"Affirmative" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... affirmative, whereupon he invited me to step upstairs, while I followed him up the wide, well-carpeted staircase and along a corridor on the first floor into a small sitting-room at the rear ...
— Hushed Up - A Mystery of London • William Le Queux
... and drifting away. Her future seemed clear, and she could continue the preparations for her marriage, which was to be celebrated in a fortnight's time; and the friend of Octave who had been asked to act as his best man had answered in the affirmative. ...
— The Champdoce Mystery • Emile Gaboriau
... dissentient minority the reasons for his vote, which were very simple. He thought that good predominated over evil in the bill, and that the majority throughout the whole State of which he was the representative favored the tariff, and therefore he had voted in the affirmative. ...
— Daniel Webster • Henry Cabot Lodge
... extraordinary-looking woman who came into the boat during the night, and who was the most masculine-looking lady I ever saw, came and stood by me, and, seeing me nursing my baby, abruptly addressed me with "Got a baby with you?" I replied in the affirmative, which trouble her eyes might have spared me. After a few minutes' silence, she pursued her unceremonious catechism with "Married woman?" This question was so exceedingly strange, though put in ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble
... been to the Queen's Hall lately?" asked the Chief of me. "I should like to hear some Beethoven or Mozart tonight. Aye, but we're awa'. It'll be yon sprats." He sighed his affirmative again in resignation, and stood regarding the steward bending over the pails on the deck. "What make ye," he asked, "of this war between the Japs and Russia? Come awa' doon, and have a bit talk. I canna' look ...
— London River • H. M. Tomlinson
... prominent and distinguished authorities, when casually confronted with the question whether sexual abstinence is harmless, will at once adopt the obvious path of least resistance and reply: Yes. In only a few cases will they even make any qualification of this affirmative answer. This tendency is very well illustrated by an inquiry made by Dr. Ludwig Jacobsohn, of St. Petersburgh ("Die Sexuelle Enthaltsamkeit im Lichte der Medizin," St. Petersburger Medicinische Wochenschrift, March 17, 1907). He wrote to ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... hush fell upon the school, and presently Janet Wild threw her arms out on the desk before her, let her face fall on them, and sobbed heart-brokenly. The master saw his mistake too late; he gave his head a little half-affirmative, half-negative movement, in that pathetic old way of his; rested his head on one hand, gazed sadly at ...
— While the Billy Boils • Henry Lawson
... the library, I suppose?" he asked of the butler who admitted him; and, on receiving an answer in the affirmative, he dashed unceremoniously into the room, while his mother held up her finger ...
— Not Like Other Girls • Rosa N. Carey
... had "rung up" the Verney house, and inquired if his partner were dining there. The reply was evidently affirmative; and a moment later Kate knew that he was in communication with her son. She sat motionless, her hands clasped on the arms of her chair, her head erect, in an attitude of avowed attention. If she listened she would listen openly: ...
— Sanctuary • Edith Wharton
... rule, and reflecting upon it affords me real pleasure as it did then. On a warm day in summer a young man came into the office with a countenance glowing with ardor, innocence and honesty, and his eyes beaming with enthusiasm. Said he, "Is Mr. Halleck to be found here?" I answered in the affirmative. Continued he, with evidently increased emotion, "Could I see him?"—"You see him now," I replied. He grasped me by the hand with a hearty vigorousness that added to my conviction of his sincerity. Said he, "I am happy, most happy, in ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 26, August, 1880 - of Popular Literature and Science • Various
... hoose, Jean?" she asked, in the tone of one who waited her answer in the affirmative as a preliminary condition of all ...
— Malcolm • George MacDonald
... towards the dead fish. Observing the trembling seaman still in the water holding by the fin, he addressed him with, "Well my lad, you have got a fine fish here,"—to which after a natural reply in the affirmative, he added, "but don't you find it very cold?"—"Yes," replied the shivering sailor, "I'm almost starved. I wish you would allow me to come into your boat until ours arrives." This favor needed no second solicitation; the boat approached the man and he was assisted into it. The fish being ...
— Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy • Anonymous
... patronage of the stage-wagon, the proprietors of which had not decided whether to send it by Buffalo Grove or by another route, which she pointed out to us, at no great distance. The driver, she took care to inform us, was in favor of the former; and the blush with which she replied in the affirmative to our inquiry, "Is he a young man?" explained ...
— Wau-bun - The Early Day in the Northwest • Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie
... taste and temperament, different persons will answer this question differently. Since I am not entering here on any formal argument, but am merely recording my own individual views, I should, speaking for myself, answer this question in the affirmative. I may, indeed, confess that the mere artist in literature—the person for whom literature, as such, is the main interest in life—is a person for whom secretly I have always felt some contempt, even though, for myself personally, ...
— Memoirs of Life and Literature • W. H. Mallock
... rather than conviction, and found in Eclecticism an agreeable variety of points of view; and those who liked to believe a little in everything, and possessing receptive but not steadfast minds were not far from sceptics and who might be called affirmative sceptics in opposition to the negative sceptics: sceptics who say, "Heavens, yes," as opposed to sceptics ...
— Initiation into Philosophy • Emile Faguet
... convert, Patmore is most uninteresting to the controversialist. His mind was altogether concrete, affirmative, and synthetic, with a profound distrust of abstract and analytical reasoning. As we have said, Christianity and, later, Catholicism appealed profoundly to his intellectual imagination in virtue of some of their deeper tenets, for whose sake he took over ...
— The Faith of the Millions (2nd series) • George Tyrrell
... arranging things before her in a way that indicated she had but recently come on duty, replied in the affirmative. ...
— The Sheridan Road Mystery • Paul Thorne
... Anti-Slavery Society took upon themselves the heavy responsibility of convening it. At its close, they invited an expression of the opinion of the delegates, as to the desirableness of again summoning such an assembly. The expression was generally in the affirmative; and, after discussion, a resolution was passed, leaving it to the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, after consulting with the friends of the cause in other parts of the world, to decide this important question, as well as the time and place of its meeting, should ...
— A Visit To The United States In 1841 • Joseph Sturge
... not a negative one, but very affirmative and surely based. The spirit of nature and the natural sciences, those outlaws of an elder day, return in might irresistible. All idle shadows are hunted out by ...
— La Sorciere: The Witch of the Middle Ages • Jules Michelet
... did not take us long to send the remaining bird to join its mate. Taking into consideration the welfare of our comrades, it seemed the best thing for us to do, and we debated between ourselves whether the birds would be missed in the morning, Hedges taking the affirmative and I the ...
— The Discovery of Yellowstone Park • Nathaniel Pitt Langford
... in his footsteps. At the conclusion of the sermon 'the oath' was administered to the Queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The form of swearing was as follows: The Archbishop put certain questions, which the Queen answered in the affirmative, relative to the maintenance of the law and the established religion; and then her Majesty, with the Lord Chamberlain and other officers, the sword of State being carried before her, went to the altar, and laying her right ...
— Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen V.1. • Sarah Tytler
... I began diligently to inquire whether they had been seen. At last a man responded, "Are you a guest from Shih-mun-wan?" I answered in the affirmative. "Are you going to Hai-ning?" "That is my destination." "Then your things have gone on before you; for I was sitting in a tea-shop when a coolie came in, took a cup of tea, and set off for Hai-ning in a great hurry, saying that the bamboo ...
— A Retrospect • James Hudson Taylor
... answer in the affirmative. His introduction into the place, even though his curiosity has been small, was a disappointment. The room had been nicely furnished once, but the carpet and the furniture showed signs of much wear, and the pictures of which Norris had spoken proved to be several of a ...
— Richard Dare's Venture • Edward Stratemeyer
... in the outset of the book the conclusion stated at the end, viz. that all human races are of one species and one family. The great body of the work is, therefore, only accessory and corroborative; and its value would consist not so much in proving the affirmative of the author's thesis, as in placing in a prominent point of view the principal facts known respecting the natural history ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844 • Various
... that she revealed to him something known only to himself—and answered a question which he had that day demanded of God in the privacy of prayer—the question of his legitimate right to the throne. Joan told him that he had asked this question of God, and that she was able to reply to it in the affirmative. ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 of 8 • Various
... called for at close of evening service. The minister supposed me impressed by his discourse (a mistake—he was dull). He came and, placing his hand upon my shoulder, said: 'Do you not want to give your heart to God?' I replied in the affirmative. Then said he, 'Come to the front seat.' They sang and prayed and talked with me. I experienced nothing but unaccountable wretchedness. They declared that the reason why I did not 'obtain peace' was because I was not willing ...
— The Varieties of Religious Experience • William James
... just as fatal to the demonstration. Without darkness light would be useless—universal light as blind as universal darkness. Universal thing and universal no-thing were indistinguishable. Why, then, assume the positive, the immediately affirmative, as alone the ingenious? Is not the mould as shapely as the model? The original ingenuity does not show in bringing light out of darkness, nor in bringing things out of nothing, but in evolving, through the just opposition of light and darkness, this ...
— Memories and Studies • William James
... the affirmative, and the three boys proceeded to grope their way along in silence, until the broad archway of the tunnel's mouth appeared through a fog ...
— The Triple Alliance • Harold Avery
... anticipated, the mother came, and after having run over a string of peccadilloes, for which I ordered a slight penance, I inquired, through the punctured communication on the side of the confessional chair, whether she had not children, to which she answered in the affirmative. I then asked, when her daughter had confessed last. She mentioned a long date, and I commenced a serious expostulation upon the neglect of parents, desiring that her daughter might be brought to confess, or otherwise I should be obliged to inflict a penance ...
— The Pacha of Many Tales • Frederick Marryat
... But I looked in one of Miss Ponto's manuscript song-books and found five faults of French in four words; and in a waggish mood asking Miss Wirt whether Dante Algiery was so called because he was born at Algiers, received a smiling answer in the affirmative, which made me rather doubt about the accuracy ...
— The Book of Snobs • William Makepeace Thackeray
... you would like to marry, and go your way. Ask some question of the first person you meet, and if the answer is affirmative, it indicates that you will marry your choice; if negative, it means you will not. Told by a Norwegian girl ...
— Current Superstitions - Collected from the Oral Tradition of English Speaking Folk • Various
... question "Was the Louisiana Purchase Exposition a success?" the answer must be an unqualified affirmative. The value of any great exposition cannot be measured in dollars and cents any more than it can be measured in pounds and ounces. The great Fair at St. Louis was not projected as a money-making undertaking. ...
— New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904 - Report of the New York State Commission • DeLancey M. Ellis
... arranged accordingly; but at the last he was laid low with fever, and, to his bitter disappointment, forbidden to go. The impetuous Joseph asked if it would be a consolation to his brother if he were to go instead, and, receiving an affirmative answer, he wrote surreptitiously, offering himself, and begging that he might be sent, though his education was not yet finished. The students were not allowed to send out letters till they had been submitted to the Superior, ...
— Heroes Every Child Should Know • Hamilton Wright Mabie
... absolve a penitent, who rejected the teaching set forth in the five propositions of Jansenius, but who maintained a respectful silence on the question whether or not they were to be found in the book /Augustinus/. In July 1701 forty doctors of the Sorbonne gave an affirmative reply to this question. The publication of this reply created such a storm in France that Clement XI. felt it necessary to condemn the decision of the Sorbonne (1703). The papal condemnation was supported by Louis ...
— History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French • Rev. James MacCaffrey
... question that must be answered in the negative—can you indict a whole nation? If such a proceeding as this prosecution against the peaceable procession of the 8th December receives the sanction of your verdict, that question must be answered in the affirmative. It will need only a crown prosecutor, an attorney-general, and a solicitor-general, two judges, and twelve jurors, all of the one mind, while all the other subjects of the Queen in Ireland are of a different mind, and the five ...
— The Wearing of the Green • A.M. Sullivan
... Her preserver turned his eyes toward her; seeing she was awake, he rose from the side of the dying embers he had sedulously kept alive during her slumber, and expressed his hopes that she felt restored. She returned him a grateful reply, in the affirmative; and he quitted her, to rouse his men for their journey to ...
— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter
... the order appointing him commander-in-chief of the Petrograd District, Krasnov asked if they were Bolsheviki. They replied in the affirmativeupon which Krasnov went away; a short time later an officer came and set them free, saying that it was by order of ...
— Ten Days That Shook the World • John Reed
... for both of us. So, don't be uneasy about our getting it. Captain Bracebridge is no snob; but he knows his own interests, and won't refuse such fair request. See! There he is—coming this way. Now for his answer—affirmative, ...
— The Flag of Distress - A Story of the South Sea • Mayne Reid
... that I thought he was mistaken, as I had never the pleasure of meeting him before. He said 'That is quite true, but do you remember having received monthly remittances during the severe pressure of the Famine in Skibbereen?' I answered in the affirmative; and thereupon he said, 'I was your correspondent, I remitted the moneys to you, they were the offerings of a number of the students of ...
— The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 (3rd ed.) (1902) - With Notices Of Earlier Irish Famines • John O'Rourke
... opened; her low inaudible question was answered in the affirmative, and Olga was entering, when the skirt of her dress was held by a projecting nail, and in disengaging it, she caught a glimpse of the astonished countenance beneath the steps. She paused, leaned over the balustrade, threw up both hands with a warning gesture, then laid ...
— Infelice • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson
... stakes and reckless betting. It is of White's that the story is told that a man dropped down before the door insensible, and was taken inside. The members immediately began to bet whether he were dead or not, and when the physician came to bleed him, those on the affirmative side protested. ...
— The Strand District - The Fascination of London • Sir Walter Besant
... present answered in the affirmative. Those who could not possibly accompany the party took almost as much interest in the affair as those intending to go; and there would be heart burnings among the members of Stanhope Troop ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound - A Tour on Skates and Iceboats • George A. Warren
... in favour of the happy individual who should be so fortunate as to awaken them? Then came the doubtful question, whether he might not be that happy man,—a question which fancy endeavoured to answer in the affirmative, by conjuring up all she had said in his praise, with the addition of a comment much more flattering than the text warranted. All that was commonplace, all that belonged to the every-day world, was melted away and obliterated in those dreams of imagination, which only remembered with advantage ...
— Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete • Sir Walter Scott
... have I. Two negatives make an affirmative, and that affirmative is to be uttered by you when I ask if I may tell the bishop that you are willing ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... party at Versailles, viewing the waterworks, a question arose among the gentlemen present, whether the distance from whence they stood to one of the little islands was within the compass of a leap. Goldsmith maintained the affirmative; but, being bantered on the subject, and remembering his former prowess as a youth, attempted the leap, but, falling short, descended into the water, to the great amusement of ...
— Oliver Goldsmith • Washington Irving
... it snowed, and the head eunuch enquired of Her Majesty whether it was her intention to celebrate her birthday at the Summer Palace as usual. As previously explained the Summer Palace was Her Majesty's favorite place of abode; so she replied in the affirmative and arrangements were accordingly made for the celebration to be held there as usual. The head eunuch then brought Her Majesty a list giving the names and ranks of all the Princesses and the names of the wives and daughters ...
— Two Years in the Forbidden City • The Princess Der Ling
... of the Jewish age, when Christ came in his kingdom, I deem it sufficient to establish the fact that the dead are continually rising in this last, this gospel day. But the question presents itself— were any of the human family raised immortal before that period? To this question I give an affirmative answer. I firmly believe, that the dead have been rising immortal from Adam to the present day, for God has never changed the established order of the universe. I believe that the dead are raised without any miracle, in the common acceptance of that term, as much ...
— Twenty-Four Short Sermons On The Doctrine Of Universal Salvation • John Bovee Dods
... was no vote taken. Even had a majority of those present been hostile to the proposed action, it is improbable that any protest would have been made. The clerk's statement that the weight of the Meeting was affirmative, would have been held to settle the matter, as it appeared best to a limited number of those recognised, through their piety and strict living, to be competent to ...
— Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker • S. Weir Mitchell
... perhaps be included under this heading, though there is apparently but little to be said about the matter. When a question is asked, an affirmative reply is indicated by nodding the head, and a negative one by shaking it; and, though I asked if this was not probably the result of association with people who had been among white men, I was told that it was not so. A negative answer is also often expressed by shrugging the shoulders, ...
— The Mafulu - Mountain People of British New Guinea • Robert W. Williamson
... It embodies concepts which any theory of natural philosophy must retain and in some sense must explain. Aristotle asked the fundamental question, What do we mean by 'substance'? Here the reaction between his philosophy and his logic worked very unfortunately. In his logic, the fundamental type of affirmative proposition is the attribution of a predicate to a subject. Accordingly, amid the many current uses of the term 'substance' which he analyses, he emphasises its meaning as 'the ultimate substratum which is no ...
— The Concept of Nature - The Tarner Lectures Delivered in Trinity College, November 1919 • Alfred North Whitehead
... thoughts have turned to bathing fatalities. "Should Land Crabs Learn Swimming" is the subject which she (or, to betray an office secret, he) has selected. Due emphasis on the necessity for university costume in the case of an affirmative reply to the question will be laid by "Paterfamilias," who will contribute the second letter of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 29, 1914 • Various
... concerning the word no? 12. What is remarked of two or more negatives in the same sentence? 13. Is that a correct rule which says, "Two negatives, in English, destroy each other, or are equivalent to an affirmative?" 14. What is the dispute among grammarians concerning the adoption of or or nor after not or no? 15. What fault is found with the opinion of Priestley, Murray, Ingersoll, and Smith, that "either of them may be used with ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown
... considered heretics, and do they not teach very dangerous errors?" Of course an affirmative reply is returned with cogent reasons therefor. At the end of this part there is a prolix recital of the many errors of George Calixtus and his followers. Calov conformed to the causal method of composition. There were two systems ...
— History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology • John F. Hurst
... asked Seguin, indicating a rock that jutted out from the highest ledge of the chasm. I signified in the affirmative, for the question was addressed ...
— The Scalp Hunters • Mayne Reid
... architect's eyes to be put out—they say he was an Italian—so that he could never erect anything similar. According to another version of the same legend, the Tsar asked the originator of this church if he could not erect a still more beautiful one, and upon his reply in the affirmative, he cut off his head, so that Vassili-Blagennoi might remain unrivalled forever. A more flattering exhibition of jealous cruelty cannot be imagined, but this Ivan the Terrible was at bottom a true artist and a passionate dilettante. Such ...
— Russia - As Seen and Described by Famous Writers • Various
... murmured an affirmative, others turned towards Payton, who, too deeply chagrined to speak, nodded sullenly. How willingly at that moment would he have laid the Colonel dead at his feet, and Lemoine, and the whole crew, friends and enemies! He gulped something ...
— The Wild Geese • Stanley John Weyman
... not Sir Thomas would have replied in the affirmative is uncertain. He was opening his mouth to speak, when the curtain at the end of the room heaved, and Lord Dreever burst out like a cannon-ball ...
— The Intrusion of Jimmy • P. G. Wodehouse
... efforts to keep up the spirits of his companions were signally successful. About eight o'clock the waves broke over the ship with renewed violence, but still those on the shore could return no answer in the affirmative to the piercing cry that came from the wreck, "Can't we get a boat?" The voice was that of the gallant sailor already referred to; the others were too much exhausted to utter a word. McIntosh, the pilot from Burghead, expired from sheer cold and exhaustion. ...
— The Lifeboat • R.M. Ballantyne
... looked out in silence—after which he came away. "And why you are." It was almost, in its extremely affirmative effect between them, the note of recrimination; or it would have been perhaps rather if it hadn't been so much more the note of truth. It was sharp because it was true, but its truth appeared to impose it as an argument so conclusive as to permit on neither side a sequel. ...
— The Wings of the Dove, Volume II • Henry James
... without prematurely exhausting the faculties of body or mind?" was one of the chief questions on which his mind was constantly at work, and which in the judgment of some he was disposed to answer too readily in the affirmative. It was with the elder boys, of course, that he chiefly acted on this principle, but with all above the very young ones he trusted to it more or less. Firmly as he believed that a time of trial was inevitable, he believed no less firmly that it might ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education
... subjects in looking at which it seems to you impossible that they should ever see straight? Are there not moods in which it seems to you that they are disposed to see all things out of plumb and in false relations with each other? If you answer these questions in the affirmative, then you will be glad of a hint as to the method of dealing with your friends who have a touch of cerebral strabismus, or are liable to occasional paroxysms of perversity. Let them have their head. ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... Interpretation I can for my Money, and take the Indication of your Silence for the secret Liking of my Person: Therefore, Madam, I will instruct you how to keep your Word inviolate to Sir Francis, and yet Answer me to every Question: As for Example, When I ask any thing, to which you wou'd Reply in the Affirmative, gently Nod your Head—thus; and when in the Negative thus; ((Shakes his Head.) and in the doubtful a tender Sigh, ...
— The Busie Body • Susanna Centlivre
... impelled to open the present examination of the belief in God, by putting the same question in another form. Is the belief in God, as we are so often assured, one of the most important questions that can engage the attention of man? Under certain conditions one can conceive a rational answer in the affirmative. Where the mental and social conditions are such that men seriously believe the incidence of natural forces on mankind to be determined by the direct action of "God," one can appreciate right belief concerning him being treated as of first rate importance. ...
— Theism or Atheism - The Great Alternative • Chapman Cohen
... not express, yet necessarily implies a negative, and virtually repeals the former. For if twenty marks be made qualification sufficient, the former statute which requires twenty pounds is at an end[l]. But if both acts be merely affirmative, and the substance such that both may stand together, here the latter does not repeal the former, but they shall both have a concurrent efficacy. If by a former law an offence be indictable at ...
— Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the First • William Blackstone
... is whether, in the actual employment, and still more in what we may call the administration, of this and other diluents or obstruents of story, the artist has or has not made blunders in his art; and it is very difficult not to answer this in the affirmative. There were many excuses for him. The "guide-book novel" had already, and not so very long before, been triumphantly introduced by Corinne. It had been enormously popularised by Scott. The close alliance ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 - To the Close of the 19th Century • George Saintsbury
... Anti-Federalist throughout, joined the majority on July 26th. North Carolina waited until November 21st, and little Rhode Island, the last State of all, did not come in until May 29, 1790. But, as the adherence of nine States sufficed, the affirmative action of New Hampshire on June 21, 1788, constituted the legal beginning of the United States ...
— George Washington • William Roscoe Thayer
... the conversation turned upon Fanny Kemble and the expected entertainment. "I suppose you are all going," said Mrs. Crane to her boarders. They all answered in the affirmative except Fanny, who was about to reply, when Dr. Lacey interrupted her by saying, "Miss Fanny, will you allow me to accompany you to ...
— Tempest and Sunshine • Mary J. Holmes
... vastly wider, mental, and spiritual horizon, would be added to the wisdom of the individual! In the light of this wisdom would come the discovery, that the virtue of right living, bears the seeds of a perpetuity, which begets true and lasting happiness! An overwhelming answer in the affirmative, from every point of view, to the question, does it ...
— Solaris Farm - A Story of the Twentieth Century • Milan C. Edson
... her husband an hour later, asking if she would see him, she answered in the affirmative, but the bare prospect of the interview threw her into ...
— The Odds - And Other Stories • Ethel M. Dell
... we were at dinner: when Buonaparte expressed a wish to know whether the ships at Brest had hoisted the white flag or not. I sent for the officer of the watch, and desired him to ask the question by telegraph. In a few minutes he returned, with an answer in the affirmative. Buonaparte made no remark upon this information; but asked, with apparent indifference, how the question and answer had been conveyed; and when I explained it to him, he approved highly of the ...
— The Surrender of Napoleon • Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland
... here ask, Is the trade, or rather profession, 'broker of mankind,' also a sacred China custom? I will not ask the queries which would naturally arise in case the question were answered in the affirmative. At present, however, I must say that, custom or no custom, the practice of this profession is prohibited by statute, and it is my duty to meet its ...
— Heathen Slaves and Christian Rulers • Elizabeth Wheeler Andrew and Katharine Caroline Bushnell
... elderly men and fewer boys. All (except, I think, one regiment) are Virginians. As they have nearly always been on detached duty, few of them knew General Longstreet, except by reputation. Numbers of them asked me whether the General in front was Longstreet; and when I answered in the affirmative, many would run on a hundred yards in order to take a good look at him. This I take to be an immense compliment from any soldier on a ...
— Three Months in the Southern States, April-June 1863 • Arthur J. L. (Lieut.-Col.) Fremantle
... answer one who doubts my veracity. If I answered you in the affirmative, you would ...
— The Young Lieutenant - or, The Adventures of an Army Officer • Oliver Optic
... affirmative, she snatched up a light, and leading the way across a narrow yard, she pointed out a small step-ladder outside the building. Giving the candle into the hands of the grave personage who followed her, she left ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 2 (of 2) • John Roby
... he remembered it afterwards. For when Desdemona was gone, Iago, as if for mere satisfaction of his thought, questioned Othello whether Michael Cassio, when Othello was courting his lady, knew of his love. To this the general answering in the affirmative, and adding, that he had gone between them very often during the courtship, Iago knitted his brow, as if he had got fresh light on some terrible matter, and cried, "Indeed!" This brought into Othello's mind the words which Iago had let fall upon entering the room, ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb
... landlady invited me to dine with them, and asked if I belonged to the convent in that place. I told her that I did, for I knew if I told the truth they would suspect me at once. "Do you eat meat?" she asked. I told her I did not. "Do you eat butter on your bread?" I replied in the affirmative, and she gave me a slice of bread and butter, a piece of cheese and a silver cup full of milk. I ate it all, and would gladly have eaten more, for I was very hungry. As I was about to leave, the lady remarked, "There was grease in that cheese, was it a sin for me to give it to you?" I assured her ...
— Life in the Grey Nunnery at Montreal • Sarah J Richardson
... "Don't you find your particular locality in Connecticut a specially rich field for natural observation?" The botanist of New Jersey or the ornithologist of Esopus-on-Hudson is expected to give an affirmative reply to similar questions concerning his chosen hunting-grounds, if, indeed, he does not avail himself of that happy aphorism with which Gilbert White was wont to instruct his questioners concerning the natural-history ...
— My Studio Neighbors • William Hamilton Gibson
... this case '3887 guilders 71/2 cents'. (don't forget the half-cent, for attention to minutiae is one of those characteristics of the Dutch which strikes us at every turn). Presently the Judge asks the eldest of the party whether his name is not 'So-and-so.' The answer being in the affirmative, His Worship nods to the Clerk, who begins to read out in clear ...
— Dutch Life in Town and Country • P. M. Hough
... procedure, withdrew from the assembly, and the Brunswick minister made a counter-protestation, after which he also retired. Then a motion being made, that this dispute should be referred to the decision of the Aulic council at Vienna, it was carried in the affirmative by a majority of fourteen voices. His Prussian majesty's final declaration with regard to this affair was afterwards presented to the diet, and answered in the sequel by a memorial from his Britannic majesty as elector of Hanover. ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... principal representatives found themselves in complete opposition to one another. To give but one example: In April M. Clemenceau was asked whether he approved the project of relieving famine-stricken Russia. His answer was affirmative, and he signed the document authorizing it. His colleagues, Messrs. Wilson, Lloyd George, and Orlando, followed suit, and the matter seemed to be settled definitely. But at the same time Mr. Hoover, who had been the ardent advocate of the ...
— The Inside Story Of The Peace Conference • Emile Joseph Dillon
... his hair trunk, and drew out the letter. There was a slight discussion within him on the abstract question of his right to open it. After turning it over twice, the question was decided in the affirmative. He slit the envelope with his thumb, and brought to light a billet ...
— Round the Block • John Bell Bouton
... portion of a State which deems itself conscious of distinct national sentiment may, as a matter of absolute right, claim to become a separate nation, can be maintained, is an enquiry not so easily answered in the affirmative as is often assumed by modern democrats. What, however, is here insisted upon is not that the principle of nationality is unsound, but that this principle does not cover the demand for Home Rule. A Home Ruler asks not for the political ...
— England's Case Against Home Rule • Albert Venn Dicey
... not unfrequently obliged to borrow of his friends, when his own funds were at a low ebb, and the temptation was strong. "Pray, George," said he one day to Mr G. Nicol, the bookseller to the king, with whom he was very intimate, "have you got any money in your pocket?" Mr N. replied in the affirmative. "Have you got five guineas? Because, if you have, and will lend it me, you shall go halves."—"Halves in what?" inquired his friend.—"Why, halves in a magnificent tiger, which is now dying in Castle Street." Mr Nicol lent the money, and ...
— Heads and Tales • Various
... would result in throwing the only guilt on the primordial cell, or perhaps even on the elementary gases. There is no question of how you came to be wicked, but only this—namely, are you wicked or not? This has been decided in the affirmative, neither can I hesitate for a single moment to say that it has been decided justly. You are a bad and dangerous person, and stand branded in the eyes of your fellow-countrymen with one of the ...
— Selections from Previous Works - and Remarks on Romanes' Mental Evolution in Animals • Samuel Butler
... to a great extent in ignorance as to the inexplicable combination of events which has made it necessary for me to return this affirmative answer to the message of which you are the bearer. I am, however, fully aware that the Earl of Alanmere, whose name I have seen at the foot of this document with the most profound astonishment, is in a position to ...
— The Angel of the Revolution - A Tale of the Coming Terror • George Griffith
... heard Stewart whisper, "Dearest, do you remember that old Castilian air?" The answer was inaudible, but from the long kiss that Stewart pressed upon the lips which replied to him, I judged that the reply was in the affirmative. At last the ship was reached, and the passengers of the boat were safely transferred to the broad, firm deck of the ...
— Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII No. 4, April 1848 • Various
... Hutt our boats had all been wrecked; I had therefore no opportunity of examining whether the estuary of this river was navigable or not; from its size however I should be inclined to the affirmative. The other principal streams which drain this district are the Buller, ...
— Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 2 (of 2) • George Grey
... obliterated. Thus the fine distinction between 'yea' and 'yes,' 'nay' and 'no,' once existing in English, has quite disappeared. 'Yea' and 'Nay,' in Wiclif s time, and a good deal later, were the answers to questions framed in the affirmative. 'Will he come?' To this it would have been replied, 'Yea' or 'Nay,' as the case might be. But 'Will he not come?'—to this the answer would have been, 'Yes,' or 'No.' Sir Thomas More finds fault with Tyndale, that in his translation of the Bible ...
— On the Study of Words • Richard C Trench
... the 10th of January, 1876. By the Constitution it required a vote of two-thirds, but fell short of the number, the ayes being 175, the noes 97. The negative vote was wholly Republican; while the affirmative vote included all the Democratic members together with ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Volume 2 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine
... An affirmative and she started her car for the Hall. Just at the gate they met the black and white roadster. Leslie was ...
— Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore • Pauline Lester
... a negative action would be impossible. Of course if we act negatively then, since the Spirit is always acting affirmatively, we are moving in the opposite direction to it; and consequently so long as we regard our own negative action as being affirmative, the Spirit's action must appear to us negative, and thus it is that all the negative conditions of the world have their root in negative or inverted thought: but the more we bring our thought into harmony with the ...
— The Creative Process in the Individual • Thomas Troward
... letter?" asked the king in a threatening tone; and when Jaschinsky answered in the affirmative, he said: "Give me the letter; I must convince myself with my own eyes that this ...
— Berlin and Sans-Souci • Louise Muhlbach
... leaveth himself without observation, or without hold to be taken, what he is. The second, Dissimulation, in the negative; when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not that he is. And the third, Simulation, in the affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various
... altogether foreign to the subject, to mention a circumstance that happened to-day on board the Resolution. An Indian chief asked Captain Cook at his table if he was a Tata Toa, which mean's a fighting man, or a soldier. Being answered in the affirmative, he desired to see his wounds; Captain Cook held out his right-hand, which had a scar upon it, dividing the thumb from the finger the whole length of the metacarpal bones. The Indian being thus convinced of his being a Toa, put the same question to another gentleman present, but he happened ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr
... other girl," was hovering on her lips. But she did not ask the question. As a matter of fact, she didn't want to hear the answer if it was affirmative. "You don't remember," he said quietly. "I put in some time training recruits not far from here. No, of course you don't remember, because I never told you. It was in between my first seeing you, and the other ...
— I've Married Marjorie • Margaret Widdemer
... place?" cried Dick excitedly; and upon being answered in the affirmative—"Now, then, what shall we ...
— Dick o' the Fens - A Tale of the Great East Swamp • George Manville Fenn
... among those around knew the truth. M. Sabathier, quite scared, had made a questioning sign to his wife, and on being answered by a prolonged affirmative nod, he had returned to his prayers without any rebellion, though he could not help turning pale at the thought of the mysterious almighty power which sent death when life was asked for. The Vignerons, who were very much interested, leaned forward, ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola
... of the Good; he must become virtually free, form a character, and must habitually look upon the necessity of freedom as the absolute measure of his actions. (3) He must become religious; i.e. he must discern that the world, with all its changes, himself included, is only phenomenal; the affirmative side of this insight into the emptiness of the finite and transitory, which man would so willingly make everlasting, is the consciousness of the absolute existing in and for itself, which, in its certainty of its truth, not torn asunder through the process of manifestation, constitutes ...
— Pedagogics as a System • Karl Rosenkranz
... coffee they smilingly touched upon his lightest and most pardonable faults. My heart trembled for its safety. It was a well planned effective process. That night he told me of his love with the air of a man who fully expects a warm response and affirmative answer. Both were bravely denied him. I told him that he was mistaken; I told him he did not, and never would, have for me the grand passion of his life. He said—what else could he say?—"You are wrong; you deeply wrong me. You are plunging my young life, hitherto ...
— The Inner Sisterhood - A Social Study in High Colors • Douglass Sherley et al.
... to Dr. Killmany?" asked an old man, who had been sitting by, eying Mr. Walker with deep concern; and on receiving an affirmative nod, he went on with zeal, if not with discretion: "Then, sir, you might as well knock your own brains out! I regard him, sir, as worse than a highway robber,—a good deal worse! The robber will sometimes spare ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 • Various
... did not reply in the affirmative; he hesitated, he stammered out some vague words; he seemed to be trying to rekindle the half-extinguished flame of his memory. At length, looking at me and shaking his ...
— An Antarctic Mystery • Jules Verne
... two negatives in the first line are equivalent to an affirmative. Prasangatah is explained by the commentator in a slightly different way. Affluence, in consequence of the attachment it generates, stands in the way of Emancipation. Hence, i.e., in consequence of this ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown
... therefore when that I came here, I did expect particular reasons to know by what law, what authority you did proceed against me here. And therefore I am a little to seek what to say to you in this particular, because the affirmative is to be proved, the negative often is very hard to do: but since I cannot persuade you to do it, I shall tell you my reasons as short as I can—My Reasons why in conscience and the duty I owe to God first, and ...
— State Trials, Political and Social - Volume 1 (of 2) • Various
... prepared with a suitable answer, I merely made what I intended to be an affirmative ahem, in doing which a crumb of bread chose to go the wrong way, producing a violent fit of coughing, in the agonies of which I seized and drank off Dr. Mildman's tumbler of ale, mistaking it for my own small beer. The effect of this, my crowning gaucherie, was ...
— Frank Fairlegh - Scenes From The Life Of A Private Pupil • Frank E. Smedley
... know,—commonly to be deceitful, and not unfrequently to be dishonest. The parents, careless or unsuspecting, only make inquiry when they return home if the children have been good and quiet, and of course receive an answer in the affirmative. In the course of a few years the evil consequences begin to show themselves, and then the good folks wonder how or when the seeds of such depravity could have been sown. Many I know will be inclined to smile at the insignificancy of the cause pointed out. ...
— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin
... being the most exceptional of all cases in which criminal heredity may be observed can be investigated for the purposes of discovering the extreme affirmative which the question proposed can give. The answer is an emphatic no. When the "Jukes" intermarried there was, strange as it may seem, almost an entire absence from crime in the family following upon such union. When they married into other families, crime frequently made its appearance. This, at ...
— A Plea for the Criminal • James Leslie Allan Kayll
... not appear concerned, I saw no danger. The Prince was saddled up first, and, seeing him ready, I mounted, the men not being quite ready. The Prince then asked if they were all ready; they answered in the affirmative, and he gave the word, 'Prepare to mount.' At this moment I turned round, and saw the Prince with his foot in the stirrup, looking at the men. Presently I heard him say, 'Mount,' and turning to the men saw them vault into their saddles. At this moment my eyes ...
— South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 6) - From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum - of 9th Oct. 1899 • Louis Creswicke
... the military officers of the militia to come to his lodgings and declare whether they intended to remain in the service of the king of Spain. "The Marquis," writes Laussat to his friend Decres, "went so far as to exact a declaration in the affirmative from two companies of men of color in New Orleans, which were composed of all the mechanics whom that city possessed. Two of these mulattoes complained to me of having been detained twenty-four ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 • Various
... affirmative. "Or rather," I went on, with a meaning look he evidently comprehended, "my son has, and I have made up my mind to know just what deviltry he is up to these days. I can make it worth your while ...
— Room Number 3 - and Other Detective Stories • Anna Katharine Green
... his arm as though her affirmative were a foregone conclusion. She stared at him, wondering where were the limits to this man's audacity. Then, before she could reply, Mrs. Sturgis had answered for her. For Mrs. Sturgis was a born match maker, ...
— Six Feet Four • Jackson Gregory
... Wilson was, of course, in the affirmative, and he promised that he would treat Jack as his ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Frederick Marryat
... tribes, and hence are in much request for services of the most various kinds. It is an interesting question whether this may be due to a dash of Hindu blood; the facial type and the more abundant growth of hair on the face would support an affirmative answer. ...
— The Pagan Tribes of Borneo • Charles Hose and William McDougall
... was busy at my desk, travailing in birth with my sermon for the next Sabbath morning. Strangely enough, it was from the words, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible?" which is at heart no interrogative at all, but the eternal affirmative of all religion, the basis of all faith, the ...
— St. Cuthbert's • Robert E. Knowles
... Greensburg, thirty miles from Pittsburgh, wishing to be absent for two weeks, asked Mr. Brooks if he could not send some one to take his place. Mr. Brooks called me and asked whether I thought I could do the work. I replied at once in the affirmative. ...
— Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie • Andrew Carnegie
... physically or pecuniarily incapable of cavalry service they dismiss him, but if no such affidavit is made the Council vote whether the individual in question is suitable for the purpose or not. If they vote in the affirmative his name is entered on the tablet; if not, he ...
— The Athenian Constitution • Aristotle
... Adah answered in the affirmative, and then hastened to wrap up Willie, glancing again at the carriage, which, now that it was associated with the gentle Anna, looked far better to her than it had at first. She was ready in a moment and descended to the room where Jim, the driver, ...
— Bad Hugh • Mary Jane Holmes
... days of Christ, unfolded before the eyes of its audience the grand scheme of human salvation; the morality on the other hand was not concerned with historical so much as practical Christianity. Its object was to point a moral: and it did this in two ways; either as an affirmative, constructive inculcator of what life should be,—as the portrayer of the ideal; or as a negative, critical describer of the types of life actually existing,—as the portrayer of the real. It approached more nearly to comedy in its latter function, ...
— John Lyly • John Dover Wilson
... quickly observed the sage interpreter of the law. "Oh, you preach the tenets and doctrines of the Presbyterian Church, do you?" An affirmative ...
— Something of Men I Have Known - With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective • Adlai E. Stevenson
... "if she keeps in the notion until the time comes. We've been layin' pipes for the getaway for two weeks. One day she says she will; the same evenin' she says nixy. We've agreed on to-night, and Rosy's stuck to the affirmative this time for two whole days. But it's five hours yet till the time, and I'm afraid she'll stand me up when ...
— The Four Million • O. Henry
... to answer in the affirmative for her daughter. It was plain that Randal had discreetly abstained from mentioning his true connection with them. Would he preserve the same silence if the Captain spoke of his visit to Mrs. Norman, when he and his friend met next? ...
— The Evil Genius • Wilkie Collins
... figure nodded a silent affirmative. Old Jerry drew himself up with an air of injured dignity at that inhospitable slight; he even took one step backward toward the door; but that one step, in the face of his consuming curiosity, was as far as he ...
— Once to Every Man • Larry Evans
... The answer was an affirmative. In fact, almost every worshiper in that chapel had determined to visit the Hammond tavern as soon as the service was ...
— Keziah Coffin • Joseph C. Lincoln
... this 'Instance' has been subjected to the philosophical tests, and that is the reason that all those dazzling externals of majesty, which make that 'IDOL CEREMONY' are wanting here; that is the reason that his crown has turned to weeds. This is the popular affirmative the Poet is dealing with; but it stands on the scientific 'Table of Review,' and the result of this inquiry is, that it goes to 'the table of NEGATIONS.' And the negative table of science in these questions is Tragedy, ...
— The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded • Delia Bacon
... There was here quite a lively little treble knock; and when the old man said, "But I loved thee better than all the world, Eliza," the affirmative ...
— The Lock and Key Library • Julian Hawthorne, Ed.
... course, understood a word he said, except, indeed her name; but the tone of his voice was interrogatory, and seemed to expect an affirmative answer, which she gave in three languages, emphasizing the ''ess' with a nod of her head, as if greatly pleased ...
— Tracy Park • Mary Jane Holmes
... clearly means "I almost wished to have that"; but "mi volis preskaux havi tiun" might mean either "I almost wished to have that," or more probably "I wished almost to have that." An example of permissible variation in the position of adverbs is shown in questions to which an affirmative answer is expected. Such questions may be put in the form of a statement, followed by "cxu ne" (instead of having "cxu" introduce the sentence, with "ne" ...
— A Complete Grammar of Esperanto • Ivy Kellerman
... moment's delay I sent a reply in the affirmative, and, after searching in the "A.B.C.," found that I had a train at three o'clock from King's Cross. This I took, and after an anxious journey arrived duly at the Manor, all the blinds of which ...
— The Seven Secrets • William Le Queux
... have been bestowed in the United States of America on the question whether the Slave was in the early stages of society a recognised member of the Family. There is a sense in which an affirmative answer must certainly be given. It is clear, from the testimony both of ancient law and of many primeval histories, that the Slave might under certain conditions be made the Heir, or Universal Successor, of ...
— Ancient Law - Its Connection to the History of Early Society • Sir Henry James Sumner Maine
... 'eaven, Mr. Moggs," said the leading member of the deputation, "but everybody don't, 'cause things ain't as they ought to be." There was no answer to be made to this. Ontario could only strike his forehead and think. It was clear to him that he could not give an affirmative answer that night, and he therefore, with some difficulty, arranged an adjournment of the meeting till the following afternoon at 2 P.M. "We must go down by the 4.45 express to-morrow," said the leading member of the deputation, who even ...
— Ralph the Heir • Anthony Trollope
... through all my vicissitudes I was never tempted to stray into such blasphemous imaginations. Fool as I have been, and fool as I have declared myself upon the forefront of this very book, I have never said in my heart, THERE IS NO GOD; but much and loudly have maintained the affirmative. And although I have been sadly, wickedly, detestably errant from His way, there is one divine precept which I have never failed to keep, and that is, LOVE ONE ANOTHER. All other affections, additions, accidents, accessories of men, however, ...
— The Fool Errant • Maurice Hewlett
... at an early day, given an invitation to the Rev. Charles Clarence, A.M., of New Jersey, and his answer had been affirmative; yet for political reasons we had been obliged to invite competitors, or make them, and we found and created "a ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume III. (of X.) • Various
... truth, my difficulties increase and magnify as I draw towards the period, when, according to the common belief, it will be necessary for me to give a definitive answer in one way or other. Should circumstances render it, in a manner, inevitably necessary to be in the affirmative, be assured, my dear sir, I shall assume the task with the most unfeigned reluctance, and with a real diffidence, for which I shall probably receive no credit from the world. If I know my own heart, nothing short of a conviction ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5) • John Marshall
... countenance, with large hands and broad shoulders, but a slouching awkward gait, which made him look far less intelligent than he really was. As he had always borne a good character, my father promised to learn if Captain Collyer would take him. The answer was in the affirmative. Behold, then, Toby Bluff and me about to commence our career on the ...
— Marmaduke Merry - A Tale of Naval Adventures in Bygone Days • William H. G. Kingston
... nodded astutely at each other, and the men exchanged shrewd affirmative grunts. "She's goin' to marry Lot to pay off Burr," they all agreed. ...
— Madelon - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... that here he was in the kitchen alone with Martha Bagley, discussing the very delicate subject. But he was actually no closer to his problem of becoming a participant than he'd been an hour ago in the living room. It was one thing to daydream the suggestion when you can also daydream the affirmative response, but it was another matter when the response was completely out of your control. James was not old enough in the ways of the world to even consider outright asking; even if he had considered it, he did not know how ...
— The Fourth R • George Oliver Smith
... world?—are you as happy in poverty as in wealth, and are you independent of social esteem? Are you bent on the very highest and most unselfish ideals of life and conduct? I do not say you are not; I merely ask if you ARE. If your answer is in the affirmative, do not give the lie to your creed by your daily habits, conversation and manners; for this is what thousands of professing Christians do, and the clergy ...
— The Life Everlasting: A Reality of Romance • Marie Corelli
... company of artists, the conversation turned on the subject, whether self-taught men could arrive at the perfection of genius combined with instruction. A German musician maintained the affirmative, and gave himself as an example. "I have," said he, "made a fiddle, which turns out as good as any Cremona I ever drew a bow over, all out of my own head; aye, and I have got wood enough left to ...
— The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; • Various
... displeasure, were not unknown to Hugh. A civil declination was on his lips; but keenly searching the shrivelled face leering into his own, Hugh saw written there something that compelled consideration, challenged a refusal. Promptly and in affirmative ...
— Nedra • George Barr McCutcheon
... had but whispered an affirmative response, when Wegg came stumping in. 'Partner,' said that gentleman in ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... Government requires an immediate and affirmative reply on these four points, before five o'clock, p.m. on Wednesday, October 11th, and it is added that should a satisfactory reply not have reached within that period, it will, to its great regret, be compelled ...
— Boer Politics • Yves Guyot
... little narrator with the question: 'Do you mean the nut-tree in Dorbstadt?' and, receiving an answer in the affirmative, he cried: 'I, Master, I am that old carpenter, and during my last summers, I had no greater pleasure than to sit by the Fresh Spring under the nut-tree, and while I smoked my pipe to think of my old wife, whom I was soon to ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers |
