stereotypes are awfully misleading. There are typical librarians, but not all librarians are typical.
BARBARA MERTZI have no writing habit. I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to – mostly the latter.
More Barbara Mertz Quotes
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When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one’s footing.
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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 -
I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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 -
The approval of a cat cannot but flatter the recipient.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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 -
To argue without knowledge is like trying to weave without thread.
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A man asking for help ought to at least give directions.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Giving other people advice is one of the most irritating and useless activities known to man.
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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.
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There is nothing sadder than the cheerful letters of the dead, expressing hopes that were never fulfilled, ambitions that were never achieved, dreams cut off before they could come to fruition.
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Money was the manure of politics.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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 -
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.
BARBARA MERTZ -
..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 -
It may take us a little longer to reach the summit, but never fear, we will get there!
BARBARA MERTZ -
there is nothing like a garden to rest the soul.
BARBARA MERTZ -
It is easier to counterfeit old age than youth.
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Superstition has its practical uses.
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I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Writing is like a bird-watcher watching for birds: the stories are there: you just have to train yourself to look for them.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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.
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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
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Since I am not as stupid as my children believe I am, I had immediately realized this might be a ruse, but I was not at all averse to a confrontation. In fact, I had been hoping for some such thing.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Sekhmet crawled onto Ramses’s lap and began to purr. ‘The creature oozes like a furry slug,’ said Ramses, eyeing it without favor.
BARBARA MERTZ -
I do hope you have some money. I’m getting tired of hitting people.
BARBARA MERTZ