The Pale Horse (Ariadne Oliver, #5)

by Agatha Christie

Sin’s such a wretched, mean, ignoble little thing. It’s terribly necessary to make it seem grand and important.

“Always envisage the worst. You’ve no idea how that steadies the nerves. You begin at once to be sure that it can’t be as bad as what you imagine.”

“Evil is not something superhuman, it’s something less than human. Your criminal is someone who wants to be important, but who never will be important, because he’ll always be less than a man.”