He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. Even if everything on his face was covered, the tips of moustache and the pink-tipped nose would be visible.
The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police.[4]
Agatha Christie's initial description of Poirot in The Murder on the Orient Express:
By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young French lieutenant, resplendent in uniform, conversing with a small man (Hercule Poirot) muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled moustache.[9]
In the later books, his limp is not mentioned, suggesting it may have been a temporary wartime injury. Poirot has green eyes that are repeatedly described as shining "like a cat's" when he is struck by a clever idea,[10] and dark hair, which he dyes later in life.[11] However, many of his screen incarnations are portrayed as bald or balding.
Frequent mention is made of his patent leather shoes, damage to which is frequently a source of misery for him, but comical for the reader.[12] Poirot's appearance, regarded as fastidious during his early career, later falls hopelessly out of fashion.[13] He employs pince-nez reading glasses.
Among Poirot's most significant personal attributes is the sensitivity of his stomach:
The plane dropped slightly. "Mon estomac," thought Hercule Poirot, and closed his eyes determinedly.[14]
He suffers from sea sickness,[15] and in Death in the Clouds he states that his air sickness prevents him from being more alert at the time of the murder. Later in his life, we are told:
Always a man who had taken his stomach seriously, he was reaping his reward in old age. Eating was not only a physical pleasure, it was also an intellectual research.[14]
Poirot is extremely punctual and carries a turnip pocket watch almost to the end of his career.[16] He is also pernickety about his personal finances, preferring to keep a bank balance of 444 pounds, 4 shillings, and 4 pence.[17]
As mentioned in Curtain and The Clocks, he is fond of classical music, particularly Mozart and Bach.