Quotes from Elizabeth Peters

Men believe women are hopeless gossips, but women know men are. The poor creatures are worse than women in some ways, because they cannot admit to themselves that they are gossiping, or doubt the discretion of the individuals in whom they confide. 'Strictly in confidence, old boy, just between you and me...'.

When, oh when will justice and reason prevail, and Woman descend from the pedestal on which Man has placed her (in order to prevent her from doing anything except standing perfectly still) and take her rightful place beside him?

The room was so neat and tidy it made me feel quite depressed...I do not allow myself to repine about what cannot be helped; but I remembered earlier Decembers, under the cloudless blue skies and brilliant sun of Egypt. As I stood morosely contemplating the destruction of our cheerful domestic clutter, and recalling better days, I heard the sound of wheels on the gravel of the drive. The first guest had arrived. Gathering the robes of my martyrdom about me, I made ready to receive her.

he managed to create an atmosphere of sticky sentimentality that disgusted me.

at the time there were moments of extreme discomfort; but the adventure, the danger, the exhilaration of doubt and peril are in retrospect something I rather regret having lost.

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.

I felt obligated by friendship as well as duty to make certain they were comfortably housed. Since men seem to measure comfort by the degree of dirt and confusion that prevails, I deduced that they were very comfortable.

We should call it a draw. You tried to shoot me, I tried to poison you. As I said before Peabody, we are well matched.

Emerson has what I believe is called a selective memory. He can recall minute details of particular excavations but is likely to forget where he left his hat.

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

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....

he never comes to see us unless he wants something. Find out what it is, tell him "no," and let us be off.

Speculation,' I retorted, 'is never a waste of time. It clears away the deadwood in the thickets of deduction.

Romanticism is not a quality I despise, but it is inconvenient in a butler.)

The room didn't look haunted or eerie now;it was only melancholy in it's faded grandeur.

And off he marched, his shoulders squared and his eyes lifted to the horizon. He looked so splendid I didn't have the heart to point out the disadvantages of this posture; when one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one's footing. Sure enough, he stumbled into Ramses' pile of potsherds and went sprawling.

I had had my night of weeping...I had purged myself of useless emotions that terrible night, now every nerve every sinew, every thought was bent on a single purpose

unnecessary discomfort is a form of martyrdom with which I have no sympathy.

She was so pitiful as she lay there on the cold, damp ground that only a heart of stone could have been unmoved. There are many hearts of that composition, however.

I have never been able to understand how men can feel affection for individuals who are intent on massacring them in a variety of unpleasant ways, but it is an undeniable fact that they can and do. Witness the immortal verse of Mr. Kipling: So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'home in the Soudan; You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man! One can only accept this as another example of the peculiar emotional aberrations of the male sex.

I myself have no objection to comfort so long as it does not interfere with more important activities.

Any man with a grain of sense knows that marriage is the only way, these days, to acquire a full-time maid who works twenty-five hours a day, with no time off and no pay except room and board. (p9)

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

For some reason his parents had a low opinion of his common sense.