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

“But the dust! And the clutter! My housewifely and scholarly instincts were equally offended.”

“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.”

“Can't you ever stop joking?""No, why should I? Laughter is one of the two things that make life worthwhile. Aren't you going to ask what the other one is?”

“I disapprove of matrimony as a matter of principle.... Why should any independent, intelligent female choose to subject herself to the whims and tyrannies of a husband? I assure you, I have yet to meet a man as sensible as myself! (Amelia Peabody)”

“Everything has happened before - not once, but over and over again. We may not be able to solve our problems through what are pompously called "the lessons of history," but at least we should be able to recognize the issues and perhaps avoid some of the solutions that have failed in the past. And we can take heart in our own dilemma by realizing that other people in other times have survived worse.”

“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.I was too moved to speak. But maternal affection was not the only emotion that prevented utterance; as I watched him walk away, his head high and his step firm, anger boiled within me. I knew I had to conquer it before I saw Nefret again, or I would take her by the shoulders and shake her, and demand that she love my son!”