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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.)

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
Knew
Monologues
Heard
Presume
Asks
Profane
Never
Owned
Carrying
Cat
Mumbling
Bed
Retreated
Silence
Monologue

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A lady cannot be blamed if a master criminal takes a fancy to her.
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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.
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It's not unsporting to thrash a cowardly cad,' said Simmons. 'Everyone knows you don't fight like a gentleman.' 'That might be called an oxymoron,' Ramses said. 'Oh--sorry. Bad form to use long words. Look it up when you get home.' The poor devil didn't know how to fight, like a gentleman or otherwise.
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The approval of a cat cannot but flatter the recipient.
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Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas - an idea a page.
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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.
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stereotypes are awfully misleading. There are typical librarians, but not all librarians are typical.
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there is nothing like a garden to rest the soul.
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The only people who are not in awe of Emerson's powerful voice and well-nigh superhuman strength are the members of his own family. He is aware of this, and often complains about it so from time to time I like to put on a little show of being intimidated. 'Proceed, my dear,' I said apologetically.
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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.
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The only way to do it is to do it: by writing, writing, writing.
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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.
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I would never have supposed that inexperienced girl was capable of such cold-blooded, calculating manipulation!
Barbara Mertz
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Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.
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I can do a book in three months if I spend all day, seven days a week at it and, in fact, I work better that way.
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Superstition has its practical uses.
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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.
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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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a church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.
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You are softening toward the young rascal because he is ill, and because he says he likes cats. It is an engaging quality, Emerson. That depends, said Emerson darkly, on how he likes them.
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