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Link	Quote	Stars	Tags	Author
a9c6dcb	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.			Elizabeth Peters
9be71dc	Marriage, in my view, should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries.			Elizabeth Peters
5af6e15	I disapprove of matrimony as a matter of principle.... Why should any independent, intelligent female choose to subject herself to the whims and tyrannies of a husband? I assure you, I have yet to meet a man as sensible as myself! (Amelia Peabody)		marriage women humor intelligence intelligent matrimony husbands	Elizabeth Peters
2952118	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.)			Elizabeth Peters
f3c1c34	Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point			elizabeth peters
248fcf2	It is much more sensible to be an optimist instead of a pessimist, for if one is doomed to disappointment, why experience it in advance?			Elizabeth Peters
6d9c0da	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.			Elizabeth Peters
4764b24	Is is difficult to be angry with a gentleman who pays you compliments, even impertinent compliments. Especially impertinent compliments.		men compliment	Elizabeth Peters
6e750e1	Peculiar or not, it is my idea of pleasure. Why, why else do you lead this life you don't enjoy it? Don't talk of duty to me; you men always have some high-sounding excuse for indulging yourselves. You go gallivanting over the earth, climbing mountains, looking for the sources of the Nile; and expect women to sit dully at home embroidering. I embroider very badly. I think I would excavate rather well.			Elizabeth Peters
a30002b	Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body...			Elizabeth Peters
b0f6ff3	The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify.			Elizabeth Peters
5a53806	I have learned that particularly clever ideas do not always stand up under close scrutiny.		scrutiny ideas	Elizabeth Peters
37e312f	Humor is an excellent method of keeping a tight rein on unproductive displays of emotion.			Elizabeth Peters
dc5489b	There are too many people in the world as it is, but the supply of ancient manuscripts is severely limited.			Elizabeth Peters
b711c15	Many persons lead lives of crushing boredom.			Elizabeth Peters
09b4c11	DAMNATION!' No device of the printer's art, not even capital letters, can indicate the intensity of that shriek of rage. Emerson is known to his Egyptian workers by the admiring sobriquet of Father of Curses. The volume as well as the content of his remarks earned him the title; but this shout was extraordinary even by Emerson's standards, so much so that the cat Bastet, who had become more or less accustomed to him, started violently, and ..		bathtubs emerson profanity cats	Elizabeth Peters
963b26f	If you take a man by surprise, and behave with sufficient arrogance, he will generally do what you ask. -Emerson			Elizabeth Peters
7a6592e	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.			Elizabeth Peters
fe186ea	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.)		love amelia nefret	Elizabeth Peters
d31fd94	A lady cannot be blamed if a master criminal takes a fancy to her.			Elizabeth Peters
022e2b8	I will tell you a little secret about archaeologists, dear Reader. They all pretend t be very high-minded. They claim that their sole aim in excavation is to uncover the mysteries of the past and add to the store of human knowledge. They lie. What they really want is a spectacular discovery, so they can get their names in the newspapers and inspire envy and hatred in the hearts of their rivals.			Elizabeth Peters
6fd5474	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.			Elizabeth Peters
8e4b288	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.		love mistakes	Elizabeth Peters
39e67a9	Now, Mama, Papa, and sir," said Ramses, "please withdraw to the farthest corner and crouch down with your backs turned. It is as I feared; we will never break through by this method. The walls are eight feet thick. Fortunately I brought along a little nitroglycerin--" "Oh, good Gad," shrieked Inspector Cuff."			Elizabeth Peters
44677d3	You know how your eyes can deceive you at times--how a group of shapes and shadows can take on a certain form and then shift into another? It wasn't really like that; there was no physical change in him, he was exactly the same as he'd always been. I knew every line of his long body and every curl on his disheveled black head. I'd just never him before. you know what I'm trying to say, don't you? The change is in the heart.		ramses	Elizabeth Peters
9e3fec5	Men are frail creatures, of course; one does not expect them to exhibit the steadfastness of women.			Elizabeth Peters
28d90c9	I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be the respected patriarch of an ordinary English family." "Very boring, Emerson."			Elizabeth peters
e98a150	The secret of happiness is to enjoy the moment, without allowing unhappy memories or fear of the future to shadow the shining present.			Elizabeth Peters
c463a63	He smiled affably at the burglar, a burly fellow whom he continued to hold with one hand, as easily as if he had been a child. The entire household had been aroused, and a good number of them had joined in, shouting questions and brandishing various deadly instruments. The burglar glared wildly at Emerson, bare to the waist and bulging with muscle - at Gargery and his cudgel - at Selim, fingering a knife even longer than Nefret's - at assor..		emerson weapons	Elizabeth Peters
d23c25c	I do hope you have some money. I'm getting tired of hitting people.			Elizabeth Peters
0568046	Everything has happened before - not once, but over and over again. We may not be able to solve our problems through what are pompously called "the lessons of history," but at least we should be able to recognize the issues and perhaps avoid some of the solutions that have failed in the past. And we can take heart in our own dilemma by realizing that other people in other times have survived worse."		learning mistakes	Elizabeth Peters
92852a8	Peabody had better retire to her bed; she is clearly in need of recuperative sleep, she has not made a sarcastic remark for fully ten minutes.		wife-humor sarcastic-humor sarcasm	Elizabeth Peters
92e31c9	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.			Elizabeth Peters
e6caf56	You are softening toward the young rascal because he is ill, and because he says he likes cats." "It is an engaging quality, Emerson." "That depends," said Emerson darkly, "on how he likes them." --			Elizabeth Peters
11ec013	God help the poor mummy who encounters you, Peabody," he said bitterly. "We ought to supply with a pistol, to even the odds."		mummy	Elizabeth Peters
5415e43	love has a most unfortunate effect on the brain,			Elizabeth Peters
1a323b0	I have been accused of being somewhat abrupt in my actions and decisions, but I never act without thought; it is simply that I think more quickly and more intelligently than most people.			Elizabeth Peters
a8dc7c8	As Ramses did the same for his mother, he saw that her eyes were fixed on him. She had been unusually silent. She had not needed his father's tactless comment to understand the full implications of Farouk's death. As he met her unblinking gaze he was reminded of one of Nefret's more vivid descriptions. 'When she's angry, her eyes look like polished steel balls.' That's done it, he thought. She's made up her mind to get David and me out of t..		motherhood ramses ww1	Elizabeth Peters
6bca25a	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.			Elizabeth Peters
cf16d4b	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.			Elizabeth Peters
23a2234	The cat Horus shot out from under the table and headed for the door, his ears flattened and his tail straight out. There he encountered Abdullah, who had been waiting for us on the verandah and who had, I supposed, been alarmed by Emerson's shouts and hurried to discover what disaster had prompted them. The cat got entangled in Abdullah's skirts and a brief interval of staggering (by Abdullah), scratching (by Horus) and swearing (by both pa..		cursing cats	Elizabeth Peters
4b6fb98	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. I was too moved to speak. But maternal affection was not the only emotion that prevented utterance; as I watched him walk away, his head high and his step firm, anger boiled within me. I knew I had to conquer it before I saw Nefret again, or I would take her ..			Elizabeth Peters
78ab186	The approval of a cat cannot but flatter the recipient.			Elizabeth Peters
719b9d0	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."		rose son mother	Elizabeth Peters

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