Taken at the Flood Quotes

“Character, mon cher, does not stand still. It can gather strength. It can also deteriorate. What a person really is, is only apparent when the test comes—that is, the moment when you stand or fall on your own feet.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“The Coroner said graciously:
"I have heard of you, M. Poirot," and Poirot made an unsuccessful attempt to look modest.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“We will sit here and drink coffee, and you shall all three listen to Hercule Poirot while he gives you a lecture on crime.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“What a person really is, is only apparent when the test comes—that is, the moment when you stand or fall on your own feet.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Her first husband (poor child, such a grief to her) was reported dead in Africa. A mysterious country - Africa."
"A mysterious continent," Poirot corrected her. "Possibly. What part -"
She swept on. "Central Africa. The home of voodoo, of the zhombie -"
"The zhombie is in the West Indies."
Mrs Cloade swept on: "- of black magic - of strange and secret practices - a country where a man could disappear and never be heard of again."
"Possibly, possibly," said Poirot. "But the same is true of Piccadilly Circus."
Mrs Cloade waved away Piccadilly Circus.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Doctors, I find, have a very materialistic outlook. The spiritual seems to be strangely hidden from them. They pin their faith on Science - but what I say is... what is Science - what can it do?"
There seemed, to Hercule Poirot, to be no answer to the question other than a meticulous and painstaking description embracing Pasteur, Lister, Humphrey Davy's safety lamp - the convenience of electricity in the home and several hundred other kindred items. But that, naturally, was not the answer Mrs Lionel Cloade wanted.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Fellow has the wrong clothes and all that. French chap-or Belgian. Queer fellow, but he's got the goods all right.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“What a queer topsy turvy world it was. It used to be the man who went to the wars, the woman who stayed at home. But here the positions were reversed.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Underhay’s death from fever in Africa had been established”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Was that really and truly what people were secretly feeling everywhere? Was that what, ultimately, war did to you? It was not the physical dangers—the mines at sea, the bombs from the air, the crisp ping of a rifle bullet as you drove over a desert track. No, it was the spiritual danger of learning how much easier life was if you ceased to think…”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Yes, yes, where you are not, there you will want to be! That will always be so, perhaps, with you. You make a picture to yourself, you see, a picture of Lynn Marchmont coming home… But the picture does not come true, because the Lynn Marchmont whom you imagine is not the real Lynn Marchmont. She is the Lynn Marchmont you would like to be.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Poirot did not enter into a controversy. He had already learnt that every single individual had a different version of the theme "What did we fight the war for?”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Poirot. “You find out”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Now we can talk," said Poirot. "When I say that, I mean, really, that I shall talk.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Nineteen, twenty, my plate’s empty.’ But the reader’s plate is full”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“What was one to do, thought Adela, with someone who didn't talk gardening or dogs - those standbys of rural conversation.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“When I was out East, I longed for home,” Lynn cried defensively. “Yes, yes, where you are not, there you will want to be! That will always be so, perhaps, with you. You make a picture to yourself, you see, a picture of Lynn Marchmont coming home…But the picture does not come true, because the Lynn Marchmont whom you imagine is not the real Lynn Marchmont. She is the Lynn Marchmont you would like to be.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“You are wrong,” said Poirot. “The tragedy of life is that people do not change.” She stared at him, shaking her head. He insisted: “But yes. It is so. Why did you go away in the first place?” “Why? I went into the Wrens. I went on service.” “Yes, yes, but why did you join the Wrens in the first place? You were engaged to be married. You were in love with Rowley Cloade. You could have worked, could you not, as a land girl, here in Warmsley Vale?” “I could have, I suppose, but I wanted—” “You wanted to get away. You wanted to go abroad, to see life. You wanted, perhaps, to get away from Rowley Cloade…And now you are restless, you still want—to get away! Oh, no, Mademoiselle, people do not change!”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“I know his type,” said the Superintendent thoughtfully. “It’s a type that’s done well during the war. Any amount of physical courage. Audacity and a reckless disregard of personal safety. The sort that will face any odds. It’s the kind that is likely to win the V.C.—though, mind you, it’s often a posthumous one. Yes, in wartime, a man like that is a hero. But in peace—well, in peace such men usually end up in prison. They like excitement and they can’t run straight, and they don’t give a damn for society—and finally they’ve no regard for human life.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“She had been so used to being waited on all her life that she took it for granted without self-consciousness, and she had the same appreciation of a good cook or a good parlourmaid as she would have had for a good pianist.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“Oh, don’t you see, M. Poirot, it’s all so difficult. It isn't a question of David at all. It’s me! I’ve changed. I’ve been away for three—four years. Now I’ve come back I’m not the same person who went away. That’s the tragedy everywhere. People coming home changed, having to readjust themselves. You can’t go away and lead a different kind of life and not change!’

‘You are wrong,’ said Poirot. ‘The tragedy of life is that people do not change.’

She stared at him, shaking her head. He insisted:

‘But yes. It is so. Why did you go away in the first place?’

‘Why? I went into the Wrens. I went on service.’

‘Yes, yes, but why did you join the Wrens in the first place? You were engaged to be married. You were in love with Rowley Cloade. You could have worked, could you not, as a land girl, here in Warmsley Vale?’

‘I could have, I suppose, but I wanted—’

‘You wanted to get away. You wanted to go abroad, to see life. You wanted, perhaps, to get away from Rowley Cloade … And now you are restless, you still want—to get away! Oh, no, Mademoiselle, people do not change!’

‘When I was out East, I longed for home,’ Lynn cried defensively.

‘Yes, yes, where you are not, there you will want to be! That will always be so, perhaps, with you. You make a picture to yourself, you see, a picture of Lynn Marchmont coming home … But the picture does not come true, because the Lynn Marchmont whom you imagine is not the real Lynn Marchmont. She is the Lynn Marchmont you would like to be.’

Lynn asked bitterly:

‘So, according to you, I shall never be satisfied anywhere?’

‘I do not say that. But I do say that, when you went away, you were dissatisfied with your engagement, and that now you have come back, you are still dissatisfied with your engagement.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“She went downstairs, walking in a dream.

Dreams, she thought, could be very dangerous things…”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“She's quite harmless, you know.'

'I wonder,' said Poirot.

'What do you mean?'

'Is anybody—ever—quite harmless?”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“It's the human interest that's getting you?'

'Yes,' said Poirot. 'It is always the human interest.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“The truth is that one never believes for a minute, no matter what danger you’re in, that you yourself are going to be killed. The bomb is always going to hit the other person!”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“What causes crime?" Hercule Poirot demanded rhetorically. "It is a question, that. What stimulus is needed? What inbred predisposition does there have to be? Is every one capable of crime- of some crime? And what happens that is what I have asked myself from the beginning, what happens when people who have been protected from real life-from its assaults and ravages--are suddenly deprived of that protection?”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

““I see they’ve got the announcement of Gordon Cloade’s death in the Times,†he said. —
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“People are like that—not quite bad or quite good. I don’t suppose I’m particularly straight myself—I have been because there hasn’t been any temptation to be otherwise. But what I have got is plenty of courage and I’m loyal!”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“It is always easier, Madame, to tell a thing to someone who already has a very good idea of what it is.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood

“The world is becoming a difficult place to live in—except for the strong.”
― Agatha Christie, Taken at the Flood