Appointment with Death (Hercule Poirot, #19)

by Agatha Christie

Apparently the Almighty doesn’t like my arms in spite of having made them.’

combed the hair back from her forehead, looked into a pair of troubled hazel eyes in the glass, and took stock of her situation in life.

He had heard it made before by people of many different nationalities. The illusion that freedom is the prerogative of one’s own particular race is fairly widespread.

He knew that no race, no country and no individual could be described as free. But he also knew that there were different degrees of bondage.

‘You could find the reason very easily if you examine your state of mind honestly.’

‘It’s nice when any human being is able to accomplish something worth while!

Some girls are business-like and some aren’t. Some men are sentimental and muddle-headed, others are clear-headed and logical. There are just different types of brains. Sex only matters where sex is directly concerned.’

The habit of cruelty, like any other habit, can be cultivated,

‘I am interested in everything!’ ‘Yes,’ said Carbury. ‘That’s the only way to react to life.’

He has ideals—based, really, on a deep instinct of laziness. To take human nature at its best, and the world as a pleasant place is undoubtedly the easiest course in life!