The Mystery of Three Quarters Quotes

“Humans, as a rule, were doggedly determined not to believe in the experiences of anyone but themselves.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“couldn’t bear to hear the truth about my horrible legs. What nonsense! I’m perfectly happy with my legs. What upset me was finding out that Mummy looks at me and sees only, or mainly, a bundle of physical flaws. And her dishonesty—that also enrages me.’ ‘Your mother is not honest?’ said Poirot. ‘Oh, she can’t bear the truth. She is almost allergic to it. She would do or say anything to keep me and Timmy happy—I think she feels it’s her duty as a mother—but every so often a scrap of truthfulness slips out, and when it does, she bends over backwards afterwards to deny what is plain to see. I shall never believe her when she says she thinks I’m beautiful. I know it’s a lie. She’d be far better off admitting that she would love it if I starved myself skinny. Instead, she lies and lies about how much she loves me the way I am, and tells herself she’s keeping me happy by doing so.’ Ivy spoke thoughtfully and analytically, with no trace of resentment in her voice. She was, Poirot reflected, a happier and more stable woman than either her mother or her aunt.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“I remember trying to get through the day without speaking to anyone at all. It's something I still do at large gatherings, which I loathe. [...] The secret is to pass by everybody with a friendly smile, while looking as if you're on your way to rejoin another little group that is waiting for you just over there. No one notices if you ever do join those towards whom you seem to be striding so urgently. Once you've passed them, they don't notice where you go or what you do.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“One must stick by one's principles or else the fabric of society crumbles. If a child of mine deserved it, I would hang him myself.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“I was unsure how I felt about this. I used to worry about not knowing how I felt in certain situations, but I had more recently decided to treat them as a convenient opportunity to feel nothing at all.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“If I were someone who could ever be pushed over the edge into performing an act of violence, that moment would surely have come approximately ten minutes ago. Instead, and to my great regret, I seem to be a person who can balance quietly on the edge he is pushed towards for as long as anybody feels inclined to yell at him.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Wouldn't it be simply marvellous if he were to hang for his lies and calumnies against me--the very fate he had in mind for me?”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“But maybe it was true, and the lie was the way he made his voice sound when he said it.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“He sounded as if he might be amused by the notion if he were not so weary.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“I waved at him to stop, like a railway signalman in the face of an out-of-control train hurtling towards him.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Truly you describe the perfect family," said Poirot. "Yet no family is without its troubles. There must have been something that was less than perfect.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Vout was one of those people who believed in things like murder, and evil, and all forms of serious unpleasantness only when they did not affect him personally. Were he to read in a newspaper that a maniac had chopped five members of the same family into small pieces, he would not question it. Suggest to him, though, that a man he regarded as a friend might have been murdered, and you would never succeed in persuading him that it was possible.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Goodness me, someone's been rumour-mongering for all he's worth, eh?”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“My experience as a police inspector has taught me that many people are able to regard themselves with inordinate fondness, no matter what heinous crimes they have committed. They care only about how they look to others, and whether they can get away with it.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“When someone sends something like that, they mean you harm. You ignore them at your peril.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“I have heard that he is proud, but also honourable and, most importantly of all, amenable to reason”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“...I was tempted to run in the opposite direction rather than follow her anywhere.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Rowly's son, a murderer? Preposterous! He's the son of Rowland McCrodden! If you were the son of a man like that, Catchpool, would you take up murder as a way of passing the time?”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“I saw no need to upset the apple cart at work by pointing out that "He's my friend's son" is neither proof of innocence nor a viable defence.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Poirot suspected Hugo Dockerill was one of the stupidest people he had ever met.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Hugo Dockerill was the first and only letter-recipient to remain cheerful in the face of his predicament, and certainly the first to demonstrate a belief that all the world's problems could be solved if only decent people sat down at a table together and set things straight. If he objected to being accused of murder, he concealed it well.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“John McCrodden's anger, Poirot thought, was equal to Sylvia Rule's but different: less explosive, more enduring. He would not forget, whereas she might if a new and more pressing drama occurred.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“He was now firmly of the view that if you wanted to see clearly how one person's character diverged from that of another, the most efficient method was to place both in identical situations.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“If you will allow Poirot to offer you a piece of wise advice: the pursuit of revenge is rarely a good idea.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Good day, mademoiselle," Poirot said to a room that was suddenly empty apart from himself and a lingering feeling of desolation”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Thus, reflected Poirot, did some reassurances cause greater alarm than the original remark upon which they sought to improve.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“People mind so much less when old people die, which is dreadfully unfair! "He had a good innings," they say, as if that makes it tolerable, whereas when a child dies everyone knows it's the worst kind of tragedy. I believe every death is a tragedy!”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“As surely as John McCrodden had filled Poirot's room with cold contempt, Annabel Treadway had brought sorrow in with her.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“The puzzle of why most people, even intelligent people, were so illogical and pig-headed was one to which Poirot had devoted quite enough consideration while lying awake the previous night...”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters

“Poirot nodded and permitted himself a small smile. When there was no other pleasure to be taken from a situation, one might as well enjoy being correct, he thought.”
― Sophie Hannah, The Mystery of Three Quarters