp

That's all it was, then? Diana Paynter overheard him ending the affair? It had nothing to do with the Big Four?

Hercule Poirot

Indeed so, mon ami.

But why? In God's name, what the hell was it all for?

For me. Wasn't it, Mr. Poirot?

Hercule Poirot

Oui, mademoiselle. For the woman who spurned him all those years ago. For therein lies your tragedy, Monsieur Darrell. The very gift that could have turned you into the actor supreme makes you forgettable. The man who blends in. The man whose name nobody ever can quite remember. The man who disappears. Albert Whalley, Claud Darrell, Dr Quentin, Number Four. Whatever you choose to call yourself, monsieur, you adore the flourish that is theatrical.

You've got a nerve.

Hercule Poirot

Comment?

All this. You'd already worked out where I was. You could have sent the police to arrest me at any time. But instead you wanted your grand finale, show everyone just how clever you've been. Oh, we're more alike than you think, Poirot.

Ariadne Oliver

I'm well aware you think me irrational.

Hercule Poirot

Madame, one calls things by different names, hein? It may indeed be that you have seen something, it may indeed be that you have heard something. And it may be, if I may so put it, that you do not know what it is that you know. You are aware only of the result. And that, madame, it is your intuition.

May I ask you something? Why do you insist on referring to yourself in the third person? It is intensely irritating!

Hercule Poirot

Because, Dr. Lutz, it helps Poirot achieve a healthy distance from his genius.

The Labours of Hercules. That is how you unconsciously conceive your career. You are the modern incarnation of Hercules.

Hercule Poirot

How resourceful of me.

Dr. Lutz should name a condition after you. The Hercules complex. The compulsion to conquer all obstacles, however forbidding. It is why you are driven to chase Marrascaud. You simply have to.

Hercule, spare my daughter. Spare her, as years ago you spared me. Please.

Hercule Poirot

No, Countess. Poirot, he is not your love. He is Poirot.

Then I shall accompany my daughter. A love like ours could have burnt down a city. Such a waste.

Hercule Poirot

There is always still so much more to do. But the clock, it ticks, no? Such is the will of God.

We'll all miss you, old chap. But you won't be forgotten.

Arthur Hastings

Good God, Poirot, you look awful! I'll go call an ambulance!

Hercule Poirot

No, Hastings. What good would that do? What will be, will be. [after a brief silence] Hastings, do you think God will forgive me?

Arthur Hastings

Why, of course, God will forgive you. You are a good man, Poirot. The best man the world has ever known.