Barbara Mertz Quotes

#1. Husbands do not care to be contradicted. Indeed, I do not know anyone who does.

Barbara Mertz

#2. 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

#3. Exaggeration is the cheapest form of humor.

Barbara Mertz

#4. It was hate at first sight, clean, pure and strong as grain alcohol.

Barbara Mertz

#5. 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

#6. The opportunity to lecture had restored my good humor.

Barbara Mertz

#7. Children, I feel, are as much entitled to privacy as human beings.

Barbara Mertz

#8. If someone lies down and invites you to trample upon him, you are a remarkable individual if you decline the invitation.

Barbara Mertz

#9. A church ought to express the joy of religion as well as its majesty.

Barbara Mertz

#10. When emotion supersedes reason ... gullibility must follow.

Barbara Mertz

#11. That's maturity-when you realize that you've finally arrived at a state of ignorance as profound as your parents.

Barbara Mertz

#12. There is nothing like a garden to rest the soul.

Barbara Mertz

#13. Stereotypes are awfully misleading. There are typical librarians, but not all librarians are typical.

Barbara Mertz

#14. Cats always pick the laps of the people who don't like them.

Barbara Mertz

#15. 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 Mertz

#16. I have no writing habit. I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to - mostly the latter.

Barbara Mertz

#17. 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

#18. A fondness for martyrdom, especially of the verbal variety, is common to the young.

Barbara Mertz

#19. 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

#20. 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

#21. Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.

Barbara Mertz

#22. It is easier to counterfeit old age than youth.

Barbara Mertz

#23. The only way to do it is to do it: by writing, writing, writing.

Barbara Mertz

#24. People who relate what they believe to be new and startling information like to have such information received with exclamations of astonishment and admiration.

Barbara Mertz

#25. Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.

Barbara Mertz

#26. Giving other people advice is one of the most irritating and useless activities known to man.

Barbara Mertz

#27. Noble causes have a deplorable effect on the morals of the persons who espouse them.

Barbara Mertz

#28. Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas - an idea a page.

Barbara Mertz

#29. It may take us a little longer to reach the summit, but never fear, we will get there!

Barbara Mertz

#30. Money was the manure of politics ...

Barbara Mertz

#31. Conventional history completely ignores half the human race.

Barbara Mertz

#32. When men start talking about 'honor', there is sure to be trouble ahead.

Barbara Mertz

#33. Superstition has its practical uses.

Barbara Mertz

#34. 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

#35. I do, however, think it would be difficult to write books I don't like to read.

Barbara Mertz

#36. A man asking for help ought to at least give directions.

Barbara Mertz

#37. Nothing looks as self-satisfied as a contented cat.

Barbara Mertz

#38. To argue without knowledge is like trying to weave without thread.

Barbara Mertz

#39. Spring is always cruel, with its false promise of resurrection ...

Barbara Mertz

#40. I am so tired of ruggedly handsome heroes. I don't know too many ruggedly handsome people who are necessarily nice people. In fact, the beautiful people have a big handicap because they rely too much on their appearance and don't bother to become interesting.

Barbara Mertz