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.
BARBARA MERTZRamses had always been fond of Helen, in his peculiar fashion, but if he had looked at me as he was looking at her, I would have sent for a constable.
More Barbara Mertz Quotes
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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.
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 -
Cats always pick the laps of the people who don’t like them.
BARBARA MERTZ -
There was no warning, not even a knock. The door flew open, and he forgot his present aches and pains in anticipation of what lay in store. The figure that stood in the door was not that of an enemy. It was worse. It was his mother.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Ramses had always been fond of Helen, in his peculiar fashion, but if he had looked at me as he was looking at her, I would have sent for a constable.
BARBARA MERTZ -
The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify.
BARBARA MERTZ -
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be the respected patriarch of an ordinary English family.” “Very boring, Emerson.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Your trousers are on fire. I would have told you, but you so dislike advice.
BARBARA MERTZ -
The opportunity to lecture had restored my good humor.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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).
BARBARA MERTZ -
There are too many people in the world as it is, but the supply of ancient manuscripts is severely limited.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Conventional history completely ignores half the human race.
BARBARA MERTZ -
I never meant to marry. In my opinion, a woman born in the last half of the nineteenth century of the Christian era suffered from enough disadvantages without willfully embracing another.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Husbands do not care to be contradicted. Indeed, I do not know anyone who does.
BARBARA MERTZ -
When men start talking about ‘honor’, there is sure to be trouble ahead.
BARBARA MERTZ -
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.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Exaggeration is the cheapest form of humor.
BARBARA MERTZ -
I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.
BARBARA MERTZ -
The only way to do it is to do it: by writing, writing, writing.
BARBARA MERTZ -
I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.
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 -
..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 -
When emotion supersedes reason … gullibility must follow.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Noble causes have a deplorable effect on the morals of the persons who espouse them.
BARBARA MERTZ -
stereotypes are awfully misleading. There are typical librarians, but not all librarians are typical.
BARBARA MERTZ -
That’s maturity-when you realize that you’ve finally arrived at a state of ignorance as profound as your parents.
BARBARA MERTZ