UK Features
Eight Miss Marple Quotes
Miss Marple isn’t easy to categorise. An unlikely sleuth, her kind, elderly appearance leads allies and suspects alike to underestimate her. Jane Marple’s own words reveal a shrewd, intelligent woman who values justice, and retribution. Neither a busybody, nor an innocent, she is often accused of being both. Christie herself recalls in An Autobiography, “There was no unkindness in Miss Marple, she just did not trust people. Though she expected the worst, she often accepted people kindly in spite of what they were.” We explore the multiple facets of the character, using some of our favourite quotations.
Others on Miss Marple
Miss Marple was an attractive old lady, tall and thin, with pink cheeks and blue eyes, and a gentle, rather fussy manner.
Everybody in St Mary Mead knew Miss Marple; fluffy and dithery in appearance, but inwardly as sharp and as shrewd as they make them.
On the advantages of village life
‘Well, my dear,’ said Miss Marple, ‘human nature is much the same everywhere, and, of course, one has opportunities of observing it at closer quarters in a village.’
On trust
‘The worst is so often true,’ murmured Miss Marple.
On eavesdropping
If people do not choose to lower their voices, one must assume that they are prepared to be overheard.
On her deductive skills
Really, I have no gifts—no gifts at all—except perhaps a certain knowledge of human nature.
On sex
“Sex” as a word had not been mentioned in Miss Marple’s young days, but there had been plenty of it - not talked about so much - but enjoyed far more than nowadays, or so it seemed to her. Though usually labelled Sin, she couldn’t help feeling that that was preferable to what it seemed nowadays - a kind of duty.
On justice
This is a wicked murderer, Inspector Neele, and the wicked should not go unpunished.
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