"Better" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... nature of Samoans,' said he. Well, I'll find a landing-place, I thought; and presently I said, 'Now we are going to land there.' - 'We can but try,' said the bland Sale, with resignation. Never saw a better landing-place in my life. Here the boat joined us. My mother and Sale continued in the canoe alone, and Belle and I and Tauilo set off on foot for Malie. Tauilo was about the size of both of us put together and a piece over; she used us like a mouse with children. ...
— Vailima Letters • Robert Louis Stevenson
... return home, he found General Butzou in better spirits, still poring over his journal. This book seemed to be the representative of all which had ever been dear to him. He dwelt upon it and talked about it with a doating eagerness bordering ...
— Thaddeus of Warsaw • Jane Porter
... that must be experienced to be understood. When he talked, he held you, and your own opinions became nothing—stupidities on your lips. He had a dream, and in conversation with him, all other things dropped away and nothing was of importance but that dream. A dream? Possibly disease was the better word. And ...
— Border, Breed Nor Birth • Dallas McCord Reynolds
... entreaty. What have you ever done for her and what have you to offer her? She is our daughter, and needless to say we shall still take care of her, for no one believes you capable of it, even in that miserable place, and, of course, in time she will return to her better wisdom, her home, and her duty. I need scarcely say we have given up the happy months we had planned to spend in Dresden. Henry and I can only stay at home to pray that her preposterous mania will wear itself out in short order, as she will find herself unfitted for the ...
— The Gentleman From Indiana • Booth Tarkington
... music you want, I know better music than fiddles, and that's harps,' he said. 'Saw! saw! The only time as ever I liked a fiddle was when the fellow snabbed at the strings with his ...
— Gone to Earth • Mary Webb
... to show you a sketch of Abbotsford Sophy has made—better than any description. Besides the Abbey of Melrose, we have seen many interesting places in this neighbourhood. To-day we have been a delightful drive through Ettrick Forest, and to the ruins of Newark—the hall of Newark, where the ladies bent their necks of snow to hear the Lay of the Last ...
— The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Vol. 2 • Maria Edgeworth
... the enclosed meadow near Brieg, whence three days later the splendidly daring South-American aviator started on his flight across the Alps, only to die after victory—a hero, whose courage and fatal triumph were worthy of a better cause. After some hours, passing many a black-timbered mountain village—the houses of which, set on stone piles, are the direct descendants of the pile-supported lake dwellings of the Stone Age on the ...
— More Science From an Easy Chair • Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester
... internal membrane of the nostrils may be kept always moist, for the better perception of odours, there are two canals, that conduct the tears after they have done their office in moistening and cleaning the ball of the eye into a sack, which is called the lacrymal sack; and from which there is a duct, that opens into the nostrils: ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. I - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin
... by the very reverend father Pedro Murillo on his map. [68] This, together with the account of the royal officials for the year 1735, are the citations that I offer for the proof of my account, if there should be any discrepancy between it and others. I reflect that no one can give a better account of the treasury than he who has continual care of it. It is doubtless true that all or any of them may have unavoidable errors; for the Indians are continually removing, dying, or absenting themselves. Consequently, I judge that the number of souls, of those who are at this time reputed ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol 28 of 55) • Various
... possession had been gained of the ship, and every thing prepared to set fire to her, a number of launches were seen rowing about the harbor. This determined Lieutenant Decatur to remain on board the frigate, from whence a better defence could be made than from on board the ketch. The enemy had already commenced firing on them from their batteries and castle, and from two corsairs that were lying near. Perceiving that the launches did not attempt to approach, he ordered the ship should be set on ...
— Thrilling Stories Of The Ocean • Marmaduke Park
... coppers jingling in them. Still there was an honest livelihood to be made, and grandmother and mother contrived to make it. Poor grandmother, however, before long fell ill, as she said she should, and then all the work fell on mother. Father got better, and was able sometimes to go out with the wherry, but grandmother got worse and worse, and mother had to attend ...
— Peter Trawl - The Adventures of a Whaler • W. H. G. Kingston
... build palaces for them, and hire servants to feed and tend them, while the bright, ambitious children of the poor among you, struggle and suffer for mental advancement. How deplorably short-sighted are the wise ones of your world. Truly it were better in your country to be born an idiot than a poor genius." She sighed and ...
— Mizora: A Prophecy - A MSS. Found Among the Private Papers of the Princess Vera Zarovitch • Mary E. Bradley
... he will use his best exertions in the investigation of those matters which you have confided to him, and should you remain here at present, or return again after a short absence, I trust we shall find means to become better acquainted, and to convince you of the interest I feel, and the real satisfaction it would afford me to contribute in any way to your comfort and happiness. I will only now add my thanks for the little packet which I received with your letter, and I must confess that the letter has so entirely engaged ...
— Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey • Washington Irving
... said he, not speaking to me, I believe this little slut has the power of witchcraft, if ever there was a witch; for she enchants all that come near her. She makes even you, who should know better what the world is, think her an ...
— Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded • Samuel Richardson
... a player of Punch, to whose wife he enacts Romeo with better grace, and during one of the representations, the married people break each others heads, and Vidocq runs off during the affray. He then becomes assistant to a quack doctor, and the favoured swain of an actress; ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. - Volume XII, No. 347, Saturday, December 20, 1828. • Various
... turned to the man. "Run along back," he said, "and try to do better next time. I left ...
— The Silver Crown - Another Book of Fables • Laura E. Richards
... creates it—to petition against the exercise of a power that is, annihilates it. As southern gentlemen are partial to summary processes, pray, sirs, try the virtue of your own recipe on "exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever;" a better subject for experiment and test of the prescription could not be had. But if the petitions of the citizens of the District give Congress the right to abolish slavery, they impose the duty; if they confer constitutional authority, ...
— The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus • American Anti-Slavery Society
... relieved from the various penalties of desertion, bigamy, adultery, etc. Some seized the opportunity to desert their wives and children and acquire new help-meets. While much suffering resulted from the desertion, as a rule, the negro mother alone supported the children better than did the ...
— History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia • James W. Head
... In my opinion, this is the way we should handle the case: it would look better for me to appear in the matter than you; she might think you were hard hit and did it more out of jealousy than ...
— Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi • Plautus Titus Maccius
... furnished by the Exposition Company following this correspondence did not seem to the Commission to be sufficiently explanatory of the financial condition of the exposition, and with a view of obviating this difficulty, and of insuring better results in the future, the Commission on March 13, 1903, appointed a special auditing committee, consisting of Messrs. Scott, Thurston, and Miller, to audit the books and accounts of the Exposition Company up to April 1, 1903. Mr. Scott, as chairman, was authorized by the following ...
— Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission • Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
... One of the plans which had formerly been discussed and abandoned might be resumed. The usurper might be set upon at Hyde Park Corner on his way to his chapel. Charnock was ready for any enterprise however desperate. If the hunt was up, it was better to die biting and scratching to the last than to be worried without resistance or revenge. He assembled some of his accomplices at one of the numerous houses at which he had lodgings, and plied there hard with healths to the King, to the Queen, to the Prince, and to the Grand ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 4 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... levelling is a SERVILE PRINCIPLE. It leads to practical passive obedience far better than all the doctrines which the pliant accommodation of theology to power has ever produced. It cuts up by the roots, not only all idea of forcible resistance, but even of civil opposition. It disposes men to an abject submission, not by opinion, which ...
— Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke. • Edmund Burke
... Not like her! You'd better know what you're talking about, if you're going to talk," said Gypsy, ...
— Gypsy's Cousin Joy • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
... Colonial Office rank)—however, it is difficult to be so observant of nice distinctions—X. next paid a visit to Messrs. John Little and Co. Every one who has been to Singapore has been to John Little's, for it is better known to the dwellers in that city than even Whitely to Londoners. Whitely has rivals, John Little has none. From this famous provider of necessaries and superfluities to the hospitable club is but ...
— From Jungle to Java - The Trivial Impressions of a Short Excursion to Netherlands India • Arthur Keyser
... about his family she was inclined to think that he had no relations and that he came of people anything but aristocratic. He had worked his way to the front by sheer talent and energy, and she had the good sense to think better of him for that, and not less well of ...
— Fair Margaret - A Portrait • Francis Marion Crawford
... perhaps thirty or forty feet long. We shall be able to see better soon. He will come up again, and very likely nearer us, where those ...
— Madam How and Lady Why - or, First Lessons in Earth Lore for Children • Charles Kingsley
... against hope, grew better. He had a fine constitution, so that, once on the mend, he went straight forward to recovery. Soon he was pottering about downstairs. During his illness his wife had spoilt him a little. Now he wanted her to continue. He often put his band to his head, pulled down the comers of his mouth, ...
— Sons and Lovers • David Herbert Lawrence
... was a London engraver in the first half of the nineteenth century. He worked chiefly for the "calendars" and "annuals" of his time, and did notable work for the general book trade of the better class.] ...
— A Short History of Monks and Monasteries • Alfred Wesley Wishart
... is difficult. Hence the cow. She seemed to make things easier. She was so familiar, so solid, that surely the truths that she illustrated would in time become familiar and solid also. Is the cow there or not? This was better than deciding between objectivity and subjectivity. So at Oxford, just at the same time, one was asking, "What do our rooms look ...
— The Longest Journey • E. M. Forster
... doubt, 'Tis Robin, or some sprite that walks about. 'Strike him,' quoth he, 'and it will turn to air— Cross yourselves thrice and strike it.'—'Strike that dare,' Thought I, 'for sure this massy forester, In strokes will prove the better conjuror.' But 'twas a gentle keeper, one that knew Humanity and manners, where they grew, And rode along so far, till he could say, 'See, yonder Bosworth stands, ...
— Letters On Demonology And Witchcraft • Sir Walter Scott
... substituting electric fans. In warships the fan ought to be placed where room can be found for it low down in the ship, far below the water line. An electrically driven horizontal fan, with its motor, can be got into the thickness of a deck with its beams, if needs be. This would clearly be better than depending on a flimsy construction, which would certainly be greatly damaged, if not entirely shot away, in action. If clear decks are wanted, the windsail is about as inconvenient as it is ugly, and that is saying a ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896 • Various
... my arrival last evening. There must be some anachronism in the date, for you left New-York on the 21st. I learn, however, that you arrived, were well, and had danced. Lord, how I should have liked to see you dance. It is so long; how long is it? It is certain that you dance better than anybody and looked better. Not a word of the Spring waters, ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis
... boy," they said, "the Keeper of the Key is also our enemy. We were created for something better than this narrow shaft. We cry out in bitter pain the long hours ...
— Waysiders • Seumas O'Kelly
... succulent and now rapidly growing celery earthed up. The fields of corn were watched, and as fast as the kernels within the husks—now becoming golden-hued—were glazed, the stalks were cut and tied in compact shocks. The sooner maize is cut, after it has sufficiently matured, the better, for the leaves make more nutritious fodder if cured or dried while still full of sap. From some fields the shocks were wholly removed, that the land might be plowed and seeded with grain and grass. Buckwheat, used merely as a ...
— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe
... a picture; and he had so thoroughly absorbed the methods of various painters that he could not sit down at his easel in the presence of his model without asking himself: Shall I "do" her a la Gainsborough, or, better still, in the romantic and mysterious manner of M. Delacroix, with fierce sunsets, melting moons, guitars, bloodshed, balconies, and the cries of them that are assassinated ...
— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker
... Still better proof of the slight influence of the Federation upon government is furnished by the vicissitudes of its anti-injunction bills in Congress. The Federation had been awakened to the seriousness of the matter of the injunction ...
— A History of Trade Unionism in the United States • Selig Perlman
... you get as old as I am, you will discover how much better and greater facts are than theories. It's all very well ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 62, December, 1862 • Various
... me better than to expect me to faint or become hysterical, or anything silly like that! I was certainly shocked when I came down to-night, because—well, it was all ...
— The Yellow Claw • Sax Rohmer
... at her, but over her head at the Principal, who was rising from his chair with every indication of relief on his face." Nothing could be better," he said. "That will be just right—every one will be satisfied. And I'll just say for the sake of discipline that little Judith shan't come back to school till she has done her penance. Of course she can get it all done before supper-time tonight. All our families live in the vicinity ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... was singed almost naked. His wretched tail seemed little better than a piece of wire filed off to a point, and he vented his misery in piteous squeaks as the sympathetic Varley confided him tenderly to the care of his mother. How Fan managed to cure him no one can tell, but cure him she did, for, in the course of a few weeks, ...
— The Dog Crusoe and His Master - A Story of Adventure in the Western Prairies • Robert Michael Ballantyne
... as he died in the next year, 1661. His writings are very numerous, and some of them are still read. Among these are Good Thoughts in Bad Times, Good Thoughts in Worse Times, and Mixt Contemplations in Better Times. The bad and worse times mark the progress of the civil war: the better times ...
— English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History - Designed as a Manual of Instruction • Henry Coppee
... to "shall not" now? The cuckoo's changed his tune; but I can't say I like the new note better: it's too harsh: The gowk's grown croupy. But, lass, I never thought You'd be harsh with me: yet even you've turned raspy ... First ...
— Krindlesyke • Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
... what I was thinking of. As he has done so well by Smith, I think I had better have him at once. His terms are ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen
... will answer the question, they become a pest to society, each a demoralizer of others, living upon the public—as tramps, begging impostors, thieves, teachers of thieves, and cost the country more than five times their number born under other and better circumstances. God grant that spiritual light, philosophical light, and scientific light united, may enable ...
— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin
... STINGO he both brewed and sold, Nor did one knavish act to get his Gold. He played through Life a varied comic part, And knew immortal HUDIBRAS by heart. READER, in real truth, such was the Man, Be better, wiser, laugh ...
— In Search Of Gravestones Old And Curious • W.T. (William Thomas) Vincent
... than in cutting of them down. View but the place where a fine tree stands, what an emblem does it afford of present beauty and of future use; examine the spot after the noble ornament shall have been felled, and see how desolate it will appear. Perhaps there is not a better method of inducing youth to have an early inclination for planting, than for fathers, who have a landed estate, to persuade those children who are to inherit it, as soon as they come to years of discretion, to make a small nursery, and to let them have the management of ...
— On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening, • Samuel Felton
... a moment the man got the better of Mr. Muir. What a deliverance was there! This was the man who had preached and prayed for the Government till more than once he had been invited to march out with the soldiers as their chaplain to battle, opening his doors to ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 77, March, 1864 • Various
... wounds the bullets were often better removed; but when in dangerous positions, as sunk deeply in the chest, abdomen, or pelvis, they were best left, unless some very special indication for removal existed. Large fragments of shell always ...
— Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 • George Henry Makins
... all assured and established, a certain amount of damage must be expected, and will inevitably result; and it is very evident that for the aforesaid reasons it is necessary sooner or later to undertake this expedition for the preservation and security of these regions. It is also better not to postpone it, and not to wait until that place has greater fortification, strength, and defense, thereby rendering its conquest more difficult and costly. I conclude, Sire, by saying that as God and your Majesty have sent Don Pedro de Acuna to this ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume XI, 1599-1602 • Various
... heard any thing about him, which has taken you very much by surprise? I have a serious reason for asking this. I will tell you what it is, the moment you are able to see me. Until then, one word of answer is all I expect. Send word down—Yes, or No. A thousand apologies—and pray get better soon!" ...
— Man and Wife • Wilkie Collins
... style (simpler now than when he was under the immediate influence of Dickens, if more slipshod than when repressed by Landor) is not in essentials better or worse than usual. It is not always clear nor always idiomatic. On page 120 he tells us that "Scott did not care to enquire if it was likely that stories of the kind referred to should have contributed ...
— The Function Of The Poet And Other Essays • James Russell Lowell
... sorry for them; but history will not allow us to partake of this delusion. According to all appearances, if the apostate monk had found himself in the place of Torquemada, the Judaizers would not have been in a better position. What, then, was the system advised by Luther, according to Seckendorff, one of his apologists? "Their synagogues ought to be destroyed, their houses pulled down, their prayer-books, the Talmud, and even the books of the Old Testament to be taken from them; ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8 - The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation • Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
... and invoking His protecting care. The Apostle's heart runs over in his last words (vs. 32-35). He falls back for himself, in the prospect of having to cease his care of the Church, on the thought that a better Guide will not leave it, and he would comfort the elders as well as himself by the remembrance of God's power to keep them. So Jacob, dying, said, 'I die, but God shall be with you.' So Moses, dying, said, 'The Lord hath said unto me, thou shalt not ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts • Alexander Maclaren
... dust again. Who knows that the breath of man goes upward, and that the breath of the beast goes downward to the earth? Who, indeed, my most wise ancestor? Not I, certainly. Raphael Aben-Ezra, how art thou better than a beast? W hat pre-eminence hast thou, not merely over this dog, But over the fleas whom thou so wantonly cursest? Man must painfully win house, clothes, fire.... A pretty proof of his wisdom, when every flea has the wit to make my blanket, without any labour of his own, ...
— Hypatia - or, New Foes with an Old Face • Charles Kingsley
... for that is the revelation of the mind and will of God, both as to the truth of what is either in himself or ways, and also as to what he requireth and expecteth of thee, either concerning faith in, or obedience to, what he hath so revealed. Now for thy better performing of this, I shall give thee in brief ...
— Miscellaneous Pieces • John Bunyan
... drinks for principles of socialism, and doin' so happened to display my roll. Murdock slipped away and made talk with a friend, then, when Heegan had left, he steers me out the back way into an alley. 'Short cut,' says he 'to another and a better place.' ...
— Pardners • Rex Beach
... woman who taught Newton the A B C, which after all he says he hesitates not to call Newton's Principia? I was lately fatiguing myself with going through a volume of fine words by L'd Thurlow, excellent words, and if the heart could live by words alone, it could desire no better regale, but what an aching vacuum of matter—I don't stick at the madness of it, for that is only a consequence of shutting his eyes and thinking he is in the age of the old Elisabeth poets—from thence I turned to V. Bourne—what a sweet unpretending pretty-mannered matter-ful creature, ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb IV - Poems and Plays • Charles and Mary Lamb
... hard days when her story-telling had to be a large factor in their home-life; and also for a book of their plays and exploits, impossible to be embodied in the continued series of their history, so that all who loved the "Five Little Peppers" might the better study the influences ...
— Five Little Peppers Abroad • Margaret Sidney
... said Media, "keep your treasure to yourself. Without authority, and a full right hand, Righteousness better be silent. Mardi's religion must seem to come direct from Oro, and the mass of you mortals endeavor it not, except for a consideration, ...
— Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II (of 2) • Herman Melville
... For better or worse, in 1975 and the years immediately succeeding, we will be living on a planet divided into some 140 politically sovereign states. In view of the widespread pressure toward self-determination, the number of sovereign states ...
— Civilization and Beyond - Learning From History • Scott Nearing
... ecstatic pleasure. Then came a change,—a year or two with a crippled wing—life, though not abjectly wretched, on the whole a burden, and then the end. You can easily conceive—you can ardently desire—a better lot, but judge fairly the lights and shades of what has been. Does not the happiness on the whole exceed the evil? Can you honestly say that this life has been a curse and not a blessing?—that it would have been better if it had never been called out of nothingness?—that ...
— The Map of Life - Conduct and Character • William Edward Hartpole Lecky
... the steam. This was the girl who had lingered in the lane to help the boy pick watercress, to gather a flower, to listen to a thrush, to bask in the sunshine. Open air and green fields were to her life itself. Heart miseries are always better borne in the open air. How just, how truly scientific, to shut ...
— The Life of the Fields • Richard Jefferies
... only himself to blame. The temptation of the future had beguiled him from the present necessity. He slid into his seat, conveniently protected, by the broad back of Tubby Banks, from the searching gaze of Lucius Cassius Hopkins, better known as the Roman, who presently would number him among the flunked. Then when the attack centered among the R's and S's, across the room, he drew forth a pencil and attacked the problem of a practical foot regulator. But immediately the deplorable deficiency of his education ...
— Skippy Bedelle - His Sentimental Progress From the Urchin to the Complete - Man of the World • Owen Johnson
... her father on this difficulty, so slight to any but an inexperienced girl. He told her there must be a report of the trial in the newspapers, and the report would probably mention the counsel; she had better consult a file. ...
— Foul Play • Charles Reade
... deal better," said he, "to avoid a row. They would moan and wail and make such a fuss, if they knew ...
— Step by Step - or, Tidy's Way to Freedom • The American Tract Society
... from the old native themes of song to subjects less fitted for poetry, or with which the poetry of the time was not yet skilled to deal. The old poetry fitted the old heroic themes with which it had grown up; and now it throve better on apocryphal and legendary fables than on the verities of the faith which were rather beyond its strength. In the new zeal the old vein of poetry was lost or neglected, and its place was ...
— Anglo-Saxon Literature • John Earle
... tastes better than to receive praise from those who are themselves wise and capable; and the boy had certainly never felt so happy as he did when the wild goose and the stork talked about him ...
— The Wonderful Adventures of Nils • Selma Lagerlof
... of a better parish, in case of greater diligence, set before him by his Bishop, on the music of such a promise, like one bit by a 'tarantula', we should probably soon see him in motion, and serving God, (O shameful!) for the sake of Mammon, as if his torpid ...
— Coleridge's Literary Remains, Volume 4. • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
... upside down in his teeth, to keep the rain out of the bowl. I don't know why I noticed everything he did, and remember it now; but somehow I felt sorry for him, and I kept wondering whether there was anything I could say that would make him feel better. But I didn't think of anything, and as it was broad daylight I went aft again, for I guessed that the old man would turn out before long and order the spanker set and the helm up. But he didn't turn out before seven bells, just as the clouds broke and showed ...
— Man Overboard! • F(rancis) Marion Crawford
... tell? for that. It was quite true, he said, he had contested Dundalk as a Home Ruler, and, of course, he was a Home Ruler, but he advised us to ask Dr. Commins to be our chairman, as being so much better known than himself. We did ask "The Doctor," and, kindly and genial as we ever found him, he at ...
— The Life Story of an Old Rebel • John Denvir
... of me; I leave you in a world and in a kingdom full of my enemies. Show yourselves superior to adversity, and remember never to think yourselves better than you are, remembering ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... scenes assume a new aspect, new combinations of beauty and grandeur being the result of the vantage ground he has obtained. Nothing more is attempted than what others, with the same opportunities, might have done as well—perhaps better. When Columbus broke the egg—if we may be excused the arrogance of the simile—all that were present could have done the same; and some, no doubt, might have ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) • John Roby
... to those in the yard. The danger appeared to him to be so great that he was half inclined to abandon the enterprise. It would certainly be weary work to be shut up there for perhaps a year while his friends were fighting the battles of his country; but it would be better after all to put up with that than to run any extreme risk ...
— With Lee in Virginia - A Story of the American Civil War • G. A. Henty
... lady in a much better humour than when he left her, on finding that the house belonged to a man of quality, who had received him so courteously. As he sat down to table again, he said, Madam, I beg a thousand pardons for my rudeness; I was vexed that ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Volume 1 • Anonymous
... to the theory, construction and operation of the modern flying machine. With this object in view the wording is intentionally plain and non-technical. It contains some propositions which, so far as satisfying the experts is concerned, might doubtless be better stated in technical terms, but this would defeat the main purpose of its preparation. Consequently, while fully aware of its shortcomings in this respect, the authors have no apologies ...
— Flying Machines - Construction and Operation • W.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell
... I was ordered to bring back as soon as I had eat the tart. Henry Lenox was remarkably taken with the look of this tart, and offered to keep it for me till I wanted it, alleging that his room, which was a north light, would keep it much better than mine, on which the sun shone the hottest part of the day. I accepted the offer, and saw him put it into his cupboard. I went immediately to invite two or three of my intimates to partake of it in the evening in my own room, and thought I could do no less than ask ...
— Forgotten Tales of Long Ago • E. V. Lucas
... reflection alternately usurp the mind; remorse succeeded dissipation, and indulgences offered the soporific to remorse. The friends of the two imagined that Algernon was, or would become, his evil genius. In reality, Edward was the perilous companion. He was composed of better stuff. Algernon was but an airy animal nature, the soul within him being an effervescence lightly let loose. Edward had a fatally serious spirit, and one of some strength. What he gave himself up to, he could believe to be correct, ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... in the very nick of time," the man replied. "But had we not better be moving again? We must ...
— Mademoiselle of Monte Carlo • William Le Queux
... [the forfeits in a barber's shop] [Warburton had explained that a list of forfeitures were posted in barber shops to warn patrons to keep their hands off the barber's surgical instruments.] This explanation may serve till a better is discovered. But whoever has seen the instruments of a chirurgeon, knows that they may be very easily kept out of improper hands in a very small box, or ...
— Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare Vol. I Comedies • Samuel Johnson
... being of so exceedingly desperate a character, that only as a very last resource would its adoption be justifiable. Nevertheless, we determined to take such measures as were possible for the carrying out of either scheme in the event of nothing better ...
— The Rover's Secret - A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba • Harry Collingwood
... falling upon them, overthrew their braves and slew of them some two thousand riders, whilst not one of them knew what was to do nor with whom he fought. Then said one of them to other, "Verily, the King is slain; so with whom do we wage war? Indeed ye flee from him; but 'twere better ye enter under his banners, or not one of you will be saved." Thereupon all dismounted and doffing that which was upon them of war-gear, came before Al-Abbas and proffered him allegiance and sued for his protection. So ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton
... responding to his remonstrances with threats and oaths. I thought this a fine opportunity to read my savages a lecture on the advantages of discipline and regular pay. I asked them whether they were not now much better off than when employed by their own countrymen, and whether they expected to be treated as regular soldiers, and still be allowed to plunder the inoffensive inhabitants? One of the men, who was evidently ...
— A Peep into Toorkisthhan • Rollo Burslem
... Caron, the vivandiere of the Third Corps. Blood o' my body, I believe it's better—almost!" said Lagroin, nodding his head patronisingly. "She dragged me from under the mare of a damned Russian that cut me down, before he got my bayonet in his liver. Caron! Caron! ah yes, brave Caron! my dear Caron!" said the old man, smiling through the alluring ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... worked like a charm," he said. "But Rick, old egg, from now on you and I had better stay away from the front end ...
— Smugglers' Reef • John Blaine
... command almost his own terms. He also possesses a perfect right to change his place of abode, and if, therefore, he does not find in one community or State a mode of life suited to his desires or proper remuneration for his labor, he can move to another where that labor is more esteemed and better rewarded. In truth, however, each State, induced by its own wants and interests, will do what is necessary and proper to retain within its borders all the labor that is needed for the development of its resources. The laws that regulate supply and demand ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 6: Andrew Johnson • James D. Richardson
... praxin .—But for this, social Justice, according to its eternal form or definition, would in fact be nowhere applicable. Once for all he formulates clearly that important notion of the function, (ergon) of a thing, or of a person. It is that which he alone can do, or he better than ...
— Plato and Platonism • Walter Horatio Pater
... I understand that better now I know that you can't lose anything. Still, it is to be hoped he didn't go asking questions. By-the-bye, you may as well just tell me: he has asked you to marry ...
— In the Year of Jubilee • George Gissing
... by reminding himself that he never sought those discoveries, and that he would have avoided them with willingness and great relief. For he never could forget what he had been; and he knew that he had once disliked Gowan for no better reason than that he had come in ...
— Little Dorrit • Charles Dickens
... speech. He enters into the spirit of the enterprise. 'If you want your business done, go; if not, send' is true only of men. The poacher wants his business done, and he sends his agent—his dog—certain that it will be done for him better than he could do it himself. The dog is conscientious, he will omit nothing, he will act as if his master's eye was on him the whole time. Now this attitude of the dog's mind is so exquisitely rendered in the picture that he seems verily to speak with intelligence. ...
— Field and Hedgerow • Richard Jefferies
... profession by baptism, and putting away all his wives but one. His principal wife, too, was about the most unlikely subject in the tribe ever to become any thing else than an out-and-out greasy disciple of the old school. She has since become greatly altered, I hear, for the better; but again and again have I seen Sechele send her out of church to put her gown on, and away she would go with her lips shot out, the very picture of unutterable ...
— Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa - Journeys and Researches in South Africa • David Livingstone
... time, we should say that it was not a promising course for Valens to support the Homoeans. They had been in power before, and if they had not then been able to establish peace in the churches, they were not likely to succeed any better after their heavy losses in Julian's time. It is therefore the more important to see the Emperor's motives. No doubt personal influences must count for a good deal with a man like Valens, whose private attachments were so ...
— The Arian Controversy • H. M. Gwatkin
... thought it their duty to interfere in that controversy between the German Diet and the King of Denmark—a controversy strictly federal and not international. Whether they were wise in taking that course appears very doubtful. My own impression is, and always has been, that it would have been much better to have left the federal question between the Diet and the King to work itself out. Her Majesty's Ministers, however, were of opinion—and no doubt there is something to be said in favour of that opinion—that as the question, although federal, was one which would probably lead to events ...
— Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 • Edgar Jones
... to go there," said Grace, impetuously; "it must be a jolly life." Then looking at her mother, she laughed gaily and said: "If ever one of those cowboys, with broad hat and jingling spurs, comes this way, you had better lock the doors, mamma, if ...
— The Wedge of Gold • C. C. Goodwin
... Piddie in the bond safe. Neither of them performances would be quite so fruity as for me to give out particulars about this special directors' meetin' that was goin' on. Speakin' by and large, though, when you clean up better'n thirty per cent. on a semi-annual, you got to do some dividend-jugglin', ain't you? And with them quiz committees so thick, it's apt to be ...
— Wilt Thou Torchy • Sewell Ford
... plan evolved by the whole cypripedium tribe. Darwin mentions bees as the implied fertilizers, and doubtless many of the smaller bees do effect cross-fertilization in the smaller species. But the more ample passage in acaule would suggest the medium-sized Bombus as better adapted—as the experiment herewith pictured from my own experience many times would seem to verify, while a honey-bee introduced into the flower failed to fulfil the demonstration, emerging at the little doorway above without a sign of the ...
— My Studio Neighbors • William Hamilton Gibson
... a moment, and reflecting that she must shortly beg, and could scarcely hope to do so at a better place than where crowds of rich ladies and gentlemen were assembled together for purposes of enjoyment and festivity, determined to accompany these men so far. She therefore thanked the little man for his offer, and said, glancing timidly towards his friend, that if there was no objection ...
— The Old Curiosity Shop • Charles Dickens
... his "Marco Bozzaris," but chiefly memorable for a beautiful little lyric, "On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake"; and Drake himself, perhaps the greatest of the four, but dying at the age of twenty-five with nothing better to his credit than the well-known "The American Flag," and the fanciful and ambitious "The Culprit Fay." But these men were, at best, only graceful versifiers, and Bryant loomed so far above them and the other verse-makers ...
— American Men of Mind • Burton E. Stevenson
... either," Hunt told him; "we can see how it is from up here better than you can. Do you ...
— Roy Blakeley's Bee-line Hike • Percy Keese Fitzhugh
... its spire, a later addition, is comparatively modest and timid. The French builders quickly reached the limits of structural possibilities, and their type became fixed. The English, with less economy of support, and a lower organisation of structure, were better able to play with their forms. So their churches present a series of continual and often inconsequent experiments in the treatment and proportion of every storey, particularly of the triforium, and in compromise between vertical and horizontal tendencies. Thus at Beverley, Salisbury, and particularly ...
— The Cathedral Church of York - Bell's Cathedrals: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief - History of the Archi-Episcopal See • A. Clutton-Brock
... hands. "You need better nerves in your business, Melhuish," he said quietly. "One would hardly have fancied you would be so startled at a harmless joke intended to test them for you. There have been several spendthrifts and highly successful drunkards in my family, but, with the exception of my namesake, who was ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss
... tact. A Wallace might harass a large army with a small and determined band; but the contending parties were at least equal in arms and civilization. The Zulus who fought us in Africa, the Maories in New Zealand, the Arabs in the Soudan, were far better provided with weapons, more advanced in the science of war, and considerably more numerous, than the naked Tasmanians. Governor Arthur rightly ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... Army to Wellingsford? Was he, a modern Guy Fawkes, plotting to blow up the Town Hall while Mayor and Corporation sat in council? He was not the man to utter purely idle threats. What the dickens was he going to do? Something mean and dirty and underhand. I knew his ways, He was always getting the better of somebody. The wise never let him put in a pane of glass without a specification and estimate, and if he had not been by far the most competent builder in the town—perhaps the only one who thoroughly knew his business in all its branches—no ...
— The Red Planet • William J. Locke
... of possible rescue. "Is there nothing that we can do to insure that she shall see us? You say that you are a sailor, and I have been told that sailors are amazingly ingenious creatures, surely you can think of something, some act that would better our position!" She spoke querulously, with an undertone of the old disdain that formerly marked her manner running ...
— Dick Leslie's Luck - A Story of Shipwreck and Adventure • Harry Collingwood
... trained me from the first for learning, not for the City or the Bar; the father who had his son taught not only Latin, but Greek and Hebrew, French and Italian, astronomy and physical science, cannot ask him to regard money making as the object of life. I have chosen a better part than that: and you were the inspirer of my choice. And I know that at heart you agree with it ...
— Milton • John Bailey
... or tree lay claim with better right To all the adorning sympathies of shadow and of light; And, in that forest petrified, as forester there dwells Stout Herman, the old sacristan, sole lord of all ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell • James Lowell
... is too good even for you, and you have done all that any one could have expected of you, without keeping up the farce any longer. I am glad you did not ask if I believed you—because I could scarcely have forgiven you that question. Do you think I don't know—both of you—better?" ...
— Alton of Somasco • Harold Bindloss
... but is being modernized to provide an improved international capability and better residential access domestic: a national, fiber-optic cable, interurban, trunk system is nearing completion; rural exchanges are being improved and expanded; mobile cellular systems are being installed; access to the Internet is available; ...
— The 2003 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency
... friendly with Russia. In addition to this, there was a real fear in England lest Piedmont should pay dearly for what was considered its rashness. The British Government put the question to Cavour, whether it would not be better to disarm the opposition of Austria by depriving her of every plausible reason for combating the policy of Piedmont? He replied that only Count Solaro de la Margherita and his friends could live on amicable terms with the oppressors of Italy; England was at liberty to renew ...
— Cavour • Countess Evelyn Martinengo-Cesaresco
... Hilyard, or "Aunt Bess" as she is better known, was born in Darlington, South Carolina in 1858, the daughter of Resier and Zilphy Hart, slaves of Gus Hiwards. Both her parents were cotton pickers and as a little girl Della often went with her parents into the fields. One day she stated that the Yankees ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - From Interviews with Former Slaves - Florida Narratives • Works Projects Administration
... things we have rarely thought of in that relation. To do this is not as easy as it would be if our race-mind worked that way; but unfortunately it does not. In general we take our good things for granted, complaining that they are not better. The things we lack are more vivid to us, as a rule, than those we have acquired. Having hung, as it were, a cloud about ourselves we disregard the uncountable ways in which God persists in shining through, in spite of our efforts ...
— The Conquest of Fear • Basil King
... other commodities; and in their passage seized all the English ships which they met with, hanged the seamen, and seized the goods. The inhabitants of the English seaports, informed of this incident, fitted out a fleet of sixty sail, stronger and better manned than the others, and awaited the enemy on their return. After an obstinate battle, they put them to rout, and sunk, destroyed, or took the greater part of them.[***] No quarter was given; and it is pretended that the loss of the French amounted to fifteen thousand men; which ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part B. - From Henry III. to Richard III. • David Hume
... On his entering the counting-room, the senior partner of the house drew out his watch, and remarked, rather angrily, that he could not permit such neglect of duty in a clerk, and that unless he kept better hours, he must look for ...
— The Lights and Shadows of Real Life • T.S. Arthur
... that if we remain resolute; and I tell you all that you had better be killed at once than submit. If we assist in their harvest, they will find something else for us to do, and your best days, as mine have been, will be passed in slavery! Each of you must make himself a burden ...
— The Boy Slaves • Mayne Reid
... it was a funny sounding name, and not at all like Snow-storm, which she liked a great deal better; and she was much amused while her nurse repeated to her some names of squaws and papooses (Indian women and children); such as Long Thrush, Little Fox, Running Stream, Snowbird, Red Cloud, Young Eagle, Big Bush, and ...
— In The Forest • Catharine Parr Traill
... figuring both as a sarcastic cynic divorced from every sacred tie and as a shrewd observer, as well as at being accounted logical in all my conduct, precise and methodical in all my ways of life, and at the same time contemptuous of all materiality. I may safely say that I was far better in reality than the strange being into whom I attempted to convert myself; yet, whatever I was or was not, the Nechludoffs were unfailingly kind to me, and (happily for myself) took no notice (as it now appears) of my play-acting. ...
— Youth • Leo Tolstoy
... are an oracle to Columella. "I should have written my tenth book in prose," he says, "had not your frequent requests that I would fill up what was wanting to the Georgics got the better of my resolution. Even so, I should not have ventured on poetry if Virgil had not indicated that he wished it to be done. Inspired, therefore, by his divine influence, I have approached my slender theme." The verses are good, though their poetical merit ...
— A History of Roman Literature - From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius • Charles Thomas Cruttwell
... The Chancellor made a capital speech, and we had a better division than case, 29 to 7. Lord Durham spoke temperately and well. Lord Grey well too. We had Wynford with us. There is no explaining that man. The Duke of Cumberland voted against ...
— A Political Diary 1828-1830, Volume II • Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough)
... my mother—for there can be no secrets between us—tell me the state of Kerbelai Hassan's concerns. He loved you, and confided in you, and you must therefore be better acquainted with ...
— The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan • James Morier
... themselves were to be converted to Christianity. The recognition of the spherical figure of the earth led man to perceive that it offered him a definite and limited object, and navigation had been benefited by the new-found instrumentality of the magnet, enabling it to be something better than mere coasting; thus technical appliances make their appearance when a need ...
— Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia • Various
... grower of cotton, after paying to the government seventy-eight per cent.[84] of the product of his labour, found himself deprived of the power to trade directly with the man of the loom, and forced into "unlimited competition" with the better machinery and almost untaxed labour of our Southern States; and thereby subjected to "the mysterious variations of foreign markets" in which the fever of speculation was followed by the chill of revulsion with a rapidity and frequency that set at naught all calculation. If our ...
— The trade, domestic and foreign • Henry Charles Carey
... saying No to that. Your step-mother's suspicions are very easily excited—and you had better not be seen with me if my inquiries take me to the Craig Fernie inn. I promise, if you will remain here, to tell you every thing when I come back. Join the others in any plan they have for the afternoon—and you will prevent my absence from exciting any thing more than a passing remark. ...
— Man and Wife • Wilkie Collins
... said the other; "pray on, Sally—your prayer will surely be heard. You can't pray any better prayer than you do. Pray that the Lord's will may be done: I am sure it is the Lord's will that the Yankees should not come here to disturb us; and I have faith to believe they will not. Pray on, Sally; pray as hard ...
— Mary S. Peake - The Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe • Lewis C. Lockwood
... his orders were to be observed by all. Yet the means to communicate orders and to receive reports were long lacking. The combined armies were far from being a unit, and if attacked could resist little better than on the 19th, as scattered bands, ...
— The Siege of Boston • Allen French
... caution, and he said but little. He ordained, however, to look into the problem on his mother's account, and no better man could have done it. His first thought was whether farmer might ...
— The Torch and Other Tales • Eden Phillpotts
... voices of the multitude of worshippers. In Lune-street Chapel, the Ten Commandments occupy a prominent position, and that is a good thing. It would be well if they were fastened up in every place of worship, and better still if the parsons referred ...
— Our Churches and Chapels • Atticus
... possess some feature which makes examination appear useless. Most of them have small, inconvenient entrances; others are subject to overflow or have running water in them. None could be heard of in which conditions were better. ...
— Archeological Investigations - Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 76 • Gerard Fowke
... sprouted, and the dry, brown earth was covered with a carpet of tender, green, growing things. No farmer's garden could have looked better than the great garden of the desert valley. And from day to day the little shoots grew and flourished till they were ...
— Stories to Tell Children - Fifty-Four Stories With Some Suggestions For Telling • Sara Cone Bryant
... hands alike conformed, the children commencing and stopping work at the same time as the grown men and women. Moreover, the children often began work while extremely young. There was a great deal of work in the factories which they could do just as well, in some cases even better, than adults. They were therefore commonly sent into the mills by their parents at about the age of eight years, frequently at seven or even six. As has been before stated, more than half of the employees ...
— An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England • Edward Potts Cheyney
... before long, little boy," cried Cossar, hands to his mouth as he shouted, "never fear. For a bit you'd better play about and make models of the ...
— The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth • H.G. Wells
... letters. For, consider—to take one phase alone of this demand for factual finality—how continual and insistent is the cry for characters that can be worshipped; how intense and persistent the desire to be told that Charles was a real hero; and how bitter the regret that Mary was no better than she should be! Mankind at large wants heroes that are heroes, and heroines that are heroines—and nothing so inappropriate to them ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... was attired in like manner. As to their islanders, some few of them of the better condition — as Duncan Graham and Ronald Gray — wore shirts of mail, but the larger number, so far from desiring armour when they came to close quarters with the enemy, even threw their plaids aside ...
— The Thirsty Sword • Robert Leighton
... an unpleasant and uneasy feeling. I wondered if Mr. Barker were the agent I ought to have, and if a middle-aged man with a family and more experience might not be better able ...
— The Magic Egg and Other Stories • Frank Stockton
... to be a sort of a companion," she said; "not so good as a horse, but better than nothing. I should think, travelling all by yourself in this way, you would have quite a friendly feeling for it. Did you ever think of giving ...
— A Bicycle of Cathay • Frank R. Stockton
... the men in the tea-shop said, "A bamboo box and a bed, such as you describe, were carried past here about half an hour ago. The bearer seemed to be going towards either the Great East Gate or the South Gate; you had better go to the hongs there and inquire." I asked him to accompany me in the search, and promised to reward him for his trouble, but he would not. Another man offered to go with me, so we set off together, and both inside and outside the two gates made diligent inquiries, but all in vain. I then engaged ...
— A Retrospect • James Hudson Taylor
... taken completely by surprise, for he had supposed that Frank would surrender without a struggle; but the latter brought his musket to a charge bayonet, in a way that showed he was in earnest. The rebel was the better armed, carrying a neat sporting rifle, to which was attached a long, sharp saber-bayonet. Frank noticed this difference, but resolutely stood his ground, and, as he was very expert in the bayonet exercise, and as his enemy appeared to be but very little his superior in strength and agility, ...
— Frank on a Gun-Boat • Harry Castlemon
... And sagely skill'd, when gurly breezes blow, To press through angry waves the adventurous prow. Age hath not quell'd his strength, nor quench'd desire Of generous deed, nor chill'd his bosom's glow; Yet to a better world his hopes aspire. Ah! this must sure be thee! All hail, my ...
— My Schools and Schoolmasters - or The Story of my Education. • Hugh Miller |
