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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.

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

Doubt Gold Long Time
I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.
BARBARA MERTZ

Clever Ideas Scrutiny
Your trousers are on fire. I would have told you, but you so dislike advice.
BARBARA MERTZ

Advice Fire Trouser
Marriage, in my view, should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries.
BARBARA MERTZ

Marriage Should Views
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

Bird Looks Writing
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.
BARBARA MERTZ

Done Kissing Mistake
I have no writing habit. I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to – mostly the latter.
BARBARA MERTZ

Habit Latter Writing
Spring is always cruel, with its false promise of resurrection.
BARBARA MERTZ

Promise Resurrection Spring
But the dust! And the clutter! My housewifely and scholarly instincts were equally offended.
BARBARA MERTZ

Dust Instinct Scholarly
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

Fighting Home Sorry
The only way to do it is to do it: by writing, writing, writing.
BARBARA MERTZ

Only Way Write Writing
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

Arms Drug Government
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

Ghost Reading Stories Stuff
I do hope you have some money. I’m getting tired of hitting people.
BARBARA MERTZ

Hitting People Tired
The way to get on with a cat is to treat it as an equal – or even better, as the superior it knows itself to be.
BARBARA MERTZ

Cat Treats Way
…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.
BARBARA MERTZ

Amusement Done Looks
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

Cat People Touching
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

Heart Husband Moral
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

Ambition Cutting Dream
A fondness for martyrdom, especially of the verbal variety, is common to the young.
BARBARA MERTZ

Common Young Youth
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

Distance Home Three
I don’t think she realized how much she cared for him, or he for her, until the end. Hasn’t someone said a woman may be known by the men who love her enough to die for her? (If they haven’t, I claim the credit myself.)
BARBARA MERTZ

Credit Men Thinking
Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body.
BARBARA MERTZ

Another Body Every Year Years
I knew the answer, and–of course–so did Ramses. He has superb breath control and always gets in ahead of me.
BARBARA MERTZ

Answers Courses Superb
Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.
BARBARA MERTZ

Facts Prejudice Reputation
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 MERTZ

Disease Loving People Someone
Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.
BARBARA MERTZ

Martyrdom Results Sacrifice

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.

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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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