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If you take a man by surprise, and behave with sufficient arrogance, he will generally do what you ask. -Emerson

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
Behave
Sufficient
Generally
Surprise
Asks
Take
Men
Emerson
Arrogance

More quotes by Barbara Mertz

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That's maturity-when you realize that you've finally arrived at a state of ignorance as profound as your parents.
Barbara Mertz
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Many persons lead lives of crushing boredom.
Barbara Mertz
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kissing someone out of pity is always a mistake.
Barbara Mertz
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...Nefret said with a gusty sigh, 'Well, that's done it. We may as well join in, Ramses, family arguments are the favorite form of amusement here and this looks like being a loud one.
Barbara Mertz
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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.
Barbara Mertz
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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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Humor is an excellent method of keeping a tight rein on unproductive displays of emotion.
Barbara Mertz
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But the dust! And the clutter! My housewifely and scholarly instincts were equally offended.
Barbara Mertz
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I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be the respected patriarch of an ordinary English family. Very boring, Emerson.
Barbara Mertz
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Is is difficult to be angry with a gentleman who pays you compliments, even impertinent compliments. Especially impertinent compliments.
Barbara Mertz
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Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.
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 do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.
Barbara Mertz
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Superstition has its practical uses.
Barbara Mertz
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It is easier to counterfeit old age than youth.
Barbara Mertz
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If someone lies down and invites you to trample upon him, you are a remarkable individual if you decline the invitation.
Barbara Mertz
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Cats always made up to the people who hated them the most. Depending on how you chose to look at it, it was a touching manifestation of trust, or a malicious pleasure in human discomfort.
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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..he continues to cling to the forlorn hope that I will turn into one of those swooning females...and fling myself squeeling at him whenever anything happens. Like all men, he clings to his illusions.
Barbara Mertz
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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