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Giving other people advice is one of the most irritating and useless activities known to man.

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
People
Irritating
Activities
Useless
Activity
Advice
Known
Giving
Men

More quotes by 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.
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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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...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.
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Superstition has its practical uses.
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Your trousers are on fire. I would have told you, but you so dislike advice.
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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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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Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas - an idea a page.
Barbara Mertz
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Exaggeration is the cheapest form of humor.
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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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 do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.
Barbara Mertz
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I disapprove of matrimony as a matter of principle.... Why should any independent, intelligent female choose to subject herself to the whims and tyrannies of a husband? I assure you, I have yet to meet a man as sensible as myself! (Amelia Peabody)
Barbara Mertz
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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.
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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The opportunity to lecture had restored my good humor.
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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If all else fails, we will simply have to drug our attendants, overpower the guards, raise the oppressed peasants to arms, and take over the government.
Barbara Mertz
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a church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.
Barbara Mertz
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The combination of physical strength and moral sincerity combined with tenderness of heart is exactly what is wanted in a husband.--Ameila Peabody
Barbara Mertz