David Niven movie quotes

- Jack Rhodes: How much do you want for the diamonds?
- Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Well, um... Would you think that one million dollars is fair?
- Jack Rhodes: No, I don't think one million dollars is fair. I think three million dollars is fair.
- Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Well, let me say this: I prefer your definition of "fair".
Burt Reynolds - Jack Rhodes
David Niven - Chief Insp. Cyril Willis

“- Gillian Bromley: It doesn't trouble you that blackmail is, in fact, against the law?
- Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Policemen are constantly breaking the law. It's one of the many ways we have of upholding it.”
Lesley-Anne Down - Gillian Bromley
David Niven - Chief Insp. Cyril Willis

“Fate doesn't always make the right men kings.”
David Niven - Fritz von Tarlenheim

- Colonel Race: What are you thinking?
- Hercule Poirot: I was thinking of Molière: "La grande ambition des femmes est d'inspirer l'amour".
- Colonel Race: I wish you'd speak some known language...
- Hercule Poirot: "The great ambition of women is to inspire love".
David Niven - Colonel Race
Peter Alexander Ustinov - Hercule Poirot

“- Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Of all the crimes of which man is capable, the one that really rankles me is the violation of property. Oh, there's your murder, of course - rape, kidnap, wife beating...
- Mrs. Willis: Don't be ridiculous.
- Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: But life - however precious, life perishes. It's only property that lives on and on....” (continue)(continue reading)
David Niven - Chief Insp. Cyril Willis
Isabel Dean - Mrs. Willis

“- Hercule Poirot: Mon Dieu, j'ai faim.
- Colonel Race: Poirot! You have a woman?
- Hercule Poirot: Not femme, faim! I am... peckish.”
Peter Alexander Ustinov - Hercule Poirot
David Niven - Colonel Race

“- Col. W.H. 'Bill' Grice: Will you take a look at the engine in this thing?
- Col. Lewis Pugh: No, but I have a general idea.
- Col. W.H. 'Bill' Grice: It belongs in a museum.
- Col. Lewis Pugh: So do some of us. Well, cheer up.”
David Niven - Colonel W. H. Grice
Gregory Peck - Colonel Lewis Pugh

Where you will be going, they have the oddest notions of hospitality. First, they shave your head. Then, they delouse you, feed you with something a ravenous crocodile would pass up, then, lock you up for the night with unfriendly lesbian companions - and you have your own "private" little chamber pot under the bed. Oh, it is very unpleasant, I... (continue)(continue reading)

David Niven - Chief Insp. Cyril Willis

“I thought civilized people knew where an innocent flirtation stops. For a civilized woman who's been married as long as you have, you're making a great deal of a small matter.”

David Niven - Captain Lockert