Writing is like a bird-watcher watching for birds: the stories are there: you just have to train yourself to look for them.
BARBARA MERTZThere 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.
More Barbara Mertz Quotes
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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.
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If you take a man by surprise, and behave with sufficient arrogance, he will generally do what you ask. -Emerson
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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Love has a very dulling effect on the brain
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I do, however, think it would be difficult to write books I don’t like to read.
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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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Giving other people advice is one of the most irritating and useless activities known to man.
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A man asking for help ought to at least give directions.
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Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas – an idea a page.
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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.
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..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.
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a church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.
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That’s maturity-when you realize that you’ve finally arrived at a state of ignorance as profound as your parents.
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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.
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I have no writing habit. I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to – mostly the latter.
BARBARA MERTZ