87 Captivating Mystery Quotes

Mystery has an unparalleled charm that draws us into stories filled with suspense, intrigue, and unforeseen twists. Whether it's the shadowy alleyways of noir films, the perplexing puzzles of detective novels, or the enigmatic whispers in classic literature, mystery captivates our imagination and keeps us on the edge of our seats. In this collection, we've curated 87 of the most captivating mystery quotes that will ignite your curiosity and inspire your inner detective. Dive in and let these words transport you to a world where every clue matters and every moment is tinged with suspense.

1. “I would prefer not to.” - Herman Melville

2. “Always just a brainstorm away from our next disaster...” - Birgit Pratcher

3. “Then there are some minor points that strike me as suggestive - for instance, the position of Mrs. Hubbard's sponge bag, the name of Mrs. Armstrong's mother, the detective methods of Mr. Hardman, the suggestion of Mr. MacQueen that Ratchett himself destroyed the charred note we found, Princess Dragomiroff's Christian name, and a grease spot on a Hungarian passport.” - Agatha Christie

4. “I just completed The Tenth Circle. It is an excellent mystery story surrounding a family with modern day issues.” - Jodi Picoult

5. “It is only through mystery and madness that the soul is revealed” - Thomas Moore

6. “As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.” - Arthur Conan Doyle

7. “She, as no other ever could, reached every corner of his heart. His joy, and his salvation.” - J.D. Robb

8. “Either you're going to shoot us or you're not. The ball always lands on red or black, never both.” - V. Alexander

9. “My silence knot is tied up in my hair; as if to keep my love out of my eyes. I cannot speak to one for whom i care. A hatpin serves as part of my disguise. In the play, my role is baticeer; a word which here means "person who trains bats." The audience may feel a prick of fear, as if sharp pins are hidden in thier hats. My co-star lives on what we call a brae. His solitude might not be just an act. A piece of mail fails to arrive one day. This poignant melodrama's based on fact.The curtain falls just as the knot unties; the silence is broken by the one who dies.” - Lemony Snicket

10. “Let the spirits guide you, but never let them take you.” - E.J. Stevens

11. “Again time elapsed.” - Carolyn Keene

12. “Those who pay their bills on time are soon forgotten. It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.” - Gyles Brandreth

13. “I just know that any time I undertake a case, I'm apt to run into some kind of a trap.” - Carolyn Keene

14. “Mrs. Murdo, walkind even more briskly to keep her spirits up, was crossing Harken Square when something fell to the pavement just in front of her with a terrific thump. How extraordinary, she thought, bending to pick it up. It was sort of a bundle. She began to untie it.” - Jeanne DuPrau

15. “One little Indian left all alone, he went out and hanged himself and then there were none.” - Agatha Christie

16. “The longer one lives, the more mysterious life seems.” - Francis Brett Young

17. “Where is our comfort but in the free, uninvolved, finally mysterious beauty and grace of this world that we did not make, that has no price? Where is our sanity but there? Where is our pleasure but in working and resting kindly in the presence of this world? (pg. 215, Economy and Pleasure)” - Wendell Berry

18. “It'll be a change," says Marcus. "Something different.""Not a mystery."Marcus laughs. "No. Not a mystery. Just a nice safe history."Ah, my darling. But there is no such thing.” - Kate Morton

19. “My mother believed in all superstitions, plus she made some up.” - Donald E. Westlake

20. “Snowflakes swirl down gently in the deep blue haze beyond the window. The outside world is a dream.Inside, the fireplace is brightly lit, and the Yule log crackles with orange and crimson sparks.There’s a steaming mug in your hands, warming your fingers.There’s a friend seated across from you in the cozy chair, warming your heart.There is mystery unfolding.” - Vera Nazarian

21. “There is an old story from the Eastern tradition that says that when the gods created the universe, they found a place for everything but the truth, and this created a problem, because the gods did not want this wisdom discovered right away. One of the gods suggested the top of the highest mountain, another the farthest star, a third spoke up for the dark side of the moon, and another for the bottom of the deepest ocean. Finally, they decide to place truth inside the human heart. In that way, we would search for it all over the universe, with the secret within us all the time. ” - Stephen Kendrick

22. “Your heart's desire is to be told some mystery. The mystery is that there is no mystery.” - Cormac McCarthy

23. “I am who I am and always shall be.” - Laura Elizabeth

24. “Love is an endless mystery, because there is no reasonable cause that could explain it.” - Rabindranath Tagore

25. “So I'm up the ghostie creek without an EMF meter” - JoAnne Kenrick

26. “May your feet ever walk in the light of two suns... and may the moonshadow never fall on you... ” - Robert Fanney

27. “I do not possess the ability to draw or paint.I can’t sing or dance.I can’t knit or sew. But I am an artist. I have the ability to put onto paper, words that tell an intriguing story. I am a writer. A writer is someone who, with just words, can paint a beautiful picture. A writer can open up a world of imagination you didn’t realize was possible. When you open up a book and become so consumed in the story, you feel like you’re a part of it… you’re standing next to that character and feeling the same way that character feels, That’s the art of a writer. I am an artist. My inspiration is the world around me.My paintbrush is my words.My easel is my computer.My canvas is the mind of my reader.” - Aubrey Becker

28. “The name of this book is mysterious.” - Pseudonymous Bosch

29. “It all depends on the robber's knowledge of the loser's knowledge of the robber. - Daupin” - Edgar Allan Poe

30. “The longer I looked into his eyes the more I felt that he was leading me down a road that I was determined not to follow.” - Shawn Kirsten Maravel

31. “There's a large strain of irony in our human affairs... Interwoven with our affairs is this wonderful spirit of irony which prevents us from ever being utterly and irretrievably serious, from being unaware of the mysterious nature of our existence.” - Malcolm Muggeridge

32. “We bring the fucking rain Q, not the scattered showers.” - John Green

33. “I didn't know that once you've proven yourself useful to the wrong people, you'll never be free again.” - Steve Hamilton

34. “You can never be free of their criticism until you no longer seek their praise.” - Dennis Ruane

35. “Peter to Austin:"Hard-ons don't make you think less. They make you think stupid. Which makes me think you must have one 24/7.” - Dani Alexander

36. “All roads lead to Trantor, and that is where all stars end.” - Isaac Asimov

37. “Gay sex, one. Straight sex, zero” - Dani Alexander

38. “That's what I love most about writers--they're such lousy actors.” - Vincent H. O'Neil

39. “There are two types of visions. Those that will happen no matter what, and those that can be stopped. Now more than ever, I wish I could tell them apart.” - Emlyn Chand

40. “Indeed. I have often thought that when a man selects one word over another he often reveals far more of himself than he intended.” - Mark Hodder

41. “Suspense is like a woman. The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement. ... The conventional big-bosomed blonde is not mysterious. And what could be more obvious than the old black velvet and pearls type? The perfect ‘woman of mystery’ is one who is blonde, subtle and Nordic. ... Although I do not profess to be an authority on women, I fear that the perfect title [for a movie], like the perfect woman is difficult to find.” - Alfred Hitchcock

42. “It isn’t fair, but maybe that’s the whole point. Fairness has no part in real life, and she took that lesson away from the Hotel Angeline with her.” - Susan Wiggs

43. “"One cannot be a mother without first being a person; family, husband, and children should not be allowed, as is so often the case, to steal a woman’s selfhood and her dreams." Mother to Sherlock, Mycroft, and Enola Holmes by author Nancy Springer” - Vannessagrace

44. “The logic behind patriotism is a mystery. At least a man who believes that his own family or clan is superior to all others is familiar with more than 0.000003% of the people involved.” - Criss Jami

45. “If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there".” - Brian Bianco

46. “We know how ninety-nine percent of the universe works," he told Carter shortly after they met, "and that's the clockworks, that's what we build with. But the other one percent makes the clockworks wind down. That's inertia. No one knows how that works, but it does. It's that one percent mystery that's the way of our maker. Put everything together, energy and inertia, the explicable and the inexplicable, and that's how you and I make our living.” - Glen David Gold

47. “The northern star changes its position every ten thousand years, but friendships can last for all eternity.— RJPeters” - R.J. Peters

48. “Several Terminal Policy readers got together to tell Raker jokes: - Raker CAN piss into the wind. - Raker donates a lot of blood to the Red Cross -- just never his own. - Superman wears Raker pajamas. - When Raker jumps into the pool, he doesn't get wet -- the pool gets Raker. - Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Raker THREW her there!! - Raker's daughter lost her virginity ... he got it back. - Raker doesn't cheat death, he wins fair and square. - Raker turns on a light at night … not because he's afraid of the dark but because the dark is afraid of him.- When the boogy man goes to bed he checks under his bed for Raker.- Don’t tread on Raker’s cape!” - Liam McCurry

49. “People are mysterious, even to themselves.” - Frank Lentricchia

50. “...when you put on your shortest dress, please leave some mystery in it. That's the difference between a miniskirt and a ho-skirt. A ho-skirt shows your Frisbee. A miniskirt shows just enough to cause some mystery. What these young women lack is mystery.” - Tyler Perry

51. “(M)ysteries in fiction are seldom as insoluble as those in life, as most writers can't resist the lure of omniscience.” - Dennis McFadden

52. “A smile is hidden beneath the mustache, it crinkles the corners of his hooded eyes. “I didn’t. I have other business in town and I told my friend I would attend to the matter of his son, as he could not do so himself.” “Very kind of you.” “Yes. I have been looking forward to it for quite some time.” Daddy’s lemonade is almost gone, he sips it carefully, turning his eyes back to the water. “Looking forward to seeing the lad or to conducting your business?” Daddy is toying with him. “Both. You see, I had never actually met his son.” The glass rests against Daddy’s lips, unmoving. Mr. Geyer watches him closely. “But now I have, so I can get on with my,” he fixes his own gaze on the water, as though trying to see whatever it is that has transfixed my father, “business.” - Gwenn Wright

53. “This land, although not my native land,Will be remembered forever.And the sea's lightly iced,Unsalty water.The sand on the bottom is whiter than chalk,The air is heady, like wine,And the rosy body of the pinesIs naked in the sunset hour.And the sunset itself on such waves of etherThat I just can't comprehendWhether it is the end of the day, the end of the world,Or the mystery of mysteries in me again.” - Anna Akhmatova

54. “Love is the biggest mystery of the universe. But why try to solve it, when one simply view it for what it is and marvel at the wonders and strangeness it brings?” - Arnold Arre

55. “Life is the greatest of all mysteries, and though I seek to solve its many riddles, my deepest fear is that I will succeed.” - Brian Rathbone

56. “The riders, clad in crimson and black, stopped to scan the maze. Blaise shrank into the hedge, but one keen-eyed hunter spied him. He raised his crossbow, took careful aim and fired.” - Teresa Flavin

57. “Her killer wrote a note on that stationary.""A note." Now Renquist's eyebrows lifted. "Well. That was rather arrogant of him, wasn't it?” - J.D. Robb

58. “As Daffy once said, the best place to hide a glum countenance is onstage at the opera.” - Alan Bradley

59. “Not to be too dramatic about it, that night I slept the sleep of the damned. I dreamt of turrets and craggy ledges where the windswept rain blew in from the ocean with the odor of violets. A pale woman in Elizabethan dress stood beside my bed and whispered in my ear that the bells would ring. An old salt in an oilcloth jacket sat atop a piling, mending nets with an awl, while far out at sea a tine aeroplane winged its way towards the setting sun.” - Alan Bradley

60. “I remember the fire, it burns bright, always around me. I close my eyes, and tears stream out. The tides of the past seize me, bear me out to sea.” - Ned Hayes

61. “Por que en las epocas oscurasse escribe con tinta invisible?Why in the darkest agesdo they write with invisible ink?” - Pablo Neruda

62. “Writing is a pleasure but family is a blessing!” - Prentiss Grant

63. “Marriage is called all sorts of things, a haven, and a refuge, and a crowning glory, and a state of bondage, and lots more. But do you know what I think it is?''What?''A sport!''And a damned good sport too,' said Tommy.” - Agatha Christie

64. “When you forget what you ultimately stand for, you rejoice in blinding ignorance. Missing the bigger picture for the near pleasure is what humans and all living beings stand for. I guess there is no alternate way either. Because it is after all a game that all are destined to play until they end up dead.” - Rakesh Ranjan

65. “Every great day has a story and a song!” - Faith Reese Martin

66. “To speak of mystery in a Christian sense means that the human mind is finite and not fully able to understand, deduce or even contain the deep structures of God's reality.” - Tobin Wilson

67. “This time Simone did not smile at all."I cannot tell that to you, child. This is asecret I am not allowed to talk about. I only hope that you willknow how to follow the true and right path. And now, farewell!" Sheturned around and walked away between the bookshelves, disappearingfrom their sight.Nirupa looked at the book she held in herhand. On its thick front cover she read:"Atlantis."Deep shudders shook her body. She turned herhead and looked at Miss Bell, who also looked numb with fear."Now that we have started the adventure, memust carry it through to the end," Ni whispered to Miss Bell,opening the book. She did not have time to see what was writteninside because, once the first page was open, a whirl of warm airsucked Ni and Miss. Bell inside, In the twinkle of an eye theyfound themselves standing up on the main street of a magnificentbazaar.” - Leora Cika Waldman

68. “Tak ada yang lebih buruk daripada iri pada sahabat, atau mengharapka sesuatu yang menurut perasaanmu seharusnya menjadi milikmu.” - Heather Webber

69. “My dear Prue, we are the inheritors of a wonderful world, a beautiful world, full of life and mystery, goodness and pain. But likewise are we children of an indifferent universe. We break our own hearts imposing our moral order on what is, by nature, a wide web of chaos. It is a hopeless task.” - Colin Meloy

70. “To kiss then was the most natural thing in the world. To explore, to taste, to find out. Katie did find out. When they parted from each other, the world was that much more of a beautiful thing.” - Frederick Anderson

71. “All the mysteries of the universe are solved within the Imagination.” - K. Ford K.

72. “And you never even reported it. You should have reported it. I could have took fingerprints. I'd love to lock up them skinheads.""What I'm reporting is the gun, my Sig Sauer." Dave said. "Hetzel will have it. I want it back.""What did it cost you?" Rose said."That's not the point," Dave said. "It's the only gun I ever owned. I'm against guns. They give too many people power who have no right to it. Guns cancel out intelligence, reason, decency, civility, and put terror in their place. I got along without a gun most of my working life. But a man can't buck the odds forever. About five years back I bought the Sig Sauer. I'm used to it. And I don't know that I'm morally prepared to buy another one.” - Joseph Hansen

73. “If he can't reach you he can't hit youIf he can't hit you he can't hurt you” - Arun D. Ellis

74. “Girls, we're fiction editors--we know how to plot, and we know how to cover our tracks. We can teach Jerry Key a lesson he'll never forget.” - Stephanie Bond

75. “I was born to end up alone.” - Yana Toboso

76. “It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn. This murder would have been infinitely more difficult to unravel had the body of the victim been simply found lying in the roadway without any of those outré and sensational accompaniments which have rendered it remarkable. These strange details, far from making the case more difficult, have really had the effect of making it less so.” - Arthur Conan Doyle

77. “Although there are several 'schools of thought' relating to why God allows mental, emotional, and physical afflictions, it essentially remains a mystery"~ R. Alan Woods [2012]” - R. Alan Woods

78. “I started to crawl off; then I remembered my leftover pizza, and I peeled off the salami, pepperoni, and anchovies and placed them on the CD tray (whicn no one used these days with flash drives around)on Boone's computer. I hit the close button and watched the smelly part of my delicious dinner slide away. Boone would have a great time wondering 'where's that smell coming from?” - Duffy Brown

79. “Anticipation tingled in my stomach: the kind of tingle that at first you don’t know if it’s a good tingle or a bad tingle – just a tingle.” - Terry Murphy

80. “I am not much of a mind to touch” - Stacey Jay

81. “The city was a machine of its own, continuously producing. We were constantly pumped out through its assembly line, in different forms or models. We came hardwired with different stories, dark secrets, vices, and defects. Over time, we fail and come to find our end, but the city continues onwards.” - Cristina Martin

82. “For others, as for ourselves, we must trust him. If we could thoroughly understand anything, that would be enough to prove it undivine; and that which is but one step beyond our understanding must be in some of its relations as mysterious as if it were a hundred.” - George MacDonald

83. “Holding her gaze, he sheathed his short sword and pulled the gauntlet off his left hand with his teeth. He held out his bare hand to her.She glanced at the proffered hand before laying her palm in his. Hot strength gripped her tightly as he pulled her upright before him, so close she would’ve had to move only inches to brush her lips across his throat. She watched the pulse of his blood beat there, strong and sure, before she lifted her gaze. His head was cocked almost as if he were examining her—searching for something in her face.She drew in a breath, parting her lips to ask a question.” - Elizabeth Hoyt

84. “He had learned Lesson One: Let French women tell you what they want.” - Peggy Kopman-Owens

85. “The Professor is coming...” - M Hopkins

86. “Better to have to retrace your steps and then move forward than never to move forward at all.” - Anne Burack Sayre

87. “Work is tough for everyone but for Kyle Shannon, it's just murder.” - Linda Mickey