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Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point

Barbara Mertz

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Barbara Mertz
Age: 85 †
Born: 1927
Born: September 29
Died: 2013
Died: August 8
Archaeologist
Author
Egyptologist
Novelist
Writer
Canton
Illinois
Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Michaels
Barbara Louise Mertz
Situation
Reasonably
Lying
Convincing
Point
Reached
Men
Useful
Difficulty
Critical
Crisis
Lies

More quotes by Barbara Mertz

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Superstition has its practical uses.
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In the silence I heard Bastet, who had retreated under the bed, carrying on a mumbling, profane monologue. (If you ask how I knew it was profane, I presume you have never owned a cat.)
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love has a very dulling effect on the brain
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But the dust! And the clutter! My housewifely and scholarly instincts were equally offended.
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Giving other people advice is one of the most irritating and useless activities known to man.
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Children, I feel, are as much entitled to privacy as human beings.
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I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.
Barbara Mertz
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Cats always pick the laps of the people who don't like them.
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A fondness for martyrdom, especially of the verbal variety, is common to the young.
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Sometimes the characters develop almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn't planned on, and then I have to go back to page 42 and fix things. I'm not recommending it as a way to write. It's very sloppy, but it works for me.
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I would never have supposed that inexperienced girl was capable of such cold-blooded, calculating manipulation!
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Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.
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Loving someone condemns you to a lifetime of fear. You become painfully conscious of how fragile people are - bundles of brittle bones and vulnerable flesh, breeding grounds for billions of deadly germs and horrible diseases.
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kissing someone out of pity is always a mistake.
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Emerson,' I said, choosing my words with care, 'it is a sheer drop from the cleft down to the base of the cliff. If you are bent on breaking your arm or your leg or your neck or all three, find a place closer to home so we won't have to carry you such a distance.
Barbara Mertz
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Dogs can be made to feel guilty about anything, including the sins of their owners. Cats refuse to take the blame for anything - including their own sins.
Barbara Mertz
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I knew the answer, and--of course--so did Ramses. He has superb breath control and always gets in ahead of me.
Barbara Mertz
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I would not be at all surprised to find that it was for gold that Cain committed the first murder. (It happened a very long time ago, and Holy Writ, though no doubt divinely inspired, is a trifle careless about details. God is not a historian).
Barbara Mertz
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I am so tired of ruggedly handsome heroes. I don't know too many ruggedly handsome people who are necessarily nice people. In fact, the beautiful people have a big handicap because they rely too much on their appearance and don't bother to become interesting.
Barbara Mertz
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there is nothing like a garden to rest the soul.
Barbara Mertz