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.

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

stereotypes are awfully misleading. There are typical librarians, but not all librarians are typical.

There are too many people in the world as it is, but the supply of ancient manuscripts is severely limited.

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

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.

Cats always pick the laps of the people who don't like them.