Top 60 Barbara Mertz Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Giving other people advice is one of the most irritating and useless activities known to man.”

— Barbara Mertz

2. “To argue without knowledge is like trying to weave without thread.”

— Barbara Mertz

3. “Money was the manure of politics...”

— Barbara Mertz

4. “The only way to do it is to do it: by writing, writing, writing.”

— Barbara Mertz

5. “That’s maturity-when you realize that you’ve finally arrived at a state of ignorance as profound as your parents.”

— Barbara Mertz

6. “Spring is always cruel, with its false promise of resurrection...”

— Barbara Mertz

7. “Sekhmet crawled onto Ramses’s lap and began to purr. ‘The creature oozes like a furry slug,’ said Ramses, eyeing it without favor.”

— Barbara Mertz

8. “No woman really wants a man to carry her off; she only wants him to want to do it.”

— Barbara Mertz

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

— Barbara Mertz

10. “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

11. “It was hate at first sight, clean, pure and strong as grain alcohol.”

— Barbara Mertz

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

— Barbara Mertz

13. “Marriage, in my view, should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries.”

— Barbara Mertz

14. “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

15. “Is is difficult to be angry with a gentleman who pays you compliments, even impertinent compliments. Especially impertinent compliments.”

— Barbara Mertz

16. “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

17. “I do, however, think it would be difficult to write books I don’t like to read.”

— Barbara Mertz

18. “Children, I feel, are as much entitled to privacy as human beings.”

— Barbara Mertz

19. “Martyrdom is often the result of excessive gullibility.”

— Barbara Mertz

20. “Nothing looks as self-satisfied as a contented cat.”

— Barbara Mertz

21. “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

22. “Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body...”

— Barbara Mertz

23. “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

24. “The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify.”

— Barbara Mertz

25. “Your trousers are on fire. I would have told you, but you so dislike advice...”

— Barbara Mertz

26. “Exaggeration is the cheapest form of humor.”

— Barbara Mertz

27. “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

28. “When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one’s footing.”

— Barbara Mertz

29. “Humor is an excellent method of keeping a tight rein on unproductive displays of emotion.”

— Barbara Mertz

30. “The approval of a cat cannot but flatter the recipient.”

— Barbara Mertz

31. “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

32. “The only people who are not in awe of Emerson’s powerful voice and well-nigh superhuman strength are the members of his own family. He is aware of this, and often complains about it; so from time to time I like to put on a little show of being intimidated. ‘Proceed, my dear,’ I said apologetically.”

— Barbara Mertz

33. “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

34. “Getting an idea for a book is not the problem, but you need 300 ideas – an idea a page.”

— Barbara Mertz

35. “A lady cannot be blamed if a master criminal takes a fancy to her.”

— Barbara Mertz

36. “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?”

— Barbara Mertz

37. “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

38. “I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it.”

— Barbara Mertz

39. “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

40. “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

41. “A fondness for martyrdom, especially of the verbal variety, is common to the young.”

— Barbara Mertz

42. “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

43. “Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point.”

— Barbara Mertz

44. “Cats always pick the laps of the people who don’t like them.”

— Barbara Mertz

45. “The opportunity to lecture had restored my good humor.”

— Barbara Mertz

46. “Reputations are shaped not by facts but by prejudices.”

— Barbara Mertz

47. “Conventional history completely ignores half the human race.”

— Barbara Mertz

48. “Many persons lead lives of crushing boredom.”

— Barbara Mertz

49. “Superstition has its practical uses.”

— Barbara Mertz

50. “A man asking for help ought to at least give directions.”

— Barbara Mertz