"Spoil" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... easy matter. But I don't want to talk about it yet. Too many cooks spoil the soup," continued Little, with his air of ...
— Down the Rhine - Young America in Germany • Oliver Optic
... fruit-loft about with her. She was indefatigable. She went to market herself, she cooked and dusted and swept, and never missed mass of a morning. To give some idea of the domestic life of the household, it will be enough to remark that the father and son never ate fruit till it was beginning to spoil, because Mlle. Cadot always brought out anything that would not keep. No one in the house ever tasted the luxury of new bread, and all the fast days in the calendar were punctually observed. The gardener was put on rations like a soldier; the elderly Valideh always kept an eye upon him. ...
— The Collection of Antiquities • Honore de Balzac
... him off this time. "I am sorry to spoil such a beautiful piece of acting; but our arrangement is going to end, and this is ...
— Stanford Stories - Tales of a Young University • Charles K. Field
... Everard's soul, and he felt like a school-boy once more, rejoicing in a fine day and his liberty, with nothing to spoil the freshness of the air, and nothing to threaten the freedom ...
— Stories By English Authors: Germany • Various
... by Rome's stern command, To quench rebellion in my native isle, Brought his bold legions from a foreign strand, Our land to torture, and our towers to spoil; He hewed me in a fashion now unknown, And dubbed me, what I am, ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. - Volume 13, No. 359, Saturday, March 7, 1829. • Various
... in a minute, but I want to talk to you first," he said, sitting down and holding her closely. "Besides, that water ain't like coffee. Gettin' cold won't spoil it none. Now, listen. You're the only one I got in this world. You wasn't afraid of me an' what I just done, an' I'm glad of that. Now we'll forget all about Mary. I got charity enough. I'm just as sorry ...
— The Valley of the Moon • Jack London
... 'The devil!—you'll spoil all,' muttered Pete, as he seized Mike, and with difficulty dragged him from the room. 'Ain't you a nice skeleton, to get drunk and sing love songs,' he whispered contemptuously, pulling his inebriated comrade downstairs ...
— City Crimes - or Life in New York and Boston • Greenhorn
... But now let all his tenants round First milk his cows, and after, pound; Let every cottager conspire To cut his hedges down for fire; The naughty boys about the village His crabs and sloes may freely pillage; He still may keep a pack of knaves To spoil his work, and work by halves; His meadows may be dug by swine, It shall be no concern of mine; For why should I continue still To serve ...
— Poems (Volume II.) • Jonathan Swift
... muttered he, uneasily, "I foresaw it. That's the worst of it! Some wretched trifle like this might spoil it all. Yes, this hat is certainly too remarkable; it looks so ridiculous. I must get a cap to suit my rags; any old thing would be better than this horror. Hats like these are not worn; this one would be noticeable a verst* off; it would be remembered; people would ...
— The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations • Julian Hawthorne
... extreme decolletage, were simply the perfection of art. She did not wear gloves, and on her beautifully manicured hands she wore no rings except a magnificent ruby on the left little finger. It was her caprice to refuse an alliance. "Wedding rings!" she had said to Stanislass. "Bosh! they spoil the look. Sometimes it is chic to have a good jewel on one finger, sometimes on another, but to be tied down to that band ...
— The Price of Things • Elinor Glyn
... our corral, all, everything!" exclaimed Pencroft, stamping his foot. "They may spoil everything, destroy everything in ...
— The Secret of the Island • W.H.G. Kingston (translation from Jules Verne)
... to all as their qualities require, with the highest respect, so that I have seen a grandee and a duke stop their horse when an ordinary woman passeth over a kennel, because he would not spoil her clothes; and put off his hat to the meanest woman that makes a reverence, though it be their footman's wife. They meddle with no neighbour's fortune or person, but their own families; and they are punctual in visits, men to men, and women ...
— Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe • Lady Fanshawe
... and the Indiaman had suffered considerably in the action; and since their arrival they had been undergoing repairs. These were now completed. The privateer's men were also refreshed, and eager to go in search of fresh spoil. ...
— Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships - A Story of the Last Naval War • W.H.G. Kingston
... assistance I'll get this man and the whole gang to-night," explained Craig, rapidly sketching over his plan and concealing just enough to make sure that no matter how anxious the lieutenant was to get the credit he could not spoil the affair by ...
— Masterpieces of Mystery In Four Volumes - Detective Stories • Various
... inhospitable, Blue Bonnet, but I can't let you in. You see you aren't expected until to-night. At twelve, remember; and, for goodness' sake, take a look down the hall before you venture out. We don't want Fraulein to spoil things. I reckon Sue had better fix up your pillow before ...
— Blue Bonnet in Boston - or, Boarding-School Days at Miss North's • Caroline E. Jacobs
... believe themselves safe. Of course, mind you, this man Rayner may be as innocent as you or I. But against her, on the facts of that photograph affair, there's a prima facie case. Only—don't let's spoil things by undue haste or rashness. I've thought things out a good deal, and we can do a lot, you and me, before going to the police, though I don't think it 'ud do any harm to tell this man Chettle, supposing he ...
— The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation • J. S. Fletcher
... just four pears and not a single apple. Pere's big orchard is in the same condition. In addition, owing to the terrible dampness,—the ground is wet all the time,—the slugs eat up all the salad, spoil all the strawberries, and chew off every young green thing that puts its head above the ground, and that in spite of very hard work on my part. Every morning early, and every afternoon, at sundown, I put in an hour's hard work,— hard, disgusting work,—picking ...
— On the Edge of the War Zone - From the Battle of the Marne to the Entrance of the Stars and Stripes • Mildred Aldrich
... satisfaction in the knowledge that she was envied. Such a feeling on her part was natural, and is natural to all men and women who are conscious that they have done well in the adjustment of their own affairs. As she herself had said, he was her bird, the spoil of her own gun, the product of such capacity as she had in her, on which she was to live, and, if possible, to thrive during the remainder of her life. Lily fully recognised the importance of the thing she ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope
... cried in anger over this indignity, declaring that she hated Castle and would not be sorry if something should happen to spoil his fine nose. So when he came to us from the sick-room, soured and crestfallen because disease had deeply pitted and seamed that feature which had formerly been his pride, she laughingly whispered, "Well, I don't care, my nose could never look like ...
— The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate • Eliza Poor Donner Houghton
... tell her that story of the groom's," muttered La Corriveau to herself, "and spoil the fairest experiment of the aqua tofana ever made, and ruin my own fortune too! I know a trick worth two of that," and she laughed inwardly to herself a laugh which was repeated in hell and made merry the ghosts of Beatrice Spara, ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby
... Ozanne reproachfully, "you'll spoil her party! I think you ought to make an effort, even if ...
— Blue Aloes - Stories of South Africa • Cynthia Stockley
... mounted on a fast horse was soon as forward as a judicious rider would desire. "Now, Runks, don't you press on and spoil it all," said Mrs. Spooner to the hard-riding, objectionable son of old Runks the vet from Rufford. But young Runks did press on till the Master spoke a word. The word shall not be ...
— The Duke's Children • Anthony Trollope
... owe you?" spluttered the German. "Ach, ve are quits, I dink. I spoil your pig-pen, but your pig-pen spoil my suit and your sow scare me ...
— The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest • Captain Wilbur Lawton
... Given a good horse it's the man with judgment and cool head as generally wins. So, Barnabas, keep your temper. This is all I have to say, or your father, only that no matter how near you come to turning yourself into a fine gentleman, we have faith as it won't spoil you, and that you may come a-walking into the old 'Hound' one of these days just the same dear Barnabas as we shall always ...
— The Amateur Gentleman • Jeffery Farnol et al
... survived save for the gambling concession. Four years before the Franco-Prussian War, a casino and hotels built on the Roche des Spelugues had been named Monte Carlo in honor of the reigning prince. The concession, granted to a Frenchman, Francois Blanc, was too valuable to spoil by having Monaco come under French law! The Republic tolerated Monaco—on condition that no French officer in uniform and no inhabitant of the Departement des Alpes-Maritimes (which surrounds Monaco) be allowed in the ...
— Riviera Towns • Herbert Adams Gibbons
... were obliged to keep the road, or else they must commit spoil, and do the country a great deal of damage in breaking down fences and gates to go over enclosed fields, which they were loth to do if ...
— A Journal of the Plague Year • Daniel Defoe
... he ordered the dacoits to extinguish their torches and follow him with the bags of money. He led them to a ravine on the river bank, about a coss (two miles) distant, where the spoil was equitably divided according to a list of names and amounts due in Karim's possession. Then after arranging for alibis in case of criminal proceedings, the band dispersed, well satisfied with ...
— Tales of Bengal • S. B. Banerjea
... nature that they have absolutely no appetite for scandal—never speak it, or listen to it, or remember what they have overheard. Sydney and his friends were troubled by no such qualms, and, if either of them had been, he would not have been so ill-mannered as to spoil ...
— Name and Fame - A Novel • Adeline Sergeant
... on 1200? Well, he's gone north—very far north. You'd want to follow him, Curlie, if you knew what I know. The radiophone is going to do great things for the north, Curlie. But men like him will spoil it all. Remember this, Curlie: If you do go, be careful. Careful. He's a bad man and the stakes are big!" The whisper ceased. The silence that followed it ...
— Curlie Carson Listens In • Roy J. Snell
... matters greatly affect the mother during child-birth, and the few succeeding hours. We have known a stupid remark by an incompetent nurse spoil a mother's health for months. The greatest care must be exercised by all concerned to say only cheerful and soothing things to the sufferer. Even the aspect of the room is important. It should look sunwards, if possible, and hideous pictures ...
— Papers on Health • John Kirk
... plunder," said Borodaty, hetman of the Oumansky kuren, leaving his men and going to the place where the nobleman killed by Kukubenko lay. "I have killed seven nobles with my own hand, but such spoil I never beheld on any one." Prompted by greed, Borodaty bent down to strip off the rich armour, and had already secured the Turkish knife set with precious stones, and taken from the foe's belt a purse ...
— Taras Bulba and Other Tales • Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol
... money paid for admission, and showed his victims "a fair pair of heels." The members of the audience, when they found themselves thus duped, "revenged themselves upon the hangings, curtains, chairs, stools, walls, and whatsoever came in their way, very outrageously, and made great spoil."[271] ...
— Shakespearean Playhouses - A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration • Joseph Quincy Adams
... Little Russian was here. I saw him to-day. The prison doesn't spoil a man. Stupidity, that's what spoils ...
— Mother • Maxim Gorky
... not been to Berlaere since that day, the first time they had gone out together. That time at least had been perfect; it remained secure; nothing could ever spoil it; she could remember the delight of it, their strange communion of ecstasy, without doubt, without misgiving. You could never forget. It might have been better if you could, instead of knowing that it would exist in you forever, to ...
— The Romantic • May Sinclair
... this way, Mis' Thompson. If you had a nice little girl, big enough to stand on a chair and fasten you up the back, I wouldn't say a word against it. But of all things that rack your nerves and spoil your temper, twisting and squirming and trying to reach three or four buttons, first from above and then from below, is certainly the limit. And putting a shawl over your shoulders on a hot day and going to find some neighbor to do it for you, ...
— Other People's Business - The Romantic Career of the Practical Miss Dale • Harriet L. Smith
... angrily. "I think you should feel yourself responsible for your brother's action, Mr. McDonald," he said coldly. "I must say he has been an unmitigated nuisance ever since we commenced to practise, and now he promises to spoil everything. If you have the slightest interest in the entertainment, you will see that ...
— Duncan Polite - The Watchman of Glenoro • Marian Keith
... for during the recent tempest of applause he had hoisted his gingham umbrella, and calmly gone on with his slumbers. Washington Hawkins had seen the act, but was not near enough at hand to save his friend, and no one who was near enough desired to spoil the effect. But a neighbor stirred up the Colonel, now that the House had its eye upon him, and the great speculator furled his tent like ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
... big, or, rather, long; and it's very white, but one's bound to admit that it doesn't spoil the landscape," said Howard; "in fact, standing there amidst the dark-green trees, with its pinnacles and terraces, it's rather an ornament than otherwise. I suppose there are flowers on those velvety lawns; and the interior, I'll wager my life, matches ...
— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice
... her kingdom down were born, North cried on south and east made moan to west For hopes that love had hardly heart to mourn, For Italy that was not. Kings on quest, By priests whose blessings burn as curses blest, Made spoil of souls and bodies bowed and bound, Hunted and harried, leashed as horse or hound, And hopeless of the hope ...
— Astrophel and Other Poems - Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles - Swinburne, Vol. VI • Algernon Charles Swinburne
... may do that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yea, and that there may, by them, be wrought sound repentance in us for all that hath been done by us amiss, lest he give 'Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers;' for that they have sinned against him by not walking in his ways, and by not being obedient to his ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... an hour and a half, we judged, from the motions of a party at some distance beyond us, that they had game in view. As we approached them, Okotook evidently began to be apprehensive that we, who did not understand the matter, would spoil their sport. To prevent this, he did the most civil thing that could well have been devised, which was, to send his companions one by one to the spot, and to remain with us himself, keeping us at such a distance as to allow us to see their proceedings, without alarming the ...
— Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the • Sir William Edward Parry
... our brother's keeper, but we can't none of us help it if he won't be kept!—There, I must be gettin' home. I've had considerable many reminders the last half-hour that it's about time! It's none o' my business, Mandy, but you do spoil that cat, an' the time's not far off when he won't be a mite o' comfort to you. Of course, I'm too intimate here to take offense, but if the minister should happen to set in this chair when he calls, an' see that cat promenade ...
— Ladies-In-Waiting • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... was a good woman, and now I am convinced of it," said the Knight. "Father Nicholas has done his best to spoil her, but, thank Heaven! he has not succeeded, and his reign is pretty well over, ...
— Count Ulrich of Lindburg - A Tale of the Reformation in Germany • W.H.G. Kingston
... the case of painters, who have undertaken to give us a beautiful and graceful figure, which may have some slight blemishes, we do not wish them to pass over such blemishes altogether, nor yet to mark them too prominently. The one would spoil the beauty, and the other destroy the ...
— Pearls of Thought • Maturin M. Ballou
... differentiates Cowper's life from that of his brothers in poetry, and I reply—his sanity. He did not indulge in vulgar amours, as did Burns and Byron; he did not ruin his moral fibre by opium, as did Coleridge; he did not shock his best friends by an over-weening egotism, as did Wordsworth; he did not spoil his life by reckless financial complications, as did Scott; or by too great an enthusiasm to beat down the world's conventions, as did Shelley. I do not here condemn any one or other of these later poets. Their lives cannot be ...
— Immortal Memories • Clement Shorter
... idea how many books they get through. When she comes for sewing, I like to talk with her about them; I always have her sit down; it's hard to realize that she isn't a lady. I'm a good deal criticised, I know, and I suppose I do spoil her a little; it puts notions into such people's heads, if you meet them in that way; they're pretty free and independent as it is. But when I'm with Lizzie I forget that there is any difference between us; I can't help loving the child. You must take Mr. Homos to see them, ...
— A Traveler from Altruria: Romance • W. D. Howells
... kind of injury, so that not only crushing and burning, but any cutting, bruising, spilling, destroying, or deteriorating is hereby denominated. Finally, it has been decided that if one man mixes something with another's win or oil, so as to spoil its natural goodness, he is liable under this ...
— The Institutes of Justinian • Caesar Flavius Justinian
... self-respect which prompts a man to repel an attack fearlessly and at once. In short, he was one of those who lie still and wait, like the crafty pointer dogs that creep along the grass, hunting out game for others to shoot down for them, and devouring the spoil with a keener relish than the noble hound that makes the forest ring as he plunges upon ...
— The Old Homestead • Ann S. Stephens
... recommendations, three ideas are dominant in Carlyle's political treatises. First—a vehement protest against the doctrine of Laissez faire; which, he says, "on the part of the governing classes will, we repeat again and again, have to cease; pacific mutual divisions of the spoil and a would-let-well-alone will no longer suffice":—a doctrine to which he is disposed to trace the Trades Union wars, of which he failed to see the issue. He is so strongly in favour of Free-trade between ...
— Thomas Carlyle - Biography • John Nichol
... Phelim O'Toole as an adept at card-playing. Wherever a sheep, a leg of mutton, a dozen of bread, or a bottle of whiskey was put up in a shebeen house, to be played for by the country gamblers at the five and ten, or spoil'd five, Phelim always took a hand and was generally successful. On these occasions he was frequently charged with an over-refined dexterity; but Phelim usually swore, in vindication of his own innocence, until he got black in the face, as the ...
— Phelim O'toole's Courtship and Other Stories • William Carleton
... proceeded with varied fortunes. The emigrants had been very badly selected for their task: "poor gentlemen, tradesmen, serving-men, libertines, and such like, ten times more fit to spoil a commonwealth than either to begin or maintain one." These men were tempted into the undertaking by hopes of sudden wealth, and were altogether disinclined to even the slight labor of tilling that exuberant ...
— The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Warburton
... and the long bronze gun in the stern was uncovered. Beside her stood the gunners, ready for action. The boatswain's whistle blew and the dark crew stood forth, armed to the teeth, eager for action, and spoil. Carlos, a heavy cutlass in hand, awaited his master's orders. ...
— The Sun Of Quebec - A Story of a Great Crisis • Joseph A. Altsheler
... truthful and too honourable a maiden to have said even on that subject what she did say if it had not been true. No doubt she believed it true. And the belief so long as she mentioned no names, did not break any man's bones and did not spoil any man's market. Don't set up too prudishly and say that it is a pity that Mercy so far forgot herself as to make her little confidential boast. We would not have had her without that little boast. Keep-at-home, sit-still, hats and hosen and all—her little boast only proves Mercy to have ...
— Bunyan Characters (Second Series) • Alexander Whyte
... admiring landscapes, one another, every one else, millionaires! Everything that money can do to spoil Nature has been done here, but Nature will have her own way in the end; and in spite of the millionaires' millions and the incongruity of everything, we cannot but admire this beautiful ...
— The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912 • Lillie DeHegermann-Lindencrone
... "that would spoil the romance, and make it uninteresting. We must be spliced at once." And they were. The result was a ghastly tragedy. The lady turned out a termagant. Happily she did not live long, but while she lived it was terrible. He told me the tale long after, and the pathos of it, in all its hideous ...
— Windjammers and Sea Tramps • Walter Runciman
... of the General Police," said the other coldly, "we will change our route, and drive to the Rue de Grenelle instead of the Rue de Jerusalem. I have clear instructions with regard to you. But be careful! You are not in any deep disgrace, and you may spoil your own game in a moment. As for me—I owe you no grudge.—Come; tell me ...
— Scenes from a Courtesan's Life • Honore de Balzac
... a faint suggestion of a chill of apprehension lest she should be about to take advantage of their friendship by making a dead set for him. But she speedily tranquilized him by saying: "No, my reason was that I didn't want to spoil my one friendship. Even a business person craves the luxury of a friend—and marrying has been my business," this with a slight curl of her pretty, somewhat cruel mouth. "To be quite frank, I gave you up as a possibility years ago. ...
— The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig • David Graham Phillips
... principal fight and hastened to their defense. This caused the Old Bridge to be lost; the Bardi fled in all directions and were received into the houses of the Quaratesi, Panzanesi, and Mozzi. The people, especially the lower classes, greedy for spoil, sacked and destroyed their houses, and pulled down and burned their towers and palaces with such outrageous fury, that the most cruel enemy of the Florentine name would have been ashamed of taking ...
— History Of Florence And Of The Affairs Of Italy - From The Earliest Times To The Death Of Lorenzo The Magnificent • Niccolo Machiavelli
... replied Ephraim, "I didn't like to exactly. You see, we was havin' such a good time I didn't want to spoil ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... the little lady, "that would spoil it. The pictures look quite alive in the firelight. What ...
— Kimono • John Paris
... among the enemy as to who should have Father Carpio as his captive. In this contention they had recourse to the Mindanao captain, and he ordered that the father be killed. That they did very gladly, and beheaded him and carried his head back to present it as a spoil to their king, Cachil Corralat. The latter had charged them not to leave alive any religious or Spaniard, for so had he vowed to their false prophet Mahomet in an illness that he had had. They took the others captive, ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXV, 1635-36 • Various
... passed away and the spring began to awaken the world from her long white sleep, they betook themselves with zest to their pastime of hunting, and went long expeditions that sometimes lasted many days, returning laden with spoil, and apparently in better spirits from the ...
— The Lord of Dynevor • Evelyn Everett-Green
... the critical part of the molding operation—that of lifting the cope from the drag. It is here that the amateur often becomes discouraged, as the sand is liable to fall out of the cope and spoil the mold; but with a little practice and patience the molder can lift the cope every time without breaking it, ...
— The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 - 700 Things For Boys To Do • Popular Mechanics
... despise us all for this! Why shall we seek for histories, why make museums, why study the manners of the dead, when we foully neglect or barbarously spoil their homes, their castles, their temples, their colleges, their courts, their graves? He who tramples on the past does not create for the future. The same ignorant and vagabond spirit which made him a destructive prohibits him ...
— Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry • Thomas Davis
... feeling is one of anger; it is as mad as a hornet; its tone changes, it sounds its shrill war trumpet and darts to and fro, and gives vent to its rage and indignation in no uncertain manner. It seems to scent foul play at once. It says, "Here is robbery; here is the spoil of some hive, maybe my own," and its blood is up. But its ruling passion soon comes to the surface, its avarice gets the better of its indignation, and it seems to say, "Well, I had better take possession of this and carry it home." So after many feints and approaches and dartings ...
— The Writings of John Burroughs • John Burroughs
... place, you did not make such a quantity of it; then you did not try to get it white. Furthermore, you were content to take it in cakes. Making cane-sugar is, however, easy enough if one is careful and knows the exact way to do it. There is plenty of opportunity to spoil it—I'll admit that; but it is seldom that a batch of our sugar goes back on us. We have fine chemists who watch every step of the process and who constantly test samples of the liquid at every stage into which it passes ...
— The Story of Sugar • Sara Ware Bassett
... than richest satin, and its whiteness equals that of the driven snow. Happy is the daughter whose heart also is pure, for remember the words, 'The pure in heart shall see God.' The more pure the colour, the more difficult to preserve its purity. The slightest spot can spoil the flower of the lily, and so one word can rob the mind of its purity. Let the rose," said he, pointing to that flower, "be the image of modesty. The blush of a modest girl is more beautiful than ...
— The Basket of Flowers • Christoph von Schmid
... large picture—The Death of Pentheus—the king in Euripides' tragedy of the Bacchae who in his efforts to put down the Bacchanalia was slain by the enraged Bacchantes. Suppose I put this one in the foreground.... But then it seemed a pity to spoil such a lovely face with a look of rage.... Well, anyway, let me have a sketch first, and see what inspiration came to me. I got up and looked amongst my odd possessions for a vine-leaf wreath I had. When I found it and some ivy leaves, I came back to her and fastened them round ...
— Five Nights • Victoria Cross
... come to colour, the fact of the opaque middle tone (or half tone) being first painted over the whole will spoil the clearness and transparency of your shadows, and may also interfere with the brilliancy of the colour in the lights. When colour comes to be considered it may be necessary to adopt many expedients that it is as well not to trouble too much about until a further ...
— The Practice and Science Of Drawing • Harold Speed
... you got to talking about the funeral, I just got all full of the idea of our coming and hiding in the church, and I couldn't somehow bear to spoil it. So I just put the bark back in my pocket and ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... wakened in her by the sight of Edith's suffering. She told herself that her love for Edith satisfied her heart completely; that she fulfilled herself in it as she never could have fulfilled herself in any other way. Nothing could degrade or spoil the spiritual beauty of this relation. It served as a standard by which she could better judge her relation to her husband. "I love her more than I ever loved him," she thought. "I cannot help it. If it had been possible to love him ...
— The Helpmate • May Sinclair
... I made no promise," said Mrs. Polly, walking up and down the perch very fast, turning at each end with a graceful and coquettish air. "After such a wonderful story as we have heard, it would quite spoil it to listen to such an old, humdrum affair ...
— The Cockatoo's Story • Mrs. George Cupples
... treasurer, and was very near coming to be hanged.(334) His Countess, a bouncing kind of lady-mayoress, looks pure awkward amongst so much good company. A visto cut through the wood has a delightful effect from the front: but there are some trumpery fragments of gardens that spoil the view from ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole
... replaced it in due course by growth. But even the slightest cut may lead to blood- poisoning, and so even the dismissal of a kitchen-maid may be big with the fate of empires. Thus the cook, a valued servant, may take the kitchen-maid's part and go too. The next cook may spoil the dinner and upset Croesus's temper, and from this all manner of consequences may be evolved, even to the dethronement and death of the king himself. Nevertheless as a general rule an injury to such a low part of ...
— The Note-Books of Samuel Butler • Samuel Butler
... can find Lord Bedford alone I will put him on his guard," thought Carl. "I shall spoil Mr. Stuyvesant's plans." ...
— Driven From Home - Carl Crawford's Experience • Horatio Alger
... fool Andy any day. Come on, Mr. Whitford. We'll get the smugglers to-night, spoil their game, and rescue Ned. Somehow, I feel that we're ...
— Tom Swift and his Great Searchlight • Victor Appleton
... rather slowly until the sediment falls to the bottom and there is not the shadow of a bubble. It can then be strained into the jar with the other fat; but if strained while bubbles remain, there is water in it, and it will spoil quickly. The fat from sausages can also be strained into the larger pot. Another pot, holding about three quarts, should be kept for the fat in which articles of food have been fried. When you have finished frying, set the kettle in a cool place for ...
— Miss Parloa's New Cook Book • Maria Parloa
... in a tree. We found him motherin' his jor. "If this ache's goin' on," sez he, "So 'elp me, it'll spoil the war!" Five collared Trigger on his perch, They wired his molar to a bough, Then give the anguished one a lurch, 'N' down he pitches. From that birch His ...
— 'Hello, Soldier!' - Khaki Verse • Edward Dyson
... that neighborhood who was not fond of Johnnie Jones, but since he had become a cry-baby none of them cared to play with him, because he would often spoil the best game by stopping to cry. No one enjoys playing with ...
— All About Johnnie Jones • Carolyn Verhoeff
... Casaubon. I don't care about his Xisuthrus and Fee-fo-fum and the rest; but then he doesn't care about my fishing-tackle. As to the line he took on the Catholic Question, that was unexpected; but he has always been civil to me, and I don't see why I should spoil his sport. For anything I can tell, Miss Brooke may be happier with him than she would ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot
... couldn't last. I might 'a' knowed something would turn up to spoil it. It was too much to expect. Oh, if you only wouldn't lock him up, Mr. Crow! What will people say when they find out you was able to arrest him single-handed, without a gang o' men to help you? Oh, ...
— Anderson Crow, Detective • George Barr McCutcheon
... Christ.—The news of Saul's coming had arrived at Damascus before him; and the little flock of Christ was praying that, if it were possible, the progress of the wolf, who was on his way to spoil the fold, might be arrested. Nearer and nearer, however, he drew; he had reached the last stage of his journey; and at the sight of the place which contained his victims his appetite grew keener for the prey. But the Good Shepherd had heard the cries of the trembling flock and went forth ...
— The Life of St. Paul • James Stalker
... preliminary trial of patience, a regularly conducted beleaguering of the fortress. In the first place it was most important to-betray no hint to 'mamma,' who, though very cunning and subtle, was likely to fail through excess of zeal, especially when the interests of her Paul were at stake. She would spoil all the chances in her eagerness to hasten the successful issue. So Paul concealed his plans from Madame Astier, in entire ignorance that she was running a countermine in the same line as his. He acted on his own account with great deliberation. The Princess was attracted by ...
— The Immortal - Or, One Of The "Forty." (L'immortel) - 1877 • Alphonse Daudet
... then of a sudden moved the right forward; and so smiting sideways, drove his sword right through the body of Polynices. But when, thinking that he had slain him, he set his weapons in the earth and began to spoil him of his arms, the other, for he yet breathed a little, laid his hand upon his sword, and though he had scarce strength to smite, yet gave the king a mortal blow, so that the two lay dead together on the plain. And the men of Thebes lifted ...
— Myths and Legends of All Nations • Various
... now been at Panama the full space of three weeks, commanded all things to be put in order for his departure. Unto this effect he gave orders to every company of his men, to seek out for so many beasts of carriage as might suffice to convey the whole spoil of the city unto the river where his canoes lay. About this time a great rumour was spread in the city, of a considerable number of Pirates who intended to leave Captain Morgan; and that, by taking a ship which was in the port, they determined to go and rob upon the South Sea till they ...
— The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century • Clarence Henry Haring
... game of life. It is a wise, cheerful manly, and warm-hearted discourse on the words of Bacon,—"He that is wise, let him pursue some desire or other: for he that doth not affect some one thing in chief, unto him all things are distasteful and tedious." We will not spoil this little volume by giving any account of it. Let our readers get it, and read it. The extracts from his Thesis, De Mentis Exercitatione et Felicitate exinde derivanda, are very curious—showing the native vigor and bent ...
— Spare Hours • John Brown
... that I may remember my own word this day: that the hour of communion is the hour for the foxes—the little foxes—to spoil the wine. Two things that defile this day in looking back, are love of praise running through all, and consenting to listen to worldly talk at all. Oh that these may keep me humble and be my burden, leading me to the cross. Then, ...
— The Biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne • Andrew A. Bonar
... thanked them, and said he would like to see the world first. Then they divided the spoil; but the little tailor's share was only one farthing, which was all he was ...
— Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm • Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
... knowledge of malpractices and mischief was confined to the evil doings of one or two other ill-conditioned country lads like himself, who robbed their neighbors on dark nights, and disposed of the spoil by the help of such men as the Cheap Jack and the landlord of the public- house at the bottom of ...
— Jan of the Windmill • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... cry, Gabriella dear. You look so cool—so fair—so like a snowdrop glittering with dew. And don't put your arms round my neck, beautiful as they are, quite so close. You will spoil my lace, darling. You must just wear and keep the pearls for the love of me. Mamma sanctions the gift, so you need have no scruples about accepting them. Remember, now, we must have no more diamonds, not one, though of the purest water ...
— Ernest Linwood - or, The Inner Life of the Author • Caroline Lee Hentz
... coward. His steel-grey eyes blazed as he met his cousin's look. "Carnaby dear, do you know what you are to me? You are my kinsman; my only male relation. I'm so fond of you already, don't spoil it! Think what you can be to me if you will. I am all alone in the world and when you grow a little older how I should like to depend upon you! I need affection; so do you, dear boy; can't I see how you are just starving for it? There is ...
— Robinetta • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... water before taking coffee, but never after it. "Once in Syria", says a traveler, "I was recognized as a foreigner because I asked for water just after I had taken my coffee. 'If you belonged here', said the waiter, 'you would not spoil the taste of coffee in your mouth by washing it ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers
... to spoil,' said Ella. 'Mother, it is only that—that George has furnished the house while I have ...
— The Talking Horse - And Other Tales • F. Anstey
... forms, which raised a savage and jealous anger in Stephen's breast. To an absolutely unprejudiced eye, and one that saw only the extreme grace of the movement, which neither their rough clothes, the uneven floor, nor the wretched music could spoil, those two figures made a harmonious and fascinating picture; to Stephen's view, naturally narrow and now darkened by the approaching blindness of a nascent passion, it was a sinful and abhorrent sight. When they floated silently ...
— A Girl of the Klondike • Victoria Cross
... the haughty citizens condescended to sue for a ransom. Alaric fixed the price of his retreat at the surrender of all the gold and silver, all the precious movables, and all the slaves of barbaric birth. He afterwards somewhat modified his demands, but marched away with more spoil than the Romans brought from ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV • John Lord
... something might break, just as I know that a horse may run away with me when I'm out riding. The wagon or the harness might break, and that would spoil the ...
— All Adrift - or The Goldwing Club • Oliver Optic
... him with deeds, and touch no hair of him,— Not that fair hair with which the wanton winds Delight to play, and love to make it curl; Wherein the nightingales would build their nests, And make sweet bowers in every golden tress To sing their lover every night asleep;— O, spoil not, Joab, Jove's[62] fair ornaments, Which he hath sent to solace David's soul! The best, ye see, my lords, are swift to sin; To sin our feet are wash'd with milk of roes And dried again with coals of lightning. O ...
— The Growth of English Drama • Arnold Wynne
... delicate glow of shame as she thought how easy it now promised to become for herself. She was prepared to learn that Ralph was not pleased with her engagement; but she was not prepared, in spite of her affection for him, to let this fact spoil the situation. She was not even prepared, or so she thought, to resent his want of sympathy; for it would be his privilege—it would be indeed his natural line—to find fault with any step she might take toward marriage. One's cousin always pretended to hate one's ...
— The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 2 (of 2) • Henry James
... a fool, thrall, said she; if a sparrow fled hither from my sister, I should not wring its neck, but keep it for her. So shall I do with thee. I shall not slay thee, and so destroy my sister's chattel; nor shall I spoil thee, and spoil her possession. I shall send thee back unto her, the stolen thrall in the stolen boat, when I have learned thee a lesson here. Forsooth it was for that cause meseemeth that she let thee slip through her fingers, for she ...
— The Water of the Wondrous Isles • William Morris
... derives all its sublimity from the terror with which it is generally accompanied, will appear evidently from its effect in the very few cases, in which it may be possible to strip a considerable degree of strength of its ability to hurt. When you do this, you spoil it of everything sublime, and it immediately becomes contemptible. An ox is a creature of vast strength; but he is an innocent creature, extremely serviceable, and not at all dangerous; for which reason the idea of an ox is by no means grand. A bull is strong too; but ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12) • Edmund Burke
... barrels of stores not much spoiled. They loaded themselves with as much as they could carry, and started for home, meaning to make a second journey before the preventive men got wind of their doings and came to spoil the fun. But as my father was passing back under the Dean, he happened to take a look over his shoulder at the bodies there. 'Hullo,' says he, and dropped his gear: 'I do believe there's a leg moving!' And, running fore, he stooped over the small drummer-boy that ...
— Wandering Heath • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... my village. I call it mine because it supplies what we need and I will return with the spoil. Bide you in peace, Dagaeoga. You have called me an accomplished burglar. I am more, I ...
— The Masters of the Peaks - A Story of the Great North Woods • Joseph A. Altsheler
... foul work in the one passage, for the flag dropped at once upon the liner, and the signal was made to us to come aboard. We had gained a horrid triumph, if such you could call the murders, and it remained but to divide the spoil. ...
— The Iron Pirate - A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea • Max Pemberton
... the common round-about Way is not much beneficial nor delightful to them; so that they are noted to be more apt to spoil their School-Fellows than improve themselves; because they are imprisoned and enslaved to what they hate, and think useless, and have not peculiar Management proper for their ...
— The Present State of Virginia • Hugh Jones
... hear Charley's key in the door. Nevertheless he had to linger long enough to square the girl, for if Charley encountered her and she told him of his visitor it would spoil all. Evan looked up and down the street. No sign of Charley yet. He rang the bell to ...
— The Deaves Affair • Hulbert Footner
... to camp. The scout master and patrol leader should be present, in order to settle the many questions which must of necessity arise, so that there may be no need of differences or quarrels over disputed points, which would be sure to spoil the outing. ...
— Boy Scouts Handbook - The First Edition, 1911 • Boy Scouts of America
... don't mind, if you don't, mamma; but I thought you wouldn't like it, and it would spoil ...
— A Flock of Girls and Boys • Nora Perry
... Glenny[465] "was bold enough, when the flowers were ragged and starry and ill defined in colour, to fix a standard which was then considered outrageously high and impossible, and which, even if reached, it was said, we should be no gainers by, as it would spoil the beauty of the flowers. He maintained that he was right; and the event has proved it to be so." The doubling of flowers has several times been effected by careful selection: the Rev. W. Williamson,[466] after sowing during ...
— The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) • Charles Darwin
... down on the pile of burnt and ruined meat in disgust. "I knowed you chillen's would go an' spoil de best part ob my bear. Now you-all jis get out ob de way an' dis nigger goin' to show you how ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely
... blow tells the number of years before they meet their bride. This game only grows interesting, of course, when some old goat with long whiskers can be induced to take a blind shot at blowing out the candles. Have Pyrene convenient—but not too convenient to spoil the fun. ...
— Perfect Behavior - A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in all Social Crises • Donald Ogden Stewart
... "will come his danger. Know that there be more than a hundred Jews in this city, who have sworn his death; Jews who, flying hither from Cordova, have seen their parents murdered and their substance seized, and who behold, in the son of Issachar, the cause of the murder and the spoil. They have detected the impostor, and a hundred knives are whetting even now for his blood: let him look to it. Ximen, I have spoken to thee as the foolish speak; thou mayest betray me to thy lord; but from what I have learned of thee from our brethren, I have poured my heart into ...
— Leila or, The Siege of Granada, Book IV. • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... be absolutely sure of the man's love. 2. She must have perfect confidence in his judgment. 3. The pain must be deliberately inflicted, not accidental. 4. It must be inflicted in kindness and for her own improvement, not in anger or with any revengeful feelings, as that would spoil one's ideal of the man. 5. The pain must not be excessive and must be what when we were children we used to call a 'tidy' pain; i.e., there must be no mutilation, cutting, etc. 6. Last, one would have to feel very sure of one's own influence ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... motion. I pretended that I could pick out the feathers of particular hens, formerly my pets. I reflected that they had fed me with eggs and broth, and now were going to make my bed so soft; while I had done nothing for them but throw them a handful of oats now and then, or chase them about, or spoil their nests. I was not ashamed of my part; I knew that if I were a hen I should do as a hen does. I just liked to think about things in my ...
— The Promised Land • Mary Antin
... all, do see if there is a good fire upstairs. These country-people are so backward in civilization!" he added. "Alas!" he sighed, "there is but one Paris in the world; what a pity it is I can't transport it to sea! Heavens! spoil-sauce!" he suddenly cried out to the cook; "what makes you put vinegar in that fricassee when you have lemons? And, madame," he added, "you gave me such coarse sheets I couldn't close my eyes all ...
— The Chouans • Honore de Balzac
... Wagram had blown out the flickering light that might have attracted the attention of the pursuers. It was a very elementary precaution, the only one he or Bertrand was able to take. The horses were out in the yard for anyone to see, and the greatest spoil of victory might at any moment fall into the hands of the meanest Prussian soldier out ...
— The Bronze Eagle - A Story of the Hundred Days • Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy
... Bagdat; from which they were carried to some port in the Mediterranean. The more bulky and less valuable articles were conveyed by Arabian merchants to the Red Sea, and thence across the desert and down the Nile to Alexandria. He adds, that ginger and cinnamon, being apt to spoil on shipboard, were from ten to twenty per cent. better in quality, when brought by land carriage, though this ...
— Robert Kerr's General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 18 • William Stevenson
... Raleigh," says the dingy officer to the gay one. "I wonder how, having once escaped from it to Whitehall, you have the courage to come back and spoil that gay suit ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley
... stay up. You've roughed it to-day and been afield. Don't let me spoil your sleep—with a big day ahead. It wasn't lack of sleep that ...
— Red Fleece • Will Levington Comfort
... France's sanguine sand, At beauty's altar to adore, But there the sword had spoil'd the land, And Beauty's daughters were ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine—Vol. 54, No. 333, July 1843 • Various
... fidget the life out of everybody if I'm not just so. I've got the sweetest clothes.—Do you have gay times over here in Norton? Is there a good deal of young society? I love prancing round and having a good time. Poppar says the boys spoil me; there's always a crowd of them hanging round, ready to do everything I want, and to send me flowers and bon-bons. I'm just crazed on bonbons! My state-room was piled full of bouquets and chocolates coming over. I had more than ...
— Flaming June • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... much mustard, it will spoil it. Keep yourself for the partridges. I know they are most excellent. Do you like Bordeaux? Stop a moment, I will get ...
— The Grandee • Armando Palacio Valds
... exercise so much reticence as an ambassadress, that she has given her tongue a holiday ever since. But there is only one possible subject they can have to talk about. And how can we be sure her interference won't spoil everything? She is quite capable of asking what Peter's intentions are. She is the most indiscreet person in the world," said Sarah's mother, ...
— Peter's Mother • Mrs. Henry De La Pasture
... to suggest: "Maybe Luke would be differ'nt if you'd let him go to college. You know, Mr. Mellows, if you'll 'scuse my saying it, there's some natures that are differ'nt from others. You hitch a race horse up to a plow and you spoil a good horse and your field both. Seems to me as if, if Luke got a chance to be a writer or a professor or something, he might turn out to be a wonder. You can't teach a canary bird to be a ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1920 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... funds, secured to the young spendthrift by the transfer of his estate, to grasp at the small remaining portion of his property. Unconsciously, when the tale of Sir Laurence's profligacy met his ear, he clenched his griping hand, as though it already recognized its hold upon the destined spoil, but not a ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. Vol. LIV. • Various
... Miss Bibby, "you don't want to spoil that pretty coat with your porridge. Why, it's your new coat with a pocket in! Let Anna ...
— In the Mist of the Mountains • Ethel Turner
... the cooking as upon the tripe itself," remarked Mrs Janaway, bridling at the thought that her art had been left out of the reckoning; "a bad cook will spoil the best tripe. There are many ways of doing it, but a little milk and a leek is the ...
— The Nebuly Coat • John Meade Falkner
... of these Roudeahs, Beggars, see them, they will run to them and drive them away, offering to beat them with the Poles, whereon they carry their Baskets, saying to them, How can we perform the King's Service to make Ropes of the Hide, if the Weavers hack and spoil it? telling them also, That it is beneath such honourable People as they, to eat such Unclean and Polluted flesh. By these words, and the fear the Weavers are in to be touched by that base People, than which nothing ...
— An Historical Relation Of The Island Ceylon In The East Indies • Robert Knox
... the Christian Piso, we or the lions will have a turn at him yet. These are the fellows that spoil our trade.' ...
— Aurelian - or, Rome in the Third Century • William Ware
... tried to interfere, but he waved her back. "I've come at the right time, and I tell you that you shall not take one cent of the money. I will never leave you lest you should wheedle it from them. I will spoil your game. This is what I intend to do. You and I will set out for Winnipeg to-night, and together we will interview the Commissioner of Police. Do you understand me? I have the whip hand now. And I promise you your silence shall not ...
— The Hound From The North • Ridgwell Cullum
... you good-night. The annoyance you feel at the present moment will not last. You have too much generosity, too much intellect, to allow it to rest long in your bosom; and deeply as I feel this rebuff, I am not going to be so weak as to let it darken and spoil my whole life. No, my hope is too strong and too reasonable to be killed so easily. I shall come to you again, and again, and again. For I know that with you for a wife and companion my life would be a happy one; and not happy only, for that is not everything. An ambitious man looks to ...
— Fan • Henry Harford
... de plantashun was bad, but wid my Black Jack I always made dem have deyself." "That is very true, Aunt Barbara, and they all love you for it. You know, Aunt Barbara, that the Good Book tells us, 'spare the rod and you spoil your child.'" "Missus, dats what I 'luded to all de time. I nebber struc' one ob dem little niggers a lic' amiss in my life, unless I struc' at him and didn't toch him." The old woman here saw a little nigger coming at full tilt, ...
— The Dismal Swamp and Lake Drummond, Early recollections - Vivid portrayal of Amusing Scenes • Robert Arnold
... slow changes of altitude, speed, and direction. Compliments from him mean something, for nobody has better nerve. In the evening Captain Gerard, in command of army aviation, called me and said: 'You are a nervy pilot, all right; you won't spoil our reputation by lack of pluck—quite the contrary. For a beginner!—' and he asked me how long I had been a corporal. Y a bon. My 'coucou' is superb, with its parts all dated in red. You can see them all, for those underneath ...
— Georges Guynemer - Knight of the Air • Henry Bordeaux
... look determined, and snatching down the can of ground coffee, proceeded to prime it, still screaming as loudly as my strong lungs would permit, until the rascal turned tail and stole away through the roof. The thieves usually buried their spoil like dogs, as they were; but this fellow had only time to hide it behind a bush, where it was found on the following ...
— Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands • Mary Seacole |
