Best 76 quotes of Barbara Mertz on MyQuotes

a church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.

A fondness for martyrdom, especially of the verbal variety, is common to the young.

A man asking for help ought to at least give directions.

But the dust! And the clutter! My housewifely and scholarly instincts were equally offended.

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.

Cats always pick the laps of the people who don't like them.

Children, I feel, are as much entitled to privacy as human beings.

Conventional history completely ignores half the human race.

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.

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.

Everything has happened before - not once, but over and over again. We may not be able to solve our problems through what are pompously called "the lessons of history," but at least we should be able to recognize the issues and perhaps avoid some of the solutions that have failed in the past. And we can take heart in our own dilemma by realizing that other people in other times have survived worse.

Exaggeration is the cheapest form of humor.

Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas - an idea a page.

..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.

He hesitated for a moment. Then he said softly, "I love you, Mother." He took my hand and kissed it, and folded my fingers round the stem of the rose. He had stripped it of its thorns.

Humor is an excellent method of keeping a tight rein on unproductive displays of emotion.

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.

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.

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)

I do hope you have some money. I'm getting tired of hitting people.

I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.

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.

If someone lies down and invites you to trample upon him, you are a remarkable individual if you decline the invitation.

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

I had refused Emerson's well-meant offers of assistance, knowing his efforts would be confined to moving the furniture to the wrong places and demanding how much longer the process would take.

I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.

I have no writing habit. I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to - mostly the latter.

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.)

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be the respected patriarch of an ordinary English family." "Very boring, Emerson.

It is easier to counterfeit old age than youth.

It is much more sensible to be an optimist instead of a pessimist, for if one is doomed to disappointment, why experience it in advance?

It may take us a little longer to reach the summit, but never fear, we will get there!

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.

I've been reading ghost stories ever since I could read. I'm immensely curious about ghosts and UFOs and all that stuff, but I'm a very hard-headed person.

I will tell you a little secret about archaeologists, dear Reader. They all pretend t be very high-minded. They claim that their sole aim in excavation is to uncover the mysteries of the past and add to the store of human knowledge. They lie. What they really want is a spectacular discovery, so they can get their names in the newspapers and inspire envy and hatred in the hearts of their rivals.

I would never have supposed that inexperienced girl was capable of such cold-blooded, calculating manipulation!

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).

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.

Many persons lead lives of crushing boredom.

Marriage, in my view, should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries.

Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.

Money was the manure of politics.

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

Nefret had always had an uncanny ability to read his thoughts. 'Did she cry?' she asked sweetly. 'And then you kissed her? You shouldn't have done that. I'm sure you meant well, but kissing someone out of pity is always a mistake.

...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.

Noble causes have a deplorable effect on the morals of the persons who espouse them.

Nothing looks as self-satisfied as a contented cat.

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.

Peculiar or not, it is my idea of pleasure. Why, why else do you lead this life you don't enjoy it? Don't talk of duty to me; you men always have some high-sounding excuse for indulging yourselves. You go gallivanting over the earth, climbing mountains, looking for the sources of the Nile; and expect women to sit dully at home embroidering. I embroider very badly. I think I would excavate rather well.

People who relate what they believe to be new and startling information like to have such information received with exclamations of astonishment and admiration.