Amelia Peabody Quotes

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

“Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point”
― elizabeth peters, The Curse of the Pharaohs

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

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

“Is is difficult to be angry with a gentleman who pays you compliments, even impertinent compliments. Especially impertinent compliments. ”
― Elizabeth Peters, The Hippopotamus Pool

“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, The Ape Who Guards the Balance

“God help the poor mummy who encounters you, Peabody,” he said bitterly. “We ought to supply it with a pistol, to even the odds.”
― Elizabeth Peters, Crocodile on the Sandbank

“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 this if she has to take on every German and Turkish agent in the Middle East.”
― Elizabeth Peters, He Shall Thunder in the Sky

“His lips parted, but long years of experience with Ramses, and to some extent, Emerson, had taught me how to turn a conversation into a monologue.”
― Elizabeth Peters, Lord of the Silent

“I would never have supposed that inexperienced girl was capable of such cold-blooded, calculating manipulation! ”
― Elizabeth Peters, The Ape Who Guards the Balance

“Men like to create unnecessary organizations and give them impressive or mysterious names; this usually ends in increased confusion, and should therefore be ignored.”
― Elizabeth Peters, A River in the Sky

“The men had scattered in all directions, which men are inclined to do when women leave them to their own devices for any length of time. I believe they are easily bored.”
― Elizabeth Peters, A River in the Sky

“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.”
― Elizabeth Peters, A River in the Sky

“Either the War Office had recruited Ramses - in which case I would have General Spencer's head on a platter - or Ramses had come across something that, in his opinion, merited investigation.... I am never guilty of idle speculation, so I kept an open mind on that. Except that once I caught up with him, I would have Ramses' head on another platter.”
― Elizabeth Peters, A River in the Sky

“The roar of an angry crowd is one of the most terrifying sounds in the world.”
― Elizabeth Peters, A River in the Sky

“...no eyes but mine will read these words. Why, then, the gentle Reader will ask, do I infer his or her existence by addressing her, or him? The answer should be obvious. Art cannot exist in a vacuum. The creative spirit must possess an audience. It is impossible for a writer to do herself justice if she is only talking to herself.”
― Elizabeth Peters, The Mummy Case

“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, Crocodile on the Sandbank