"Abstain" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... for it is soon turned into loathing and repentance. I allow there is something tempting in its outward appearance, but it is like the beautiful colour of some poisons, from which, however they may attract our eyes, a regard to our own welfare commands us to abstain. And this is an abstinence to which wisdom alone, without any Divine command, hath been often found adequate, with instances of which the Greek and Latin authors everywhere abound. May not a Christian, therefore, be well ashamed of making a stumbling- block of a precept, which is not ...
— Amelia (Complete) • Henry Fielding
... Christmas dinner to-morrow. Too much turkey and plum pudding have stretched out many a brave scout before now. If there are several vacancies in our ranks Monday morning we'll know what to lay it all to. I beg of you to abstain, if you want to feel fresh ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound - A Tour on Skates and Iceboats • George A. Warren
... Excellency both as the Head of the Body of Governors, whenever you may see fit to take part in their proceedings, and also as the Head of the Government, that till Dr. Bethune shall cease to occupy a place at the Board of Governors I must abstain from attending it, persuaded as I am that I cannot do so either with the hope of advantage to the public or ...
— McGill and its Story, 1821-1921 • Cyrus Macmillan
... inferiors, for the magnifying of his office; to get him a wife without loss of time, and a male child by all means. During his religious minority he is expected to bathe and sacrifice twice a day, to abstain from adorning his forehead or his breast with sandal, to wear no flowers in his hair, to chew no betel, to regard ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. II, No. 8, June 1858 • Various
... waterfront or anything else. The Republican Legislature and Governor run the whole shootin' match. We've got to eat and drink what they tell us to eat and drink, and have got to choose our time for eatin' and drinkin' to suit them. If they don't feel like takin' a glass of beer on Sunday, we must abstain. If they have not got any amusements up in their backwoods, we mustn't have none. We've got to regulate our whole lives to suit them. And then we have to pay their taxes ...
— Plunkitt of Tammany Hall • George Washington Plunkitt
... solicitude which you express concerning the treatment 'Roderick' may experience in the Edinburgh Review, and truly gratified by it, notwithstanding my perfect indifference as to the object in question. But you little know me, if you imagine that any thoughts of fear or favour would make me abstain from speaking publicly of Jeffrey as I think, and as he deserves. I despise his commendation, and I defy his malice. He crush the 'Excursion!!!'[33] Tell him that he might as easily crush Skiddaw. For myself, popularity is not the mark I shoot at; if it ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volumes I-VI. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... were terminated by a treaty signed at Paris; the Shah engaging to abstain from interference in Afghanistan, and to ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume III (of 3), 1854-1861 • Queen of Great Britain Victoria
... present at the Vaudois services on Sunday, the 10th of August, the cure preached a special sermon to his congregation at early morning mass, telling them that an Englishman had come into the town with millions of francs to buy up the souls of Guillestre, and warning them to abstain from ...
— The Huguenots in France • Samuel Smiles
... a woodland excursion in the summer months without a supply of this latter commodity. In conclusion, we would remark that, to the mosquito the blood of the intemperate seems to have a special attraction, and anyone who wishes to enjoy comparative freedom from the attacks of these pests, should abstain from the use of alcoholic stimulants. It is a too prevalent idea among trappers that whiskey and rum are necessary adjuncts to a trapping campaign, and many a trapper would about as soon think ...
— Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making • William Hamilton Gibson
... all; but who have got some names and some scraps of ancient authors by heart, which they improperly and impertinently retail in all companies, in hopes of passing for scholars. If, therefore, you would avoid the accusation of pedantry on one hand, or the suspicion of ignorance on the other, abstain from learned ostentation. Speak the language of the company that you are in; speak it purely, and unlarded with any other. Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield
... (taking earnest incessant counsel, with all manner of Industrial Notabilities and men of insight, on the matter), and have now brought to a kind of preparation for incipiency, thank Heaven! Enlist there, ye poor wandering banditti; obey, work, suffer, abstain, as all of us have had to do: so shall you be useful in God's creation, so shall you be helped to gain a manful living for yourselves; not otherwise than so. Industrial Regiments [Here numerous persons, ...
— Latter-Day Pamphlets • Thomas Carlyle
... spake, and yet he confounded therewith all the wisdom of the worldly-wise. To speak in such a manner, said Luther, is not in sublimi, sed humili genere: if I should teach a child, I would teach him in this sort: "He that loves me, will keep my Word." Here we see that Christ saith not, Abstain from flesh, from marrying, from housekeeping, etc., as the Papists teach, for that were even to invite the devil and all his ...
— Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther • Martin Luther
... Might and Majesty!) and thou a stranger, under the heavens and in presence of the deep waters, to disobey Him with a Nazarene woman and merit the torment of Fire?' Then said I, O my God, I call Thee to witness that I abstain from this Christian woman this night, of shamefastness before Thee and fear of Thy vengeance!' So I slept till the morning, and she arose at peep of day full of anger and went away. I walked to my shop and sat there; and behold, presently ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton
... VVindy day, after a Moon-shine clear Night, for the brightness of the Night (through fear) making them abstain from feeding, and the Gloominess of the Day emboldening and rendering them (through Hunger) sharp, and eager upon ...
— The School of Recreation (1684 edition) • Robert Howlett
... satisfy our needs in this direction, these books were chosen as a gift to our library, by Miss Fern Fenwick, the beautiful and generous patroness of Solaris Farm. She desires me to emphasize her wish that you abstain from any public expression of thanks. In lieu thereof, she prefers to accept the measure of your diligence and enthusiasm in acquiring the stores of knowledge thus offered, as the most appropriate and satisfactory measure of your gratitude ...
— Solaris Farm - A Story of the Twentieth Century • Milan C. Edson
... snaffle of Courtship, improving the manners and carriage; But the colt who is wise will abstain from ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 4 (of 4) • Various
... the new disorders into which I now lapsed carried me deeper and deeper still down the profound abyss of vice. I had passed nearly a year at Paris without hearing of Manon. It cost me no slight effort to abstain from enquiry; but the unintermitting advice of Tiberge, and my own reflections, secured this victory over my wishes. The last months glided away so tranquilly, that I considered the memory of this charming but treacherous creature about to be ...
— Manon Lescaut • Abbe Prevost
... libri introductorii, in which, after the manner of a teacher, he would open to them the series of the books of Holy Scripture, and would give them a compendious acquaintance with secular literature.' As the book is not written for the learned, he undertakes to abstain from 'affectata eloquentia,' and he does in the main keep his promise. The simple, straightforward style of the book, which occasionally rises into real and 'unaffected eloquence' where the subject inspires him ...
— The Letters of Cassiodorus - Being A Condensed Translation Of The Variae Epistolae Of - Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator • Cassiodorus (AKA Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator)
... one's lips were not sealed, one's pen not stayed by the imperious demands of honor, to abstain from all mention of discoveries or conversations made under the roof of hospitality, for nothing could well be more enlightening than a description of a chat between the great war-lord of Germany and a leading pacifist: the one completely equipped with ...
— Germany and the Germans - From an American Point of View (1913) • Price Collier
... poem, the Scipiade; and one of his friends, De Sade believes that it was the Bishop of Lombes, fearing lest he might injure his health by overzealous application, went to ask him for the key of his library, which the poet gave up. The Bishop then locked up his books and papers, and commanded him to abstain from reading and writing for ten days. Petrarch obeyed; but on the first day of this literary Ramazan, he was seized with ennui, on the second with a severe headache, and on the third with symptoms of fever; the ...
— The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch • Petrarch
... Lest, insisting to claim and parade in it, wot ye, I worst E'en the Giver in one gift.—Behold, I could love if I durst! 260 But I sink the pretension as fearing a man may o'ertake God's own speed in the one way of love; I abstain for love's sake. —What, my soul? see thus far and no farther? when doors great and small, Nine-and-ninety flew ope at our touch; should the hundredth appal? In the least things have faith, yet distrust in the greatest of all? Do I find love so full in my nature, God's ultimate ...
— Browning's Shorter Poems • Robert Browning
... comments, saying that "John drank neither wine nor strong drink: because abstinence is meritorious where the nature is weak. But why should our Lord, whose right by nature it is to forgive sins, avoid those whom He could make holier than such as abstain?" ...
— Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) - From the Complete American Edition • Thomas Aquinas
... in these chronicles, to confine myself to the facts directly relating to the malignant activity of Dr. Fu-Manchu, I shall abstain from burdening you with details of my private affairs. As an instrument of the Chinese doctor, it has sometimes been my duty to write of the beautiful Eastern girl; I cannot suppose that my readers ...
— The Devil Doctor • Sax Rohmer
... carry out the law with reference to those who should have no such means. But that which vexed me most was that Gabriel Crasweller should desire to escape,—that he should be anxious to throw over the whole system to preserve the poor remnant of his life. If he would do so, who could be expected to abstain? If he should prove false when the moment came, who would prove true? And he, the first, the very first on our list! Young Grundle had now left me, and as I sat thinking of it I was for a moment tempted to abandon the Fixed Period altogether. But as ...
— The Fixed Period • Anthony Trollope
... to him the honour of a sister or a daughter was sacrificed, equally as a matter of course. But why should I thus disguise the truth? Alas! in nine instances out of ten, this patron was the common paramour of every female in the family. Were I composing a state memorial I should abstain from all allusion to moral good or evil, as not having now first to learn, that with diplomatists and with practical statesmen of every denomination, it would preclude all attention to its other contents, and have no result but that of securing for its author's ...
— Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc. • by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
... the castle might with equal reason summon him to quit the town, and abandon all the advantages of which he was possessed. A respite of a day was afterwards obtained; and subsequently for six days, in case the Highlanders would abstain from firing at the castle; and a dispatch to London was sent to obtain a mitigation ...
— Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 - Volume III. • Mrs. Thomson
... secret trusty night conceal'd, Leander's amorous habit soon reveal'd: With Cupid's myrtle was his bonnet crown'd, About his arms the purple riband wound, Wherewith she wreath'd her largely-spreading hair; Nor could the youth abstain, but he must wear The sacred ring wherewith she was endow'd, When first religious chastity she vow'd; Which made his love through Sestos to be known, And thence unto Abydos sooner blown Than he could sail; for incorporeal Fame, Whose weight consists in nothing but her name, Is ...
— Hero and Leander and Other Poems • Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
... Mediterranean. The most haughty monarchs trembled before the Republic. Antiochus Epiphanes had invaded Egypt, and was marching upon Alexandria, when he was met by three Roman commissioners, who presented him with a decree of the Senate, commanding him to abstain from hostilities against Egypt. The king, having read the decree, promised to take it into consideration with his friends, whereupon Popillius, one of the Roman commissioners, stepping forward, drew a circle round the king with his staff, and told him that he should not stir out of it ...
— A Smaller History of Rome • William Smith and Eugene Lawrence
... respectable West India merchant whom Dr. Lushington had asked to negotiate with him; and he prevailed so far as to induce Dr. Lushington himself (actuated by the benevolent view of thereby best serving Mary's cause,) to abstain from any remarks upon his conduct when the petition was at last presented in Parliament. In this way he dextrously contrived to neutralize all our efforts, until the close of the Session of 1829; soon after which he embarked with his family for the ...
— The History of Mary Prince - A West Indian Slave • Mary Prince
... conversation, and the same holds good of the founder of the Brunonian system, and of his great namesake Giordano Bruno. The more decorous manners of the present age have attached a disproportionate opprobrium to this foible, and many therefore abstain with cautious prudence from all displays of what they feel. Nay, some do actually flatter themselves, that they abhor all egotism, and never betray it either in their writings or discourse. But watch these men narrowly; and in the greater number of cases ...
— Literary Remains (1) • Coleridge
... for I could only think of one being of her sex, as likely to produce such a sensation. Still, I could not abstain from making a direct inquiry on ...
— Satanstoe • James Fenimore Cooper
... Cattegat and in the Baltic should not be molested; and saying how unpleasant it would be to him if anything should happen which might for a moment disturb the returning harmony between Sweden and Great Britain, he apprised them that he was not directed to abstain from hostilities should he meet with the Swedish fleet at sea. Meantime he himself; with ten sail of the line, two frigates, a brig, and a schooner, made for the Gulf of Finland. Paul, in one of the freaks of his tyranny, had seized upon all the British effects in ...
— The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson • Robert Southey
... in cultured and easy manners. Close by are some of his intellectual peculiarities. He hates the violent and extravagant. Therefore the choruses of the Greek drama displease him. The merit of his own poems he sees in the fact that they pass passion by, they abstain from pathos altogether—'there is not a single storm in them, no mountain torrent overflowing its banks, no exaggeration whatever. There is great frugality in words. My poetry would rather keep within bounds ...
— Erasmus and the Age of Reformation • Johan Huizinga
... understood that one was the natural consequence of the other. Deserted by her husband, Madame Paul had at last become weary of poverty and privations. She had instituted a search for her husband, and, having found him, she had written to him in this style: "I consent to abstain from interfering with you, but only on conditions that you provide means of subsistence for me, your lawfully wedded wife, and for your child. If you refuse, I shall urge my claims, and ruin you. The scandal won't be of much use to me, it's true, but ...
— Baron Trigault's Vengeance - Volume 2 (of 2) • Emile Gaboriau
... strike; and that it induces twenty and thirty thousand persons to yield implicit obedience to the commands of an unknown committee, who have power to force them to do what the Sultan Mahmoud, or the Committee of Public Safety, never ventured to attempt—to abstain from labour, and endure want and starvation for months together, for an object of which they often in secret disapprove—it may be conceived how wide-spread and fatal is the confusion of moral principle, and habits ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLV. July, 1844. Vol. LVI. • Various
... of this sort the women congregate in the adjacent rooms, where they can overhear the proceedings; and if they find these exceptionally interesting, they will congregate about the doors, but will strictly abstain from interfering with, them in any way. The flow of speech and song and conversation goes on uninterruptedly, except when the occasional intrusion into the circle of some irrepressible dog necessitates its violent expulsion; until, as midnight approaches, the men drop away from the circle by ...
— The Pagan Tribes of Borneo • Charles Hose and William McDougall
... determination. Mr. Fish advised delay because of Sumner's position in the Senate and attitude on the treaty question. We did not want to stir him up just then. We dispatched a note of severe censure to Motley at once and ordered him to abstain from any further connection with that question. We thereupon commenced negotiations with the British minister at Washington, and the result was the joint high commission and the Geneva award. I supposed Mr. Motley would be manly enough to resign after that snub, but he kept on till he was removed. ...
— Memoir of John Lothrop Motley, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... present confined: but it is a war of opinion that Spain (whether as government or as nation) is now waging against Portugal; it is a war which has commenced in hatred of the new institutions of Portugal. How long is it reasonable to expect that Portugal will abstain from retaliation? If into that war this country shall be compelled to enter, we shall enter into it with a sincere and anxious desire to mitigate rather than exasperate, and to mingle only in the conflict of arms, not in the more fatal ...
— The Political History of England - Vol XI - From Addington's Administration to the close of William - IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) • George Brodrick
... : ventro. ability : kapablo, povo, lerteco, talento. able (to be) : povi. abolish : neniigi, forigi. abomination : abomeno. abroad : eksterlande. absent (to be) : foresti. absolve : senkulpigi, senpekigi. absorb : absorbi; sorbi. abstain : deteni sin. abuse : insult'i, -o; trouzi; malbonuzi. abyss : abismo, profundegajxo. accent : akcent'i, -o; supersigno. accept : akcepti, alpreni. accident : malfelicxajxo, okazo. account : kalkulo; rakonto; konto. "on—of," pro. accuse : kulpigi, akuzi. ace : aso. ...
— The Esperanto Teacher - A Simple Course for Non-Grammarians • Helen Fryer
... dared to lay hands on the chief of the gods, the patron and protector of the city. Serapis had perhaps sent the lightning, thunder and rain as a message to warn his foes. If only they might abstain from the last, worst ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... "Staple of News" entreats the audience to abstain from idle conversation, and to attend to his play, so that they may hear as well as ...
— A Book of the Play - Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character • Dutton Cook
... Alcoholic Drinks upon the Kidneys. The kidneys differ from some of the other organs in this: those can rest a while without any harm to themselves, or to the body. We can keep the eyes closed for a few days, if necessary, without injury, and in fact often with benefit; or, we can abstain from food for some days, if need be, and let the stomach rest. But the kidneys cannot, with safety, cease their work. Their duty in ridding the blood of waste products, and of any foreign or poisonous material introduced, must ...
— A Practical Physiology • Albert F. Blaisdell
... though not so well as at first.... In one or two of the northern counties, the associated plasterers and associated plasterers' laborers have come to an understanding, according to which the latter are to abstain from all plasterers' work except simple whitewashing; and the plasterers in return are to do nothing except pure plasterers' work, that the laborers would like to do for them, insomuch that if a plasterer wants laths or plaster to go on with, he must not go and fetch them himself, but must send ...
— The Communistic Societies of the United States • Charles Nordhoff
... much animal food is liable to produce kidney disease, gout, and kindred troubles. If we have a tendency to corpulence (and many have this in advancing years), to resort to an exclusive meat diet will produce these troubles. Far better abstain from vegetables, such as potatoes, and from sweet dishes, pastry, etc., and eat largely of the green-leaf vegetables and fruits with the articles of a simple diet which build but do not fatten ...
— Papers on Health • John Kirk
... two fore-teeth were wanting in all the men and women he saw. According to Piper certain rites belong to this strange custom. The young men retire from the tribe to solitary places, there to mourn and abstain from animal food for many days previous to their being subjected to this mutilation. The tooth is not drawn but knocked out by an old man, or coradje, with a wooden chisel, struck forcibly and so as to break it. It would be very difficult to ...
— Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Vol 2 (of 2) • Thomas Mitchell
... letter, I do not consider that I am infringing on the rule I have followed in obedience to my mother's wishes, that is, to abstain from giving publicity to all letters which are of a private and confidential character. This one entirely concerns her scientific writings, and is interesting as showing the confidence which existed ...
— Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville • Mary Somerville
... century, and the essence of the Eucharist was supposed in the East and West to depend on the use of leavened or unleavened bread. Shall I mention in a serious history the furious reproaches that were urged against the Latins, who for a long while remained on the defensive? They neglected to abstain, according to the apostolical decree, from things strangled, and from blood: they fasted (a Jewish observance!) on the Saturday of each week: during the first week of Lent they permitted the use of milk and cheese; [6] their ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6 • Edward Gibbon
... any wine which has alcohol in it, in taking the sacrament, and as there is no wine without a portion of alcohol; they have invented a harmless mixture which they call wine. Unfortunately, many of these Temperance Societies in their zeal, will admit of no medium party—you must either abstain altogether, or be ...
— Diary in America, Series One • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)
... parliament." Being found guilty,[C] he received sentence of death, but was not executed till the 3d of May, when, confessing his own guilt, and the iniquity of the enterprise, he exhorted all Roman Catholics to abstain from the like treasonable practices in future. Gerard and Hall, two Jesuits, got abroad; and Littleton, with several others, were executed in ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox
... Knox was immediately ordered before the council, who went thither attended by some of the most respectable citizens; when called in, the secretary signified that the king was much offended with some words in his sermons, (as above-mentioned), and ordered him to abstain from preaching for fifteen or twenty days; to which Mr. Knox answered, That he had spoken nothing but according to his text, and if the church would command him either to speak or refrain from speaking, he would obey so far ...
— Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) • John Howie
... will hear no more of this, and' (nothing but despair of other means could have inspired him) 'it is for your own interest to abstain from insulting my future wife ...
— That Stick • Charlotte M. Yonge
... for the shepherd's answer, he stretched out his hand and took up some of those that were nearest to him; seeing which Ambrosio said, "Out of courtesy, senor, I will grant your request as to those you have taken, but it is idle to expect me to abstain from ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... looks—'Han'some is who han'some does,'" said grandma, which effected the collapse of Andrew. In the Clay household there were ever current reminders of the truth of the old proverb, warning people in glass-houses to abstain from stone-throwing. ...
— Some Everyday Folk and Dawn • Miles Franklin
... his laws, and so serve him. But I dare say the devil hath no days so much service as upon Sundays or holy days; which Sundays are appointed to preaching, and to hear God's most holy word. Therefore God saith not only in his commandments, that we shall abstain from working; but he saith, Sanctificabis, "Thou shalt hallow:" so that holy day keeping is nothing else but to abstain from good works, and to do better works; that is, to come together, and celebrate the Communion together, and visit ...
— Sermons on the Card and Other Discourses • Hugh Latimer
... of the English and French squadrons, preparations for a vigorous sea war were going forward in England with an unparalleled spirit and success. Still the French court flattered itself that Great Britain, out of tenderness to his majesty's German dominions, would abstain from hostilities. Mirepoix continued to have frequent conferences with the British ministry, who made no secret that their admirals, particularly Boscawen, had orders to attack the French ships wherever they should meet them; on ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... in the grain of his character, and of his respect for his own case, that he should abstain from idle murmuring, it was evident that he had grown the older, the sterner, and the poorer, for his long endeavour. He could not but think what a blessed thing it would have been for this man, if ...
— Little Dorrit • Charles Dickens
... is detected smoking cigarettes or using tobacco in any form, will be dropped from the squad instantly. Every man who enrolls will be required to make a promise to abstain, until the end of the ball season, ...
— The High School Pitcher - Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond • H. Irving Hancock
... and from affairs of state abstain; Women emasculate a monarch's reign; And murmuring crowds, who see them shine with gold, That pomp, as their own ravished ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of 18) - Amboyna; The state of Innocence; Aureng-Zebe; All for Love • John Dryden
... lover must not mistakenly be thought to be connected, as might appear, with the modern idea of continence. As is pointed out by McGee, it arose out of the primitive sexual taboos, and is imposed on the young man as a test of his strength to abstain from any sexual relationships outside the proscribed limits. Such a moral test may once have been common, but seems to have been lost except among the Seri; though a curious vestige appears in the anti-nuptial treatment of the bridegroom, in the Salish ...
— The Position of Woman in Primitive Society - A Study of the Matriarchy • C. Gasquoine Hartley
... herself to you with all her secrets. In her calyx you will find the elixir of life and the secret of gold, if you walk in the path of duty; if you exercise unconditional obedience to the Invisible Fathers; if you submit yourselves in blind confidence to their wisdom; if you swear to abstain from every self-inquiry, and to distrust your own understanding." [Footnote: So run the very words in the laws of the Rosicrucians.—See "New General German ...
— Old Fritz and the New Era • Louise Muhlbach
... in Oxford, wrote a large book against the Oxford system, as ruinously expensive. But then, as now, the real expense was due to no cause over which the colleges could exercise any effectual control. It is due exclusively to the habits of social intercourse amongst the young men; from which he may abstain who chooses. But, for any academic authorities to interfere by sumptuary laws with the private expenditure of grown men, many of them, in a legal sense, of age, and all near it, must appear romantic and extravagant, for this (or, indeed, any) stage ...
— Memorials and Other Papers • Thomas de Quincey
... subordinate to the spiritual requirements. The fourth word of the Decalogue prescribes, then, that the Israelite should for ever remember the holy day of sabbath, as a representative of religion, and should, during that day, abstain, and cause all his dependants to abstain, from all manual labour and earthly occupation, that might distract him from the contemplation of heavenly subjects, which should exclusively occupy his mind ...
— A Guide for the Religious Instruction of Jewish Youth • Isaac Samuele Reggio
... point. My grievance is, that in my old age I am forced to drink porter which disagrees with my liver, and am compelled to abstain from spirits which have a sustaining and medicinal effect on that organ, and this deprivation is solely due to the unnatural and inexplicable existence of Englishmen. It may be that nature grew Englishmen for the sole purpose of interfering with my organs, and so, by modifying my teaching in ...
— Here are Ladies • James Stephens
... for blood and sawdust; many of them, compelled for the purpose of making money to follow in their fathers' practices, did so unwillingly; some, thanks to their fathers' butchery, were in a position to abstain from practising; but whether in practice or at leisure, distaste for the scent of blood and sawdust was the common feature that distinguished them. Qualities hitherto but little known, and generally despised—not, as we shall see, without some reason—were developed in them. Self-consciousness, ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 18-20, 1874, to carry the precepts of the following pledge into the practice of everyday life: "I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various
... Masturbation. Some girls and women will abstain from handling themselves with their hands (manual masturbation), but will practice what we call mental masturbation. That is, they will concentrate their minds on the opposite sex, will picture to themselves various lascivious scenes, until they feel "satisfied." This method is extremely ...
— Woman - Her Sex and Love Life • William J. Robinson
... abstain, desist, give over, quit, bring to an end, discontinue, intermit, refrain, come to an end, end, leave off, stop, conclude, ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... on the sons of Noah are stated to be seven: to do justice; to bless the name of God; to avoid idolatry; to flee from fornication and adultery; to abstain from blood-shedding; not to rob; and not to eat a member of a living animal. An account is given of the river Sambation, which flows with stones all the six days of the week, but rests on the Sabbath day. Examples are also furnished of gluttony and drunkenness. The paunches of some Rabbis ...
— Hebrew Literature
... spirit, Archbishop Hughes, although he had yielded to the pressure made on him and issued an address to the Irish, calling on them to abstain from violence, yet accompanied it with a letter to Horace Grreeley, directly calculated to awaken or intensify, rather than allay their passions. He more than intimated that they had been abused and oppressed, and thought it high time the war ...
— The Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873 • J.T. Headley
... deservedly so, as to take an interest in whatever is going forward in society. A wise man always finds his account in it, and will receive information and fresh views of life even in the society of fools. Abstain from society altogether when you are not able to play some part in it. This reserve, and a sort of Hidalgo air joined to his character as a satirist, have done the best-humoured fellow in the world some injury in the opinion of Edinburgh ...
— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott
... scandal, but also that whereupon followeth a scandal taken, whatsoever it be, if it be not necessary. This is so evident, that Papists themselves subscribe to it; for both Cardinal Cajetan(356) and Dominicus Bannes say, that we should abstain even a spiritualibus non necessariis when ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie
... solvent of all irrational and instinctive ideas. Men cannot be engineers and pathologists and at the same time believe that a man is a god. They cannot be historians and at the same time believe that their first Emperor came down from heaven. Above all, they cannot be politicians and abstain from analysing the real source and sanction of political power. English political experience, it is true, suggests immense possibilities in the way of clinging to fictions with the feelings while insisting upon facts in ...
— Appearances - Being Notes of Travel • Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson
... me, said the caliph to her, and I command you to preserve yourself for my sake. You have probably exceeded in something today, which has occasioned this indisposition; take heed, I pray you, abstain from it for the future. I am glad to see you better; and I advise you to stay here tonight, and not to return to your chamber, lest the motion disturb you. Upon this he commanded a little wine to be brought her, in order to strengthen her; and then taking his leave, ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Volume 1 • Anonymous
... of his teaching is to counteract the heresies of the Romish apostacy. "Fear God and give glory to him,"—not to the Virgin Mary, canonized saints and angels, images of wood and stone, (ch. ix. 20.) All are solemnly warned to "abstain from pollutions of idols," and their attention earnestly directed to their Creator,—to him "who made heaven, and earth, the seas and fountains of waters." This argument of the angel is very short,—that He only is to be worshipped who created the ...
— Notes On The Apocalypse • David Steele
... if a canvass of the entire civilized world were put to the vote in this matter, the proposition that it is desirable that the better sort of people should intermarry and have plentiful children, and that the inferior sort of people should abstain from multiplication, would be carried by an overwhelming majority. They might disagree with Plato's methods, [Footnote: The Republic, Bk. V.] but they would certainly agree to his principle. And that this is ...
— Mankind in the Making • H. G. Wells
... not possible to reconcile the contradiction in dates between Johnson and Mrs. Piozzi, nor is it easy to fix the time of this illness. That before February, 1766, he had had an illness so serious as to lead him altogether to abstain from wine is beyond a doubt. Boswell, on his return to England in that month, heard it from his own lips (post, ii. 8). That this illness must have attacked him after March 1, 1765, when he visited Cambridge, is also clear; for at that time he was ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell
... do request by this instrument that all well-disposed persons will abstain from asserting or implying that I am open to any accusation whatsoever touching the said comparison, and, if they have so asserted or implied, that they will have the manliness forthwith to retract the same assertion ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, April, 1858 • Various
... details of daily life, the command not to touch even the hand of one's nearest and dearest. How contrary to Western notions of affection and good feeling! How cold and hard it seems. Egotistical too, people would say, to abstain from giving pleasure to others for the sake of one's own development. Well, let those who think so defer till another lifetime the attempt to enter the path in real earnest. But let them not glory in their own fancied ...
— Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky • H. P. Blavatsky
... the coachbuilder's wife and others were not ladies. In a general way she was, no doubt, bound to assume them to be ladies; but she taught herself to think that such ladyhood was not of itself worth a great deal. It would not be worth the while of any woman to abstain from having some Mr Rubb or the like, and from being the lawful mother of children in the Rubb and Mackenzie line of life, for the sake of such exceptional rank as was to be maintained by associating with the ...
— Miss Mackenzie • Anthony Trollope
... was obliged to pay in another way for J.'s triumph at Voisin's when I got back to London and faced a deficit that had to be balanced somehow in my weekly bills for the rest of the month. But, at least, if abstaining has to be done, London is the easiest place to abstain in as Paris is the best to ...
— Nights - Rome, Venice, in the Aesthetic Eighties; London, Paris, in the Fighting Nineties • Elizabeth Robins Pennell
... The advice to abstain, given by Charamaule, made a deep impression on me. Coming from such a man, and one so dauntless, it was certainly not to be distrusted. Besides, I felt myself bound by the deliberation which had just taken place at the meeting ...
— The History of a Crime - The Testimony of an Eye-Witness • Victor Hugo
... interests to the detriment of all others, and does not scruple to violate moral laws and social traditions in order to betray his new friends, we may well ask in virtue of what precept we should abstain from ostracizing him from the British Empire. His second nationality is so often a mere mask to enable him to perpetrate black treason, and it is so openly thus regarded by his own Government, which upholds and solemnly sanctions the principle, that it would ...
— England and Germany • Emile Joseph Dillon
... and the multitude, the Saviour was borne through the crowd, in conclusion of the prendimiento. The curate wound up his discourse by an exhortation to abstain from sin, which had been the cause of this awful event. I regret to state that at this very moment, a man poked his hand into A——'s pocket, who turned very sharply round, and asked him what he wanted; ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon De La Barca
... are altogether right in advising me to abstain from forming ties of friendship with Pepita Ximenez; I am far enough from being bound ...
— Pepita Ximenez • Juan Valera
... likely that separation and reunion are not subject to predestination? Though we may now be far apart in two different places, we must each of us try and preserve good cheer. Your abject child has, it is true, gone from home, but abstain from ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin
... trees thick interwoven. There he slept, And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream, Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment sweet. Him thought he by the brook of Cherith stood, And saw the ravens with their horny beaks Food to Elijah bringing even and morn— Though ravenous, taught to abstain from what they brought; He saw the Prophet also, how he fled 270 Into the desert, and how there he slept Under a juniper—then how, awaked, He found his supper on the coals prepared, And by the Angel was bid rise and eat, And eat the second ...
— Paradise Regained • John Milton
... bring on us greater punishment:" and what can be more easy than to reform this fault? "Tell me," saith he, "what difficulty, what sweat, what art, what hazard, what more doth it require beside a little care" to abstain wholly from it? It is but willing, or resolving on it, and it is instantly done; for there is not any natural inclination disposing to it, any strong appetite to detain ...
— Sermons on Evil-Speaking • Isaac Barrow
... abstain? Why should we abstain? How should we abstain? Those are the three points, ladies, I ...
— Monsieur, Madame and Bebe, Complete • Gustave Droz
... real molestation until the Restoration, but only six months had passed after the king's return when he was committed to Bedford Gaol on a charge of preaching in unlicensed conventicles. His refusal to promise to abstain from preaching kept him there eleven years. The gaol was crowded with prisoners like himself, and amongst them he continued his ministry, supporting himself by making tagged thread laces, and finding some comfort in the Bible, the "Book of Martyrs," and the writing ...
— History of the English People, Volume VI (of 8) - Puritan England, 1642-1660; The Revolution, 1660-1683 • John Richard Green
... moved within the altar and underwent the test of flagellation. Calako lashed them with yucca and willow. Those who made no outcry were told to remain in the altar, to abstain from salt and flesh for ten days, when Calako would return and instruct them concerning the rites to be performed when they sought ...
— Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 • Jesse Walter Fewkes
... greater insult of invasion. The 'indignity' of notice to quit was, in fact, inevitable if the Sultan was to preserve a vestige of self-respect. Lord Aberdeen was calmly drafting fresh plans of pacification, requiring the Porte to abstain from hostilities 'during the progress of the negotiations undertaken on its behalf'[33] a fortnight after Turkey had actually sent her ultimatum to Russia; and the battle of Oltenitza was an affair of history before the despatch reached Constantinople. Lord Stanmore ...
— Lord John Russell • Stuart J. Reid
... understand why the clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah! If it had been a religious funeral, the whole town would have been present, but you can understand that her suicide added to the other affair, and made families abstain from attending her funeral; and then, it is not an easy matter, here, to attend a funeral which is ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume III (of 8) • Guy de Maupassant
... the congregation of St. Maurus, in 1621, which was approved of by Gregory XV. and Urban VIII. It is divided into six provinces, under its own general, who usually resides at St. Germain-des-Prez, at Paris. These monks live in strict retirement, and constantly abstain from flesh meat, except in the infirmary. Their chief houses are, St. Maur-sur-Loire, St. Germain-des Prez, Fleury, or St. Benoit-sur-Loire, Marmoutier at Tours, Vendome, St. Remigius at Rheims, St. Peter of Corbie, Fecan &c. 3. Ib. l. 15, p. 465, l. 36, p. 82. See Dom Beaunier, Recueil Historique ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler
... God is not meat and drink." 15, 17 v, also 20, 23. Giving them again in substance the decrees which had been given by the Apostles in their first conference, in A. D. 51; held at Jerusalem. See Acts xv: 19. James proposes their letter to the Gentiles should be "that they abstain from pollution of Idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood;" to which the conference all agreed. Now please read their unanimous decrees (xvi: 4,) from twenty-three to thirty verses. "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater ...
— The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign - 1847 edition • Joseph Bates
... because they are intemperate—which might seem to be a contradiction, but is nevertheless the sort of thing which happens with this foolish temperance. For there are pleasures which they are afraid of losing; and in their desire to keep them, they abstain from some pleasures, because they are overcome by others; and although to be conquered by pleasure is called by men intemperance, to them the conquest of pleasure consists in being conquered by pleasure. And that is what I mean by saying that, in a sense, they are made temperate ...
— Phaedo - The Last Hours Of Socrates • Plato
... While I abstain from any mention of the many incidents of the evening, I cannot pass over one which, occurring to myself, is valuable but as showing, by one slight and passing trait, the amiable and kind feeling of one whose memory is hallowed in ...
— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2) • Charles Lever
... son." The man, whose humanity and generous spirit had been obscured, not entirely lost, by his vicious course of life, was struck with the singularity of the event, was charmed with the confidence reposed in him, and vowed, not only to abstain from all injury against the princess, but to devote himself entirely to her service.[*] By his means she dwelt some time concealed in the forest, and was at last conducted to the sea-coast, whence she made her escape into Flanders. She passed thence into ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part B. - From Henry III. to Richard III. • David Hume
... evacuation of the bowels. Avoid the use of those articles of food which produce excessive acidity of the stomach. Hearty or late suppers are not allowable. The patient should use no alcoholic beverages, and should abstain from such stimulants as tea, coffee, beer, wine, and tobacco. We cannot even recommend their moderate use, for total abstinence ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce
... tale telleth, be sure our trip is going to be worth the two days' ride. I'll show you such chasms and gorges and crags as you've never turned those two lovely eyes of yours upon, Mrs. Gloria King." (He couldn't abstain absolutely from all love-making.) "And a little grove of sequoias which belongs to me. Or, at least, I believe I am the only man who knows where they are. Friends of mine, those big fellows are, ...
— The Everlasting Whisper • Jackson Gregory
... experiment. The populace had now become excited, and there were threats of violence. The magistrates, fearful of the consequences, did every thing in their power to soothe the people, and urged them, by earnest proclamation, to abstain from all tumult. For some time the procession, displaying all the hated pomp of papal worship, paraded the streets undisturbed. But at length the populace became ungovernable, attacked the monks, demolished their pageants and pelted them with ...
— The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power • John S. C. Abbott
... Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of ...
— Familiar Quotations • John Bartlett
... immediately stopped the salutes which some of his enthusiastic soldiers were already beginning to fire. "The war is over," he told his staff, "the rebels are our countrymen again, and the best sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from ...
— Captains of the Civil War - A Chronicle of the Blue and the Gray, Volume 31, The - Chronicles Of America Series • William Wood
... municipality, distrusting the future committee, and declaring in advance that they will not obey it. A few elect their commissioners only to obtain information, and, at the same time, to show that they intend earnestly to stop all rioting.[2670] Finally, at least twenty sections abstain from or disapprove of the proceedings and send no delegates.—Never mind, they can be dispensed with. At three o'clock in the morning, 19 sections, and, at seven o'clock, 24 or 25,[2671] are represented one way or another at the ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 3 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 2 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine
... incompatible with State sovereignty would be increased and those barriers which resist the tendency of our system toward consolidation greatly weakened. The officers and agents of the General Government might not always have the discretion to abstain from intermeddling with State concerns, and if they did they would not always escape the suspicion of having done so. Collisions and consequent irritations would spring up; that harmony which should ever exist between the General Government ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various
... being. It was a delicate task that fell to the lot of the chamberlain, but he carried it through with the greatest diplomacy, each side making a slight concession: the king on his part promising to abstain from card playing during Spohr's performance on condition that the violinist's two pieces should immediately follow each other on the program, and Spohr withdrawing his embargo from the whole concert ...
— Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday • Henry C. Lahee
... have been extremely nice in eating; among his absolute injunctions to his disciples, he commands them to "abstain from beans." ...
— The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual • William Kitchiner
... easy now to understand the significance of these events—if only we abstain from attributing to the activity of the mass aims that existed only in the heads of a dozen individuals—for the events and results now lie ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... government must have the power to use force, and may on occasion use it legitimately, the aim of the reformers to have such institutions as will diminish the need for actual coercion will be found to have this effect. Most of us abstain, for instance, from theft, not because it is illegal, but because we feel no desire to steal. The more men learn to live creatively rather than possessively, the less their wishes will lead them to thwart others or to attempt violent ...
— Political Ideals • Bertrand Russell
... even if he has reached the top of the ladder of prosperity and honor. There must be a reason for this, which is that the soul has an intuitional longing for the other world which is destined for it. There are many things from which the soul is bidden to abstain, such as theft, adultery, and so on, which it desires, and abstention from which causes it pain. Surely there must be reward awaiting the soul for this suffering. Often the soul suffers hatred, persecution and even death for pursuing justice as she is bidden to do. Surely she will be rewarded. ...
— A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy • Isaac Husik
... the act of Secession, I accompanied him to the plantation spoken of. It involved a little steamboat journey, sundry rides in chaise or buggy, and the crossing of more than one of the many creeks or rivers intersecting the low, sandy, swampy coast. I purposely abstain from particularizing the locality. It was toward the close of a mild, humid day when we reached the ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... France by tens of thousands, with all who depend upon and are connected with them; give to the ballot in France the sanctity, freedom, and security which it has in England; compel the public authorities in France to abstain, as they are compelled in England to abstain, from direct interference with the exercise by the voters of the right of suffrage, and the evidence is overwhelming which goes to show that the Third Republic would be voted ...
— France and the Republic - A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces - During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 • William Henry Hurlbert
... yet it must be admitted that the Russian people are in a certain sense religious. They regularly go to church on Sundays and Holy Days, of which there are countless numbers, cross themselves repeatedly when they pass a church or Icon, take the holy communion at stated seasons, rigorously abstain from animal food, not only on Wednesdays and Fridays but also during Lent and the other long fasts, make occasional pilgrimages to the holy shrines and in a word fulfill carefully the ceremonial observance which they suppose ...
— The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki - Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 • Joel R. Moore
... delegates at this Second Peace Conference devoted themselves to careful preparations for the next war, especially for the next naval war. They appeared to me like two farmers making arrangements to abstain from burning each other's hay-ricks. "Look here," says one, "this rick-burning's a dangerous and expensive job. Let us give up wax vestas, and stick to safety matches." "Done!" says the other. "Now mind! Only safety matches in future!" ...
— Essays in Rebellion • Henry W. Nevinson
... exceptional intellectual resource. There is here surely that sudden and unaccounted-for change of character which the second-rate novelist and dramatists may permit himself, but from which the first-rate should abstain. ...
— The Celibates - Includes: Pierrette, The Vicar of Tours, and The Two Brothers • Honore de Balzac
... overthrow! Not mine to fly a worship I disown, By me Jehovah, King of kings, be known! Not mine to tremble as I kiss the rod! I conquer by the Cross, I fight for God! Thou wouldst abstain! For me another course From Heaven the call, and Heaven will give the force! What! Yield to evil! His Cross on my brow! His freemen we! O fight, Nearchus, now! For us our Lord was scourged, pierced, tortured, slain! For us He bled! Say, has He ...
— Polyuecte • Pierre Corneille
... imprisonment is very trying, especially if to the horror of captivity is added the horror of utter solitude. I observe that in our own day a great many persons commit suicide during the first twenty-four hours of the solitary cell. This is doubtless why our Jairi abstain so carefully from the impertinence of watching their little experiment upon the human soul at that particular ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade
... I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they ...
— The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln • Francis Fisher Browne
... decided were many and various, but the large, broad principle of his decision remains the same in all. You may marry, and you have not sinned; you may remain unmarried, and you do not sin; if you are invited to a heathen feast, you may go, or you may abstain from going; you may remain a slave, or you may become free; in these things Christianity does not consist. But what it does demand is this: that whether married or unmarried, whether a slave or free, in sorrow or in joy, you ...
— Sermons Preached at Brighton - Third Series • Frederick W. Robertson
... the argument from native opinion must be faced. 'It is a grave thing to legislate in opposition to the wishes of any section of the native community; but it is also a grave, a very grave thing for the Government of India deliberately to abstain from doing that which it has declared to be just and right.' If you help the Brahmos alone, what will you say to the 'radical league,' which repudiates all religious belief? When they ask to have their ...
— The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bart., K.C.S.I. - A Judge of the High Court of Justice • Sir Leslie Stephen
... preface to his pamphlet on "Le Pays et le Gouvernement," as well as in his defence before the jury, M. Lamennais frankly declared himself an advocate of property. Out of regard for the author and his misfortune, I shall abstain from characterizing this declaration, and from examining these two sorrowful performances. M. Lamennais seems to be only the tool of a quasi-radical party, which flatters him in order to use him, without respect for a glorious, but hence forth powerless, ...
— What is Property? - An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government • P. J. Proudhon
... because it is encumbered with the notion of miraculous birth by a virgin. The Johannine authorship has receded before the tide of modern criticism; and though this tide is arbitrary at times, it is here irresistible. Apologists should abstain from strong assertions on a point so difficult, as that each "gospel is distinctly recognized by him;" for the noted passage in the dialogue with Trypho does not support them.(168) It is pretty certain that he employed an extra-canonical gospel, the so-called ...
— The Canon of the Bible • Samuel Davidson
... as to the personality of these poets, a matter which has had too great a place assigned to it in literary history. Luckily, unless he delights in unbridled guessing, the historian of mediaeval literature is better entitled to abstain from it than any other. But something may perhaps be said of the men whose work has just been discussed, for there are not uninteresting shades of difference between them. In Germany, as in France, the trouvere-jongleur class ...
— The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory - (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) • George Saintsbury
... the tracks of our forefathers, where I can neither wander nor stumble. Determining to fix articles of peace, I was resolved not to be wise beyond what was written; I was resolved to use nothing else than the form of sound words, to let others abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain from all expressions of my own. What the law has said, I say. In all things else I am silent. I have no organ but for her words. This, if it be not ingenious, I am sure ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. II. (of 12) • Edmund Burke
... partial and one-sided. I think the charge of gambling may be put aside, with your promise to abstain from the appearance of evil for the future. I understand your position about the Sabbath. You should have gone on singing in some church. Supposing you got no spiritual help from it, you were at least lifting ...
— An Orkney Maid • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
... second case in which hay fever was cured by local application of quinine. [Footnote: Cf. Virchow's 'Archiv.' (1870), vol. li. p. 176.] Professor Busch, of Bonn, authorises me to say that he succeeded in two cases of 'catarrhus aestivus' by the same method: a third patient was obliged to abstain from the use of quinine, as it produced an unbearable irritation of the sensible nerves of the nose. In the autumn of 1872 Helmholtz told me that his fever was quite cured, and that in the meantime two other patients had, by his advice, tried this method, and with the same ...
— Fragments of science, V. 1-2 • John Tyndall
... was perhaps the most hardly treated. In November 1660, he was flung into Bedford gaol; and there he remained, with some intervals of partial and precarious liberty, during twelve years. His persecutors tried to extort from him a promise that he would abstain from preaching; but he was convinced that he was divinely set apart and commissioned to be a teacher of righteousness; and he was fully determined to obey God rather than man. He was brought before several ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 3. (of 4) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... kinds are eaten. A person who particularly relishes and partakes largely of flesh-foods will reject as insipid and unsatisfying many mild-flavoured foods at one end of the scale. The vegetarian may abstain from foods at the opposite end of the scale, not always from humane reasons, but because they are unpleasant. Thus there may be little to choose between the mere range of flavours that give enjoyment to each class of persons. The sense of taste is in its character and ...
— The Chemistry of Food and Nutrition • A. W. Duncan
... therefore have any man to think, that my primary Scope, and intention, is to perswade the worthy, or unworthy Sons of this Age, to labour in this work, no, not at all: but I shall rather dehort all, and every of the curious Indagators of this Art, that they seriously abstain from this most perilous Arcanum, as from a certain Sanctum Sanctorum; yea, and I would admonish the Studious of this Arcanum, accurately to take heed to himself, and beware of the Lectures, and Association of false Philosophers. But I hope I shall satisfie ...
— The Golden Calf, Which the World Adores, and Desires • John Frederick Helvetius
... from every act abstain, That hurts or gives another pain: And bear a sympathizing part, Whene'er I meet ...
— Hymns for Christian Devotion - Especially Adapted to the Universalist Denomination • J.G. Adams
... which might have superseded the necessity of any future prohibitions. "It is our pleasure, that in all places, and in all cities, the temples be immediately shut, and carefully guarded, that none may have the power of offending. It is likewise our pleasure, that all our subjects should abstain from sacrifices. If any one should be guilty of such an act, let him feel the sword of vengeance, and after his execution, let his property be confiscated to the public use. We denounce the same penalties against the governors of the provinces, if they neglect ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon
... I considered now out of the question. The same reasons that induced me to abstain from writing him before my trial, presented themselves in additional force to prevent me writing him after. I resolved that he should never know of the misfortune, however undeserved, that had befallen me. I had all along—that is, since my confinement—looked for some letter or other ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, XXII • various
... Maximilian will come away with Marshal Bazaine, in spite of all the Emperor may say to induce him to try to stand alone. This, I apprehend, will be the difficulty, and may cause much delay, unless the United States kindly lend a helping hand. Would it not be wise for us to abstain for a few months from all interference, direct or indirect, and thus give Napoleon and Maximilian time to carry out their farce? Mexico would thus be rid of the French flag in the least possible time. If the French troops come also, Juarez can easily dispose of Maximilian ...
— Forty-Six Years in the Army • John M. Schofield
... would say that lords did not behave like common people, that the children were only planted at certain celestial conjunctions ascertained by learned astrologers; at another that one should abstain from begetting children on feast days, because it was a great undertaking; and he observed the feasts like a man who wished to enter into Paradise without consent. Sometimes he would pretend that if by chance the parents were not in a state of grace, ...
— Droll Stories, Volume 1 • Honore de Balzac
... not have any sexual desire for her is nonsense. A man who loves a woman and does not want to possess her (to use the ugly ancient verb) does not love her—or he is completely impotent. Whatever the feeling may be for her—it is not love. He may abstain from having sex relations with her if the circumstances are such that sex relations may lead to her unhappiness and suffering, but to refrain from doing a thing, when reason and judgment lead us to refrain, does not mean not to ...
— Woman - Her Sex and Love Life • William J. Robinson
... failing of her Foreign Secretary to act hastily in important matters of State without the consent or advice of Queen or Cabinet, questioned the Premier and was assured that nothing had been done in recognition of the new government in Paris. Indeed the Cabinet had passed a resolution to abstain from the expression of opinions in approval or disapproval of the recent coup d'etat in France. But it soon leaked out that Lord Palmerston who thought he understood full well the foreign relations of England, and what her policy should be, had both in ...
— The Grand Old Man • Richard B. Cook
... statements which I make, and by invoking unimpeachable testimonies. These alone constitute weighty arguments, since they all contribute to produce the same impression. In order that truth may be restored to history, I shall adopt a system diametrically opposed to that of M. Taine, or rather I shall abstain from all systems, and from all pretensions to literary merit, and confine myself entirely to ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli
... the meeting, 82 Not a popular assembly, 83 In what capacity the Apostles here acted, 85 Why the Council said "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," 86 The decision, 87 Why the converts were required to abstain from blood and things strangled, 88 Importance of ...
— The Ancient Church - Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution • W.D. [William Dool] Killen
... hair; and until this has again grown to a certain length she cannot remarry. (Spencer, D.S., 20.) Among the Patagonians, "the widow, or widows, of the dead, are obliged to mourn and fast for a whole year after the death of their husbands." They must abstain from certain kinds of food, and must not wash their faces and hands for a whole year; while "during the year of mourning they are forbidden to marry." (Falkner, 119.) The grief is all prescribed and regulated according to tribal fancy. The Brazilians "repeat ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck
... before the House of Commons. He held property in Lydenburg. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman since the beginning of the war, and had fired on several others) to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm. On his refusal he was attacked by them; three other Boers joined them, and he was left in such a condition that he was thought ...
— Boer Politics • Yves Guyot
... to be hereafter enacted; the males may be assigned to citizens who have no children of their own. How to equalize families and allotments will be one of the chief cares of the guardians of the laws. When parents have too many children they may give to those who have none, or couples may abstain from having children, or, if there is a want of offspring, special care may be taken to obtain them; or if the number of citizens becomes excessive, we may send away the surplus to found a colony. If, on ...
— Laws • Plato
... correctly. It is this: He thought it bad economy and worthy of no true virtuoso to spoil the natural rapture of the morning with such muddy stimulants; let him but see the sun rise, and he was already sufficiently inspirited for the labours of the day. That may be reason good enough to abstain from tea; but when we go on to find the same man, on the same or similar grounds, abstain from nearly everything that his neighbours innocently and pleasurably use, and from the rubs and trials of human society itself into the bargain, we recognise ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 3 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... wherein they seem to me like a blind man who, in order to fight on equal terms with a man who has his sight, invites him into the depths of a cavern. And I may say that it is to their interest that I should abstain from publishing the principles of the philosophy which I employ, for so simple and so evident are they that to publish them would be like opening windows into their caverns and letting in the day. But if they prefer acquaintance ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books, Volume XIII. - Religion and Philosophy • Various
... already burdened. And yet there had been no entail. The idea of an entail was not in accordance with the peculiarities of the Dale mind. It was necessary to the Dale religion that each squire should have the power of wasting the acres of Allington,—and that he should abstain from wasting them. I remember to have dined at a house, the whole glory and fortune of which depended on the safety of a glass goblet. We all know the story. If the luck of Edenhall should be shattered, the doom of the family would ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope
... children, as amongst men, is the root of all evil, and leads to no evil more certainly than to ill temper. It is said,[40] that the late king of Spain was always so cross during Passion week, when he was obliged to abstain from his favourite amusement of hunting, that none of his courtiers liked to approach his majesty. There is a great similarity between the condition of a prince flattered by his courtiers, and a child ...
— Practical Education, Volume I • Maria Edgeworth
... religion. Even Philip had been most anxious to marry the Protestant Elizabeth, whom, had she been a peasant, he would unquestionably have burned, if in his power. Throughout Germany, also, especially in high places, there was a disposition to cover up the religious controversy; to abstain from disturbing the ashes where devastation still glowed, and was one day to rekindle itself. It was exceedingly difficult for any man, from the Archduke Maximilian down, to define his creed. A marriage, therefore; between a man and woman of discordant ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... at Berlin and at Potsdam far more trouble than any other of their subscribers, for when he telephones to any of the government departments, or to dignitaries or officials of high rank, the operators at the central office are under the strictest orders to abstain from listening to the conversation, and are forced to rise from their seats and remove to a distance from the wires. Anyone caught disobeying in this particular is subject not only to dismissal, but to serious unpleasantness on ...
— The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2) • Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy |
