- Hercule Poirot: [thinking as he walks through the train towards the bar car] My Dear Colonel Armstrong, finally, I can answer your letter, at least with the thoughts in my head and the feeling in my heart that somewhere you can hear me. I have now discovered the truth of the case and it is profoundly disturbing. I have seen the fracture of the human soul. So many broken lives, so much pain and anger giving way to the poison of deep grief, until one crime became many. I have always wanted to believe that man is rational and civilized. My very existence depends upon this hope, upon order and method and the little grey cells... but now perhaps I am asked... to listen instead... to my heart.
- [pauses]
- Hercule Poirot: [addressing the passengers in the bar car] Ladies and gentlemen, I have understood in this case that the scales of justice... cannot always be evenly weighed. And I must learn for once, to live with the imbalance. There are no killers here, only people who deserve a chance to heal. The police have accepted my first solution to the crime: the lone assassin who made his escape. I will leave the train here to conclude formalities. You are all free to go. May you find your peace with this... May we all.
- [exits train]
- Edward Ratchett: You are a strange, peculiar man.
- Hercule Poirot: I am of an age where I know what I like and what I do not like. What I like, I enjoy enormously. What I dislike, I cannot abide. For instance, the temporary pleasantries before what is determined to be a business discussion.
- Edward Ratchett: You're fun.
- Hercule Poirot: There was right. There was wrong. Now there is you. I cannot judge this. You must decide.
- British Military Escort: How did you know it was him, sir? From just a tiny crack on the wall?
- Hercule Poirot: I have the advantage. I can only see the world as it should be. And when it is not the imperfection stands out like the nose in the middle of a face. It... it makes most of life unbearable, but it is useful in the detection of crime.
- British Military Escort: But it's as though you see into their hearts and divine their true natures.
- Hercule Poirot: And whatever people say, there is right, there is wrong. There is nothing in between.
- Gerhard Hardman: I would prefer, in the future, to sit not with that man. Like should be seated with like. We are not alike.
- Miss Mary Debenham: Not all of us are so concerned with the separateness of races, Professor.
- Gerhard Hardman: It is out of respect for all kinds that I prefer to keep them separate. To mix your red wine and the white would be to ruin them both.
- Miss Mary Debenham: [Miss Debenham does just that] I like a good rosé!
- Hercule Poirot: I have the advantage. I can only see the world as it should be so the imperfections stand out.
- Hercule Poirot: Have you ever been to America?
- Edward Henry Masterman: Once. Years ago, briefly.
- Hercule Poirot: For what purpose?
- Edward Henry Masterman: To confirm a suspicion.
- Hercule Poirot: Which was?
- Edward Henry Masterman: That I wouldn't like it.
- Hercule Poirot: You tell your lies... and you think no one will know. But there are two people who will know. Yes, two people. Your God... and Hercule Poirot... It is time to solve this case.
- Bouc: You know, with your books and your capers, you are missing out on romance.
- Hercule Poirot: Romance never goes unpunished.
- Hercule Poirot: [having just stepped in animal droppings with one of his shoes] It is not the, uh... it is the imbalance of the...
- [steps with his other shoe in the droppings]
- Edward Ratchett: Well, hello.
- Caroline Hubbard: Eyes linger any longer I'll have to charge rent.
- Edward Ratchett: I'll pay.
- Caroline Hubbard: Hmm... have another drink.
- Hercule Poirot: Bring forth the accused. The Rabbi. The Priest. And the Imam. It is like the - eh - the old joke. Yes? The Rabbi, the Priest, and the Imam. Ma, non. Forgive me, I am Belgian.
- Bouc: [Offering champagne to the guests in the dining car] Compliments of the Orient Express.
- Miss Mary Debenham: Thank you, Mr. Bouc.
- Bouc: I am here for... all of your needs.
- Pilar Estravados: No, thank you. I do not drink.
- Bouc: [whispers] It does not agree with you?
- Pilar Estravados: Sin does not agree with me. Vice is where the devil finds his darlings.
- Bouc: [smiles politely before walking away from the table] We should no longer speak.
- Miss Mary Debenham: To a man with a hammer, every problem is a nail. You live crime. You see evil every day.
- Hercule Poirot: Not so. I see enough crime to know that the criminal act is the anomaly. I believe it takes a fracture of the soul to murder another human being.
- Hercule Poirot: If there was a murder; then, there was a murderer. The murderer is with us - on the train - now.
- Hercule Poirot: You know, there is something about a tangle of strangers pressed together for days with nothing in common but the need to go from one place to another and never see each other again.
- Caroline Hubbard: [Hubbard gasps as Poirot almost runs into her as he boards train] Oh!
- Hercule Poirot: Apologies, madame, I meant no disrespect.
- Caroline Hubbard: [says flirtatiously] Well, you could try to mean a little.
- [chuckles]
- Caroline Hubbard: I am looking forward to getting back. Travel is fine for spicy food, mosques, meeting men; but, eventually, you just miss your own bed.
- Caroline Hubbard: I woke up in the dark and I knew there was a man in my room.
- Hercule Poirot: You are certain it was a man?
- Caroline Hubbard: I know what it feels like to have a man in my bedroom.
- Bouc: And yet, the best things on the train are not food. You know there's something about a tangle of strangers pressed together for days on end with nothing in common but the need to go from one place to another, then never to see each other again. Boredom plus anonymity plus a... constant gentle rocking.
- Hercule Poirot: With your hobbies you will never amount to anything.
- Bouc: God, I hope so. Hmm.
- Hercule Poirot: [Addressing MacQueen] The train is full. I think that we are, how do you say... 'bunkies.'
- [Long pause. MacQueen says nothing]
- Hercule Poirot: I am equally disappointed in you. This is nice!
- Hercule Poirot: I am tired. I have earned myself a little holiday. I want to look at paintings and have too much time on my hands.
- Caroline Hubbard: I've been accused of - husband hunting abroad. And, I can't in all honesty deny it. I like my time alone. I do. I do! But, a lady has certain needs that deserve to be met, if she has any money, and, preferably on a regular basis.
- Caroline Hubbard: One thing about train travel, you're always knocking into somebody. It's wonderful!
- Hercule Poirot: [angrily to MacQueen] You tried to burn Ratchett's accounts! But, they are still legible in places the math does not tally! Because you have been stealing from him! It is full of - deh - deh - deh...
- [to Bouc]
- Hercule Poirot: [impatiently] What is den English? Deh English word - deh - deh - deh chocolata?
- Bouc: The fudge?
- Hercule Poirot: [furiously to MacQueen] THE FUDGE! IT IS FULL OF THE FUDGE!
- Countess Elena Andrenyi: You are funny looking, Monsieur Poirot. Why are detectives so funny looking?
- Hercule Poirot: I'm sorry to wake you, Madama Contessa.
- Countess Elena Andrenyi: I'm always awake at night. In the day I sleep. Some fear darkness; but, I cannot stand the light.
- Miss Mary Debenham: [recognizes Poirot on a boat] I know your mustache... from the papers. You're the detective, Hercules Poirot?
- Hercule Poirot: *Hercule* Poirot. I do not slay the lions.
- Bouc: This is my dear old friend, the esteemed Poirot, who I knew before the esteem. Hercule Poirot, this is...
- Hercule Poirot: A prostitute.
- Bouc: She is.
- Prostitute: I am!
- Hercule Poirot: Ah, Mrs Hubbard, I'm sorry to have kept you. You have a head full of steam and a mouth full of words.
- Caroline Hubbard: You're goddamn right, I do.
- Edward Ratchett: Please tell me you didn't do this.
- Edward Henry Masterman: If I were to leave something unpleasant on your pillow, sir, it would not be a letter.
- Edward Ratchett: Are you insulted?
- Caroline Hubbard: Disappointed. Some men have a good look. All they have to do is keep their mouth shut - and they can take home any prize they want. Still, the mouth opens!
- Edward Ratchett: You see, someone's out to get me. I know I'm not the best guy born. Not by a long shot. And if there's a world after this one, I will face judgment, just like you. But, I ain't in no goddamn rush to do it.
- Bouc: You have to find who did this. Please, I implore you, on behalf of the Orient Express. When the police arrive, you present them with a case closed. You are the only one who can save me.
- Hercule Poirot: Your faith touches me, mon cher. But, I must have this rest.
- Bouc: Well, think of it as a little beachside puzzle. That's nothing to your mind! You, you look up the antecedents of the passengers, you establish their bona fides and then you do what you do.