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Top 25 Ngaio Marsh Quotes (2025 Update)

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “We do not wait for inspiration. We work because we’ve jolly well got to. But when all is said and done, we toil at this particular job because it’s turned out to be our particular job, and in a weird sort of way I suppose we may be said to like it.”

1. “We do not wait for inspiration. We work because we’ve jolly well got to. But when all is said and done, we toil at this particular job because it’s turned out to be our particular job, and in a weird sort of way I suppose we may be said to like it.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Expectation is the springboard of achievement.”

2. “Expectation is the springboard of achievement.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “One should have the courage of one’s loneliness.”

3. “One should have the courage of one’s loneliness.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Above all things-read. Read the great stylists who cannot be copied rather than the successful writers who must not be copied.”

4. “Above all things-read. Read the great stylists who cannot be copied rather than the successful writers who must not be copied.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “It is a curious thing that when one speaks from the heart it is invariably in the worst of taste.”

5. “It is a curious thing that when one speaks from the heart it is invariably in the worst of taste.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “As usual she had a deceptive air of perspicacity.”

6. “As usual she had a deceptive air of perspicacity.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “My poor fat Alfie! He was not a romantic husband, but he was so kind and understanding. He never minded whether I was amusing or dull. He thought it impossible that I could be dull. I didn’t have to bother about any of that.”

7. “My poor fat Alfie! He was not a romantic husband, but he was so kind and understanding. He never minded whether I was amusing or dull. He thought it impossible that I could be dull. I didn’t have to bother about any of that.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “As for Mr. Ogden, he would have broken out immediately into a long discourse in which the words “uplift,” “renooal,” and “spiritual regeneration” would have sounded again and again, for Mr. Ogden was so like an American as to be quite fabulous.”

8. “As for Mr. Ogden, he would have broken out immediately into a long discourse in which the words “uplift,” “renooal,” and “spiritual regeneration” would have sounded again and again, for Mr. Ogden was so like an American as to be quite fabulous.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Why do you want to become an author? I will accept only one answer. If it is because you feel you can write better than you can do anything else then go ahead and do it without frills and flourishes. Stick to your present job and write in your spare time: but do it as if it is a whole time job.”

9. “Why do you want to become an author? I will accept only one answer. If it is because you feel you can write better than you can do anything else then go ahead and do it without frills and flourishes. Stick to your present job and write in your spare time: but do it as if it is a whole time job.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “No coffee is ever quite as good as it smells...”

10. “No coffee is ever quite as good as it smells...”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Custom makes monsters of us all.”

11. “Custom makes monsters of us all.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “It was as though they had so saturated themselves with professional behaviourism that they had lost the knack of being natural.”

12. “It was as though they had so saturated themselves with professional behaviourism that they had lost the knack of being natural.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Don’t you know about The Others? They’re the ones that leave nails and broken glass on the road. They hide things when you’re in a hurry. They’ve only got one arm and one leg each, you know. So they take single gloves and stockings, and they’re frightfully keen on keys and unanswered letters.”

13. “Don’t you know about The Others? They’re the ones that leave nails and broken glass on the road. They hide things when you’re in a hurry. They’ve only got one arm and one leg each, you know. So they take single gloves and stockings, and they’re frightfully keen on keys and unanswered letters.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “With a slightly accentuated jaw-line, Inspector Alleyn advanced to the footlights and gazed into the swimming darkness of the stalls. “Mr. Bathgate,” he said. Silence. “Mr. Bathgate,” lied Alleyn, “I can see you.” “You’re not looking in my direction at all,” declared an indignant voice. “Come.”

14. “With a slightly accentuated jaw-line, Inspector Alleyn advanced to the footlights and gazed into the swimming darkness of the stalls. “Mr. Bathgate,” he said. Silence. “Mr. Bathgate,” lied Alleyn, “I can see you.” “You’re not looking in my direction at all,” declared an indignant voice. “Come.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “You must be able to write. You must have a sense of form, of pattern, of design. You must have a respect for and a mastery over words.”

15. “You must be able to write. You must have a sense of form, of pattern, of design. You must have a respect for and a mastery over words.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “You may be able to write a novel, you may not. You will never know until you have worked very hard indeed and written at least part of it. You will never really know until you have written the whole of it and submitted it for publication.”

16. “You may be able to write a novel, you may not. You will never know until you have worked very hard indeed and written at least part of it. You will never really know until you have written the whole of it and submitted it for publication.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Any faithful account of police investigations, in even the most spectacular homicide case would be abysmally dull. I should have thought you’d seen enough of the game to realize that. The files are a plethora of drab details, most of them entirely irrelevant. Your crime novelist gets over all that by writing grandly about routine work and then seleting the essentials. Quite rightly. He’d be the world’s worst bore if he did otherwise.”

17. “Any faithful account of police investigations, in even the most spectacular homicide case would be abysmally dull. I should have thought you’d seen enough of the game to realize that. The files are a plethora of drab details, most of them entirely irrelevant. Your crime novelist gets over all that by writing grandly about routine work and then seleting the essentials. Quite rightly. He’d be the world’s worst bore if he did otherwise.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “No art should be fashionable...”

18. “No art should be fashionable...”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Until this moment Chloris and Mandrake had wished above all things for the assurance that Alleyn would take charge. Now that, with a certain crispness and a marked change of manner, he had actually done so, each of them felt an icy touch of apprehension. They had set in motion a process which they were unable to stop. They were not yet nervous for themselves but instinctively they moved a little nearer to each other. They had called in the Yard.”

19. “Until this moment Chloris and Mandrake had wished above all things for the assurance that Alleyn would take charge. Now that, with a certain crispness and a marked change of manner, he had actually done so, each of them felt an icy touch of apprehension. They had set in motion a process which they were unable to stop. They were not yet nervous for themselves but instinctively they moved a little nearer to each other. They had called in the Yard.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Stop talking. Can’t you see I’m detecting?”

20. “Stop talking. Can’t you see I’m detecting?”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Alleyn asked for an adjournment; the whole affair ended, leaving the onlookers with a sense of having been served with treason when they ordered murder.”

21. “Alleyn asked for an adjournment; the whole affair ended, leaving the onlookers with a sense of having been served with treason when they ordered murder.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “He was shown into the drawing-room, an apartment of great elegance and no character. Above the mantelpiece hung a portrait in pastel of Cicely O’Callaghan. The artist had dealt competently with the shining texture of the dress and hair, and had made a conscientious map of the face. Alleyn felt he would get about as much change from the original as he would from the picture.”

22. “He was shown into the drawing-room, an apartment of great elegance and no character. Above the mantelpiece hung a portrait in pastel of Cicely O’Callaghan. The artist had dealt competently with the shining texture of the dress and hair, and had made a conscientious map of the face. Alleyn felt he would get about as much change from the original as he would from the picture.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “Well, ain’t you the clam’s cuticle!” said Mr. Ogden.”

23. “Well, ain’t you the clam’s cuticle!” said Mr. Ogden.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “It’s so unreal and beastly.’ ‘Murder is beastly. Unfortunately it’s not unreal.”

24. “It’s so unreal and beastly.’ ‘Murder is beastly. Unfortunately it’s not unreal.”

— Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh Quote: “You are quite right, Fox. Never quote, and if you do certainly not from Macbeth.”

25. “You are quite right, Fox. Never quote, and if you do certainly not from Macbeth.”

— Ngaio Marsh

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