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 MERTZEmerson,’ 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.
More Barbara Mertz Quotes
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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 -
The approval of a cat cannot but flatter the recipient.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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.
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 -
..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 -
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 -
Husbands do not care to be contradicted. Indeed, I do not know anyone who does.
BARBARA MERTZ -
No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Superstition has its practical uses.
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If you take a man by surprise, and behave with sufficient arrogance, he will generally do what you ask. -Emerson
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The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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.
BARBARA MERTZ -
…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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Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.
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A lady cannot be blamed if a master criminal takes a fancy to her.
BARBARA MERTZ