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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.

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
Toward
Darkly
Depends
Emerson
Rascals
Says
Engaging
Quality
Cats
Young
Ill
Cat
Rascal
Likes
Softening

More quotes by Barbara Mertz

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A lady cannot be blamed if a master criminal takes a fancy to her.
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Now, Mama, Papa, and sir, said Ramses, please withdraw to the farthest corner and crouch down with your backs turned. It is as I feared we will never break through by this method. The walls are eight feet thick. Fortunately I brought along a little nitroglycerin-- Oh, good Gad, shrieked Inspector Cuff.
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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 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.
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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Spring is always cruel, with its false promise of resurrection.
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Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.
Barbara Mertz
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Superstition has its practical uses.
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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.
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a church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.
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But the dust! And the clutter! My housewifely and scholarly instincts were equally offended.
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I don't think she realized how much she cared for him, or he for her, until the end. Hasn't someone said a woman may be known by the men who love her enough to die for her? (If they haven't, I claim the credit myself.)
Barbara Mertz
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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.
Barbara Mertz
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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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there is nothing like a garden to rest the soul.
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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Exaggeration is the cheapest form of humor.
Barbara Mertz
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Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.
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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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