"Speculatively" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... at the Tourney. Big hot-air bag, with a basket under it. Tied down with a rope. But if you cut the rope...! But you can bet the priests will never let that happen, no, sir." Dhuva looked at Brett speculatively. "What about your county: Fession, or whatever you called it. How high do they ...
— It Could Be Anything • John Keith Laumer
... a keg in an angle of the wall. He was leaning back against the boards behind him, a cob pipe between his teeth. His eyes, peering out of the jungle of beard that covered his face, were fixed speculatively on ...
— Frank Merriwell, Junior's, Golden Trail - or, The Fugitive Professor • Burt L. Standish
... Conduct of Life," "Letters and Social Aims," besides a long array of poems, as well as sundry remarkable Addresses and Lectures, which he published; he was a man of exceptional endowment and great speculative power, and is to this day the acknowledged head of the literary men of America; speculatively, Carlyle and he were of the same school, but while Carlyle had "descended" from the first "into the angry, noisy Forum with an argument that could not but exasperate and divide," he continued pretty much all his days engaged ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood
... still blowing. Bob had ridden hard. He had first ridden into Orrville, and then followed the rancher out here. He was leaning over in the saddle lounging upon the horn of it. His eyes were gazing curiously, speculatively at the figure of the man who ruled the local cattle industry. He was calculating in his own way what might be the effect of the news he had to impart. What estimate this big man—and Bob knew him to be a big man—would have of him when he had told his news and claimed the—blood ...
— The Forfeit • Ridgwell Cullum
... stress on the general opinion of disinterested persons conversant with the subject matter. The tests which I have spoken of are only applicable to tried men, among whom must be reckoned those who, though untried practically, have been tried speculatively; who, in public speech or in print, have discussed public affairs in a manner which proves that they have given serious study to them. Such persons may, in the mere character of political thinkers, have exhibited a considerable ...
— Considerations on Representative Government • John Stuart Mill
... that it was equally impossible. He mused a few moments, and then said slowly, "Do you know, it is a very strange thing that I have not found anybody who can answer me either of those questions. And yet I must have come from somewhere," said he, speculatively—"yes, and I must be going somewhere, and I should really like to ...
— Prue and I • George William Curtis
... said Julia Cloud, looking at her speculatively, "I'm sure I never dreamed you cared about having me away from here. You've never shown much interest in being with me. But I'm sorry if you feel it that way, and I'm sure I'll write to you and try to do little things for the children often, now that I shall have something ...
— Cloudy Jewel • Grace Livingston Hill
... heard them out in the yard again. "He could not have gotten into the house, in any way," she heard one man remark speculatively. How she waited for the response. It came in Phineas Adams' slow, sensible tones: "How could he? Didn't you hear me unbolt the door when I came out? The doors are all fastened, I saw ...
— The Adventures of Ann - Stories of Colonial Times • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... nodded, watching her speculatively. Her head went still higher. Packard heard her father rise hurriedly and shuffle across the floor toward ...
— Man to Man • Jackson Gregory
... their chances. There were none. Not against that horde of barbarians; there were too many of the devils to fight with their bare hands. If only they had their ray pistols, or a torpedo projector. At least they could sell their lives dearly. His eyes narrowed speculatively when they came to rest on a peculiar egg-shaped object that stood out there in the open. It was Nazu's ovoid. Here ...
— Creatures of Vibration • Harl Vincent
... he shouted. "Who is this little spitfire? By Jupiter, she is a tempting morsel." And his red eyes took in the flushed beauty of the panting girl speculatively. ...
— Pirates of the Gorm • Nat Schachner
... same as anywhere," answered Miller. "If you show the goods you're all right." He viewed Steve speculatively and then turned an appraising gaze on Tom. "You chaps look pretty fit for this time of year. What do you ...
— Left End Edwards • Ralph Henry Barbour
... McHale eyed him speculatively. "Seems like your young soul ain't swamped by no wave of remorse at killin' a man. Don't make you feel shaky ...
— Desert Conquest - or, Precious Waters • A. M. Chisholm
... Jack met Brassy Bangs in one of the corridors and noticed that the loud-spoken youth looked at him rather speculatively. Nothing, however, was said, and the young captain entered one of the classrooms and was soon deep in his studies. That evening, however, Brassy Bangs and two of his chums were missing from their usual places at one of the ...
— The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch - The Cowboys' Double Round-Up • Edward Stratemeyer
... thing possible. In her effort at self-control she went too far. She merely folded her hands in her lap and sat looking straight at Eileen without saying one word. It did not show much on the surface, but Eileen really had a conscience, she really had a soul; Linda's eyes, resting rather speculatively on her, were honest eyes, and Eileen knew what she knew. She flushed and fidgeted, and at last she broke out impatiently: "Oh, for goodness' sake, Linda, don't play 'Patience-on-a-monument.' Speak up and say what it is that you want. If that cheque was ...
— Her Father's Daughter • Gene Stratton-Porter
... on the edge of the bed. The madness had passed, or he had thrust it back out of sight in the darkest recesses of his soul. He laid a hand upon his brother's arm and felt it speculatively. ...
— The Knave of Diamonds • Ethel May Dell
... the blade and drew it speculatively across his calloused old thumb, while with his mild blue eyes, which his spectacles enormously exaggerated, he ...
— The Calico Cat • Charles Miner Thompson
... left me, and a mighty anxiety took its place. This creature which now crouched chattering at me from beneath the big table was Fu-Manchu's marmoset, and in the intervals of its chattering and grimacing, it nibbled, speculatively, at the keys upon the ring which it clutched in its tiny hands. Key after key it sampled in this manner, evincing a growing dissatisfaction with the ...
— The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu • Sax Rohmer
... mightn't." At the door she stopped, and for the second time considered her hands speculatively. "It wouldn't inconvenience your feelings any to take charity from me, would it, seeing I'm as poor as yourself and have dragged ye into this common, tuppenny brawl by ...
— Seven Miles to Arden • Ruth Sawyer
... him speculatively now as he rode beside her and wondered if association would beget an affection that would do as well as love if supplemented by the many things he had ...
— The Dude Wrangler • Caroline Lockhart
... to say a few words of Von Kempelen himself (with whom, some years ago, I had the honor of a slight personal acquaintance), since every thing which concerns him must necessarily, at this moment, be of interest; and, in the second place, to look in a general way, and speculatively, at the results ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 2 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe
... parts. Also, in letters written that same year to William Blyenbergh one finds expressed some of the chief conclusions published five years later in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus. And Spinoza wrote, at this early period, not conjecturally or speculatively, but as one writes who knows the firm and tested grounds of his belief. Why the Ethics, in final form, began to circulate privately only two or three years before Spinoza's death, and why his work on The Improvement of the Understanding and his Political Treatise were left unfinished, ...
— The Philosophy of Spinoza • Baruch de Spinoza
... the possible motive of the stranger, who apparently was somehow interested in his doings. When they started out on their regular run, he told Fogg what Torchy had imparted to him. The fireman reflected speculatively over ...
— Ralph on the Overland Express - The Trials and Triumphs of a Young Engineer • Allen Chapman
... perceptible instant, until she saw old Mr. Sommerville's eyes fixed speculatively on her. Then she stood up with an instant, cheerful alacrity. "That's awfully good of you, Molly darling! You won't mind, will you, Mr. Morrison!" She nodded brightly to the old gentleman, to the girl who had slipped into ...
— The Bent Twig • Dorothy Canfield
... responded Evelyn with maddening sweetness. She eyed Grace speculatively, but made no effort ...
— Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus • Jessie Graham Flower
... cobwebs of his cell he pretends to spin a speculative system of good-breeding, he will not be less absurd than his predecessor, who judiciously undertook to instruct Hannibal, in the art of war. The most ridiculous and most aukward of men are, therefore, the speculatively well bred monks of all ...
— The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant • John Hamilton Moore
... gazed speculatively at the habitation of him—the undoubted perpetrator of the deadly deeds—for whom they had sought so long. The peaceful aspect of their moonlit surroundings suddenly smote the minds of all with a strange sense ...
— The Luck of the Mounted - A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police • Ralph S. Kendall
... desisted, to watch with averse curiosity the working jaws of the men and the motion of the muscles in their temples as they hastily gobbled the coarse fare which they cut with their clasp-knives. The fire duplicated their number with their shadows, and occasionally he eyed these semblances speculatively as they stretched on the sandy ground or skulked in the underbrush behind their unconscious principals. Once or twice he lifted his own arm with an alert gesture in imitative energy, and looked over his shoulder at ...
— The Ordeal - A Mountain Romance of Tennessee • Charles Egbert Craddock
... Speculatively we have the right, although the complex vision is silent on that tremendous question, to dally with the idea of the survival of the soul after the death of the body. But this must for ever be an open question, not to be answered either negatively or ...
— The Complex Vision • John Cowper Powys
... value as my book may have is in fidelity to what I actually saw and knew of Venice, I have not attempted to follow speculatively the grand and happy events of last summer in their effects upon her life. Indeed, I fancy that in the traits at which I loved most to look, the life of Venice is not so much changed as her fortunes; but at any rate I am content to ...
— Venetian Life • W. D. Howells
... of microscopic proportions, presumably built by means of {{nanotechnology}}. As yet, only used informally (and speculatively!). ...
— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0
... Kant was disposed to regard the traditional forms of Christian doctrine, not as the old rationalism had done, as impositions of a priesthood or inherently absurd. He sought to divest them indeed of that which was speculatively untrue, though he saw in them only symbols of the great moral truths which lie at the heart of religion. The historical spirit of the next fifty years was to teach men a very different way of dealing with ...
— Edward Caldwell Moore - Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since Kant • Edward Moore
... paused a moment looking speculatively at Jack's complacent face. "It was a pity you were so damned offensive, but I suppose it's the way you're made. You were the sole cause of the whole thing, and if there's any decency in you, you'll go ...
— The Obstacle Race • Ethel M. Dell
... hitch or mishap. No one had been abroad in the late afternoon to mark their movements—and in a little while Fishhead ought to be due. Jake's woodman's eye followed the downward swing of the sun speculatively. The shadows, thrown shoreward, lengthened and slithered on the small ripples. The small noises of the day died out; the small noises of the coming night began to multiply. The green-bodied flies went away and big mosquitoes, with speckled gray legs, came to take the places of the flies. ...
— The Escape of Mr. Trimm - His Plight and other Plights • Irvin S. Cobb
... over yonder if 'twas looked into right," went on Uncle Bill easily, as he stood with the ball of his feet hanging over a precipice, staring speculatively. "But it'll be like to stay there for a while, with these young bucks doin' all their prospectin' around some sheet-iron stove. There's nobody around the camps these days that ain't afraid of work, of gittin' lost, of sleepin' out of their beds of nights. Prospectin' ...
— The Man from the Bitter Roots • Caroline Lockhart
... immense sums of money, imaginatively—speculatively—counting their chickens before hatched. Inflaming each other's imaginations about great gains of money, and entering into a sort of intangible, impossible, competition as ...
— The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete • John Forster
... vestra si bene o male"—as though decency forbade its translation; and at once this poisonous reticence does its work, and the imagination—and not only that of the unlettered—is fired, and all manner of abominations are speculatively conceived. ...
— The Life of Cesare Borgia • Raphael Sabatini
... Curry trudged across the infield in the wake of the good horse Elisha. Another owner, on the day of an important race, might have been nervous or worried; the patriarch maintained his customary calm; his head was bent at a reflective angle, and he nibbled at a straw. Certain gentlemen, speculatively inclined, would have given much more than a penny for the old man's thoughts; having bought them at any price, they would have ...
— Old Man Curry - Race Track Stories • Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan
... Wendell's turn to glance speculatively. The older man, around a healthy hundred and twenty-five, had a look of earnest dedication about him that commanded respect ...
— The Junkmakers • Albert R. Teichner
... had given Bryce a drink, and had carried his own glass to another easy chair did Folliot refer to any reason for Bryce's visit. But once settled down, he looked at him speculatively. ...
— The Paradise Mystery • J. S. Fletcher
... conflict of interests and opinions will present may be speculatively defined as that of trying to find a way to reconcile a maximum of efficiency organization with ...
— The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915 - What Americans Say to Europe • Various
... I hardly thought, over here—" Mr. Thorpe paused and looked speculatively at the boy. "You'd better keep that penny where you won't lose it," he said soberly. "It doesn't hurt us to try to be good. If you're in trouble, think of the difficulties Abraham Lincoln surmounted. If you want to be great, think how ...
— Long Live the King • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... philosophy and at the same time the test of philosophic capacity, is no other than the heaven-descended KNOW THYSELF! (E coelo descendit, Gnothi seauton). And this at once practically and speculatively. For as philosophy is neither a science of the reason or understanding only, nor merely a science of morals, but the science of BEING altogether, its primary ground can be neither merely speculative nor merely ...
— Biographia Literaria • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
... Corinna gazed at her speculatively for a moment; and in her speculation there was the faintest tinge of contempt, the contempt which, in spite of her pity, she felt for all weakness. "I shouldn't have got into your place," she responded presently, "and if I ever found myself there ...
— One Man in His Time • Ellen Glasgow
... gaze followed hers, speculatively, roaming over the costly objects. He was by no means anxious to make a display ...
— A Sheaf of Corn • Mary E. Mann
... the merchant was a silver-studded belt. Hunsa eyed this speculatively. Beyond doubt in its neighbourhood would be the key to the iron box; and when its owner lay on his back, his bulbous eyes glaring upward to where the moon trickled through the thick foliage of the mango tree beneath which they sat, ...
— Caste • W. A. Fraser
... Man and Woman and of that New Age according to the prophet Martineau, which Sir Richmond had partly described and mainly invented and ascribed to his departed friend. They talked anthropologically, philosophically, speculatively, with an absurd pretence of detachment, they sat side by side in the little car, scarcely glancing at one another, but side by side and touching each other, and all the while they were filled with tenderness and love and ...
— The Secret Places of the Heart • H. G. Wells
... was very grave. "That means a couple of days more at the outside." His eyes rested speculatively on the three lifeboats still hanging above the starboard rail. There was another being repaired on the port side. "More than six hundred of us on board, Andrew." His head dropped suddenly, his chin twitched. Mr. ...
— West Wind Drift • George Barr McCutcheon
... right eye speculatively. "No, I can't say as he exactly appeared like he'd been drinking," he said with the air of a connoisseur, "but he did seem to be considerably upset about something. He looked mad enough to bite; his face was pale, and his hand trembled when he raised his glass. Three or four ...
— The Four Pools Mystery • Jean Webster
... continued, speculatively—"I believe I am going to begin to think things and do them again; and what's more, I believe I am ...
— The Primrose Ring • Ruth Sawyer
... well preserved man, General," he ventured speculatively. "Would you mind telling me ...
— Her Weight in Gold • George Barr McCutcheon
... made that up just to get a rise out of you." She looked at him speculatively. "But about Janet—well, you see, I know you for a gay deceiver—mother is always using those old expressions that were the fashion in her—and Mary Ogden's—day. I hear you even made love to our fair hostess until you found out the truth and then you dropped her like a hot potato—or a cold ...
— Black Oxen • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
... might do, but speculatively it was most disturbing. For if the 'loose relation' had to be admitted in one instance, it was admitted in principle; and one could not get rid of the suspicion that it would turn up elsewhere, and that the banishment ...
— Theodicy - Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil • G. W. Leibniz
... "You've come to the right one. The Central Directory Matrix is here. You'll be able to find out where he's registered by the code number on his work card. Unless," Hawkes said speculatively, "he doesn't have a work card. Then ...
— Starman's Quest • Robert Silverberg
... out of her leanness, out of her extraordinary litheness, little Eve Edgarton stared up speculatively at Barton's great hulking helplessness. Her hat looked humorous. Her hair looked humorous. Her tattered flannel shirt was distinctly humorous. But there was nothing humorous about her ...
— Little Eve Edgarton • Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
... place, this village is," said the motorist to the minister. "I have visited the Ellerys here. Really charming in summer time—so utterly deserted and peaceful." He looked out of the window speculatively. "Rather odd we should be passing through it to-day. There's been a lot of talk about ...
— Hillsboro People • Dorothy Canfield
... said Byers, looking speculatively at Rufe, "ez't would take a right smart time fur ye ter git tough enough ter go 'bout in respect'ble society ag'in. 'T would hurt ye mightily, I'm thinkin'. Ef I war you-uns, I'd be powerful partic'lar ter keep inside o' sech an accommodatin'-lookin' little ...
— Down the Ravine • Charles Egbert Craddock (real name: Murfree, Mary Noailles)
... sold a share of stock speculatively in my life, except one small lot of Pennsylvania Railroad shares that I bought early in life for investment and for which I did not pay at the time because bankers offered to carry it for me at a low rate. I have adhered to the rule never to purchase what ...
— Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie • Andrew Carnegie
... now, and usually some one was speculatively looking down to the life on the pavement, eight stories below. At noon-hour the younger girls of the office strolled along the sidewalk in threes and fours, bareheaded, their arms about one another, their spring-time lane an irregular course ...
— The Job - An American Novel • Sinclair Lewis
... Browning will look back with clear eyes untroubled by the dust of our footsteps, not to subside till long after we too are dust, will be the place given to this poet, we know not, nor can more than speculatively estimate. That it will, however, be a high one, so far as his weightiest (in bulk, it may possibly be but a relatively slender) accomplishment is concerned, we may rest well assured: for indeed "It lives, If precious be the soul of ...
— Life of Robert Browning • William Sharp
... hat on. When Dwight inquired playfully, "Don't we look like company?" she did not reply. He looked at her speculatively. Where had she gone, with whom had she talked, what had she told? Ina looked at her rather fearfully. But Mrs. Bett rocked contentedly and ate ...
— Miss Lulu Bett • Zona Gale
... last now, as he expects to know hereafter,—so it is to be presumed that a sublimer, and therefore a juster view of the relation in which the Creature stands to the CREATOR, will disclose to us much which, at present, we should be little prepared to admit, if it were speculatively presented to us, ("as in a glass, darkly,") respecting the Moral ...
— Inspiration and Interpretation - Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford • John Burgon
... remained to lunch, and when the ranch owner excused himself and rode away after the meal he sat for some time on the verandah, with Mrs. Wasson sewing and his own eyes fixed speculatively on the mountain range, ...
— The Breaking Point • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... his eyes, peered through a rift between the wall of the hut and the shrunken hide which formed the door. A half dozen soldiers stood in the plaza, glancing speculatively about. ...
— The Valiant Runaways • Gertrude Atherton
... speculatively for a few moments, and wondered what change would come over him when her tale was told. Anger frightened and repelled her; and for all his hastiness she had seldom seen more than a mere spark of ...
— Captain Desmond, V.C. • Maud Diver
... will answer you according to your folly without the least reluctance. We are not in smart or swell society because we cannot get in; but at the same time we would not get in if we could, because we despise it too much. We wonder," we continued, speculatively, "why we always suspect the society satirist of suffering from a social snub? It doesn't in the least follow. Was Pope, when he invited ...
— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells
... he had drawn back his arm, intending to take one good punch at Panhandle, even if it were his last. But Panhandle had crumpled down suddenly, silently, and Wishful had stood over him, gazing down speculatively and swinging his gun back and forth before he returned it to the holster. "They move quick, in this country," thought Bartley. "And speaking of material for a story—" ...
— Partners of Chance • Henry Herbert Knibbs
... pinched his full red lips into a pucker and stared speculatively at his wife. It was not often that she openly showed her ...
— The Auction Block • Rex Beach
... around nerves," said the doctor. "We know that neural activity is partly electrical. If the level of that activity can be increased, the bacteria might be killed by ionic dissociation." He glanced speculatively at Bolden and the animal. "Perhaps you do borrow nervous energy from the animal. We might also find it possible to control the disease with ...
— Bolden's Pets • F. L. Wallace
... of course, and calloused—a little—but they are not big, and they are beautifully modeled." He looked at her speculatively. "I am wondering how you would ...
— The Forester's Daughter - A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range • Hamlin Garland |
