"Equivocate" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... me shroud a tale of horror. Harriet was my victim! Ask not how. I triumphed! She fell! An angel might have fallen as she did, and lost no purity. But her stainless heart was too proud in virtue to palter and equivocate with circumstances. She never rose from what she deemed her bridal bed. And ere twenty summers had fanned her cheek, the grave-worm ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 13, No. - 361, Supplementary Issue (1829) • Various
... rector I had no power over my nephew's vote (God forgive me for such prevarication!); that I supposed he would give it according to his conscience; that I would by no means endeavour to influence him to give it otherwise. He told me it was in vain to equivocate; that he knew I had already spoke to him in favour of esquire Fickle, my neighbour; and, indeed, it was true I had; for it was at a season when the church was in danger, and when all good men expected they knew not what ...
— Joseph Andrews Vol. 1 • Henry Fielding
... of his childhood, and should be treated as such. If we would know his early history, we let him tell the tale in his own fashion. It may be he will dwell long upon occurrences interesting to himself, and apart from the object of our inquiries; it may be he will equivocate unintentionally if cross-examined in detail; but truth will underlie his garrulous story, and by patient analysis we may sift it out, and obtain ...
— An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 • Mary Frances Cusack
... won't tell, she only cries. You won't tell; you only equivocate. I don't care. I'll find out ...
— Kate Danton, or, Captain Danton's Daughters - A Novel • May Agnes Fleming
... October 7th; and it is known of him further only, that, like almost all leaders of slave insurrections, he showed a courage which his enemies could not gainsay. "When he was apprehended, he manifested the greatest marks of firmness and confidence, showing not the least disposition to equivocate or screen himself from justice,"—but making no confession that could implicate any one else. "The behavior of Gabriel under his misfortunes," said the Norfolk "Epitome" of September 25th, "was such as might be expected from a mind capable of forming the daring project which he had ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 59, September, 1862 • Various
... "Don't equivocate, sir, if you please. Recollect you are upon your oath," said Strachan, irritated by a slight titter which followed upon Grobey's answer. "I mean studs, sir—emerald studs ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847 • Various
... calling, occupation; voc'ative, the case of a noun in which the subject is called, or addressed; ad'vocate to plead for; convoca'tion, an assembly, a meeting; equivocate (Lat. adj. e'quus, equal), to use words of doubtful meaning; equivoca'tion; evoca'tion, act of calling forth; ...
— New Word-Analysis - Or, School Etymology of English Derivative Words • William Swinton
... refreshments which, if taken to excess, disorder the reason, ruin the soul, and prove no better than slow poison to the body? If your business calls you to buy or sell, do you use falsehoods? do you equivocate? do you exaggerate or conceal the truth in order to impose upon your neighbour, and make a profit of his necessity or credulity? If any of these marks be upon you, God's word singles you out and drags you to the bar of Divine justice to hear your doom in the text, 'The wicked shall ...
— Fletcher of Madeley • Brigadier Margaret Allen
... the Panther: grant such presence were, 40 Yet in your sense I never own'd it there. A real virtue we by faith receive, And that we in the sacrament believe. Then, said the Hind, as you the matter state, Not only Jesuits can equivocate; For real, as you now the word expound, From solid substance dwindles to a sound. Methinks an AEsop's fable you repeat; You know who took the shadow for the meat: Your Church's substance thus you change at will, 50 And yet retain your former figure ...
— The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol I - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes • John Dryden
... I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... the full, firm, but flexible mouth of Oliver Cromwell, at this well-timed compliment to that on which he so much prided himself—his penetration. He then commenced questioning the Ranger upon his knowledge of Sir Willmott Burrell and the Rabbi's daughter. Robin did not in the least degree equivocate; but related every particular as minutely and distinctly as he had done to Ben Israel; not omitting his knowledge that Sir Willmott meditated the destruction of Walter De Guerre. Cromwell listened to the details with much attention; but it was not until this portion of ...
— The Buccaneer - A Tale • Mrs. S. C. Hall
... This is (to equivocate on Dante's words) in truth the nobile volgare eloquenza. Indeed it is profoundly true that there is a natural, an almost irresistible, tendency in the mind, when immersed in one strong feeling, to connect that feeling with every sight and object around it; especially if ...
— Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher • S. T. Coleridge
... "Immediate and unconditional emancipation!" He promised his readers that he would be "harsh as truth and uncompromising as justice"; that he would not "think or speak or write with moderation." Then he flung out his defiant call: "I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and ...
— History of the United States • Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
... to deny it, equivocate, or seek subterfuges. The evidence was there, and it was irrefutable. While appearing to occupy himself solely with the objects lying upon his table, M. Daburon did not lose sight of the prisoner. Albert ...
— The Widow Lerouge - The Lerouge Case • Emile Gaboriau
... is known of him further, only, that, like almost all leaders of slave insurrections, he showed a courage which his enemies could not gainsay. "When he was apprehended, he manifested the greatest marks of firmness and confidence, showing not the least disposition to equivocate, or screen himself from justice,"—but making no confession that could implicate any one else. "The behavior of Gabriel under his misfortunes," said the Norfolk Epitome of Sept. 25, "was such as might be expected from a mind capable of forming the daring project ...
— Black Rebellion - Five Slave Revolts • Thomas Wentworth Higginson
... unconditional emancipation," was intended as a rebuke to the tame policy of the colonizationists. "I am in earnest," said the plucky man, when his utterances threatened to cost him his life, "I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard." These were startling tones. Had God turned a new prophet loose ...
— History of the United States, Volume 3 (of 6) • E. Benjamin Andrews
... should betray has manoeuvering to the experienced eye of Athos. Besides, to tell truth, whilst D'Artagnan was quite disposed to adopt a subtle course against the cunning of Aramis or the vanity of Porthos, he was ashamed to equivocate with Athos, true-hearted, open Athos. It seemed to him that if Porthos and Aramis deemed him superior to them in the arts of diplomacy, they would like him all the better for it; but that Athos, on ...
— Twenty Years After • Alexandre Dumas, Pere |
