Top 90 Elizabeth Peters Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “What kind of housekeeping do you call this, Peabody?’ I pointed out the injustice of the charge in a few brisk but well-chosen words. Emerson mopped his brow. ‘Pardon my language, Peabody. It has been a trying morning. And now this!”

— Elizabeth Peters

52. “I object to murder. It’s just a silly girlish prejudice.”

— Elizabeth Peters

53. “Why were moral questions so often cloudy, no clear-cut right and wrong?”

— Elizabeth Peters

54. “Twilight crept along the ground like a woman trailing long gray veils.”

— Elizabeth Peters

55. “God help the poor mummy who encounters you, Peabody. We ought to suply it with a pistol, to even the odds.”

— Elizabeth Peters

56. “No one slaughters a coreligionist with quite as much enthusiasm as a Christian, my dear. Look at their history.”

— Elizabeth Peters

57. “No, no, you needn’t slap me; I am not at all hysterical.”

— Elizabeth Peters

58. “Selim, you will speak with your kin and your friends in Gurneh; perhaps some of them will respond to direct threats – questions, I mean to say.”

— Elizabeth Peters

59. “Nothing can be more infuriating than being forgiven over and over again.”

— Elizabeth Peters

60. “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.”

— Elizabeth Peters

61. “She is,′ said Ramses judicially, ’a bloodthirsty little creature. Rather like a kitten – soft and purring and conscienceless and cruel.”

— Elizabeth Peters

62. “So I went upstairs, to console the other half of the pair of heartbroken lovers, and a tedious business it was too, when a little common sense on both parts would have settled the matter to the satisfaction of all. With.”

— Elizabeth Peters

63. “I would be the first to admit that my maternal instincts are not well developed – though in defense I must add that the raising of Ramses would have discouraged any woman.”

— Elizabeth Peters

64. “I do wish you would not be so precipitate; just look at you, you are bleeding all over the antiquities.”

— Elizabeth Peters

65. “There is nothing more abominable than being in a state of bodily exhaustion and mental irritation; I was too lethargic to get up and seek some means of occupying my mind, but I was too uneasy to fall asleep.”

— Elizabeth Peters

66. “I am proud to say discretion has never yet prevented me from doing what is right.”

— Elizabeth Peters

67. “A spanking would have hurt me more than it hurt Ramses, for he had extremely sharp, hard bones, and a high tolerance for pain.”

— Elizabeth Peters

68. “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

69. “When men start talking about honour, there is sure to be trouble.”

— Elizabeth Peters

70. “Rewarding a cat is a waste of time. They think they deserve the best whatever they do.”

— Elizabeth Peters

71. “I don’t know why I should have been so pleased to see Lucas behaving like a gentleman for a change. I never liked the man... But of course I know why. I would have defended Satan himself if he had been in disfavor with Emerson.”

— Elizabeth Peters

72. “I expect Mother is feeling rather wretched just now. She’s come smack up against prejudices she never knew existed because they were buried so deep.”

— Elizabeth Peters

73. “I never LET Mrs. Emerson do anything, young man. I occasionally attempt to prevent her from carrying out her more harebrained suggestions, but I have never yet succeeded in doing so.”

— Elizabeth Peters

74. “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

75. “No man but Emerson would have considered walking across the fields in full evening kit, much less expect me to trail my red satin skirts and lace ruffles through the dirt; but Emerson is unique. When he behaves irrationally it is necessary to be firm with him. He.”

— Elizabeth Peters

76. “Catastrophically precocious’ was a term sometimes applied by those who came upon Ramses unaware.”

— Elizabeth Peters

77. “The mountains were rough amethysts, against a sky like a giant stage backdrop – layers of gauzy scarlet and gold and amber, lit from behind by mammoth spotlights.”

— Elizabeth Peters

78. “Annoyance has an unfortunate effect on one’s literary style; phrases like “work my fingers to the bone” and “sacrifice my own inclinations to the needs of others.”

— Elizabeth Peters

79. “Our adventures were often more enjoyable in retrospect than in actuality, but if I must choose between danger and boredom I will always choose the former.”

— Elizabeth Peters

80. “Emerson once remarked that if I should encounter a band of Dervishes, five minutes of my nagging would unquestionably inspire even the mildest of them to massacre me...”

— Elizabeth Peters

81. “Cats are not susceptible to the sort of persuasion one uses on human beings.”

— Elizabeth Peters

82. “The sun is born again from the womb of night,” he said. “See how the light spreads, remaking the world.”

— Elizabeth Peters

83. “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

84. “I am not at all alarmed,” I said calmly. “Except for your friend’s health. He seems about to have a fit. Is he commonly subject to weakness of the brain?” The.”

— Elizabeth Peters

85. “In the gloomy corridor of that sepulchre I had felt Emerson’s arms about me for the first time; along the rubble-strewn floor of the wadi we had raced by moonlight to save those we loved from a hideous death. Every foot of the way was familiar to me, and the spot was as fraught with romance as a garden of roses might be to one who had led a more boring life.”

— Elizabeth Peters

86. “That must be why some people like dogs; they can be made to feel guilty about anything, including the sins of their owners. Cats refuse to take the blame for anything – including their own sins.”

— Elizabeth Peters

87. “Emerson is a remarkable person, considering that he is a man. Which is not saying a great deal.”

— Elizabeth Peters

88. “We all know how ruthlessly these American millionaires crush their rivals as they climb to power.”

— Elizabeth Peters

89. “History has a kindly way of glossing over little faults like brigandage, slaughter, piracy, and assaults on women, especially when the perpetrators possess titles and landed estates.”

— Elizabeth Peters

90. “One thing led to another, and we were a trifle late going down for dinner.”

— Elizabeth Peters

91. “I lost Davey twice, retrieving him on the second occasion from the interior of a huge granite sarcophagus. I was tempted to leave him there, for a while, since he could not get out of it. But Emerson wouldn’t let me.”

— Elizabeth Peters

92. “It is setting a high value upon our opinions to roast men alive on account of them.’ Nobody ever said a truer word.”

— Elizabeth Peters

93. “I am here on business.” “Indeed,” I said. “Indeed?” Emerson’s echo held a questioning note; but in fact I had already deduced the nature of the lady’s business. Emerson calls this jumping to conclusions. I call it simple logic.”

— Elizabeth Peters

94. “Once again my aggravating but useful child rescued me from an unwelcome guest.”

— Elizabeth Peters

95. “The fact that she had not yet exterminated her mother proved that she was incapable of violence.”

— Elizabeth Peters

96. “Other attempts ensued. I was visited by streams of attentive nieces and nephews assuring me of their devotion – which had been demonstrated, over the past years, by their absence.”

— Elizabeth Peters

97. “He had the mouth of a shark and the eyes of a poet. I felt an immediate rapport – with the shark, as well as the poet.”

— Elizabeth Peters