"Better" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... which time her highness' linen had acquired a hue, which, from the superstition of the princess and the times, was much admired, and adopted by the court fashionables under the name of "Isabella colour." It is a yellow or soiled buff, better imagined than described. ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 13, No. 354, Saturday, January 31, 1829. • Various
... progeny of vegetables it has long been thought, that a change of seed or of situation is in process of time necessary to prevent their degeneracy; but it is now believed, that it is only changing for seed of a superior quality, that will better the product. At the same time it may be probably useful occasionally to intermix seeds from different situations together; as the anther-dust is liable to pass from one plant to another in its vicinity; and by these means the new seeds or plants may be ...
— The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society - A Poem, with Philosophical Notes • Erasmus Darwin
... one thing bothers me a little. Why use a plastic cat as a container to smuggle things into Egypt? There must be better ways." ...
— The Egyptian Cat Mystery • Harold Leland Goodwin
... leaves, twigs, mosses, etc. Aethalium from 2 or 3 mm. to a centimeter or more in extent. I have a specimen of Fuligo simulans Karsten, from Karsten himself; it is identical with my specimens of Fuligo ochracea Peck. There could be no better representation of these specimens made at that time than the description and figure of Fuligo muscorum A. ...
— The Myxomycetes of the Miami Valley, Ohio • A. P. Morgan
... On this occasion, as well as on many others, the sober historian is forcibly awakened from a pleasing vision; and is compelled, with some reluctance, to confess, that the pastoral manners, which have been adorned with the fairest attributes of peace and innocence, are much better adapted to the fierce and cruel habits of a military life. To illustrate this observation, I shall now proceed to consider a nation of shepherds and of warriors, in the three important articles of, I. Their diet; II. Their habitations; and, ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon
... gab, Tim Rafferty," said the other. "It's you that'll make a better monkey nor I. Say, Johnny, do you pay ...
— Phil the Fiddler • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... But Nick was better employed; he was quietly taking Villon's purse, as the poet sat, limp and trembling, on the stool where he had been making a ballade not three minutes before. Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded a share of the booty, which the ...
— Stories By English Authors: France • Various
... were apparently satisfied. The sheik begged me not to kill his people by hitting them, "as they were mere chickens, who would at once die if I were to strike them with my fist." I begged him to keep his "chickens" in better order, and at once to order them away from our immediate neighbourhood. In a few minutes the sheik drove the crowd away, who picked up their man and led him off. The sheik then begged us to accept a hut for the night, and he ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker
... ye sicht o' 'im, I daursay, but what better wad ye be for that? Gien ye hed a' the lawyers o' Embrough at yer back, ye wadna touch ...
— Sir Gibbie • George MacDonald
... He was the illegitimate son of a poor idiot girl, who had herself been shamefully ill treated; and the poor infant, falling under the care of an enraged grandmother, who felt herself at once burdened and disgraced, was certainly not better treated. He was dying, when I saw him, of a lingering malady, with features expressive of frantic misery; and it seemed to me that he looked at the least three centuries old. One might have fancied him one of Swift's strulbrugs, that, through long attenuation and ...
— Autobiographic Sketches • Thomas de Quincey
... noon and until 11 o'clock at night he was on duty. All the births, deaths and marriages were recorded on his intelligence board. All the news of the day, events from abroad and at home—all were recorded by Frank. There never lived a better-tempered or so good-hearted a fellow. Before going home after a lodge or a political meeting the last thing was to call at the "corner" for the latest bit of news. It was the meeting-place of many who made it their headquarters. ...
— Some Reminiscences of old Victoria • Edgar Fawcett
... however, by thee, O king of the celestials, I shall somehow approach that Rishi. But, O chief of the gods, devise thou some plan whereby protected by thee, I may safely move about that Rishi. I think that when I begin to play before the Rishi, Marut (the god of wind) had better go there and rob me of my dress, and Manmatha (the god of love) had also, at thy command, better help me then. Let also Marut on that occasion bear thither fragrance from the woods to tempt the Rishi.' Saying this and seeing that all she had spoken about had been ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa - Translated into English Prose - Adi Parva (First Parva, or First Book) • Kisari Mohan Ganguli (Translator)
... not. You have other work to do. But Jane and I run down to the shore whenever we have money—I mean whenever we can manage to leave home. She knows every fisherman's hut from Henlopen to Barnegat. No better place to go for a breath of salt air than Sutphen's Point. You can troll with him all day, or dig for roots in the pine woods, or sleep on the beach in ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 20, August 1877 • Various
... within which I have observed mine to keep, vid. full 2 inches, but likewise as an Estimate of the Clearness of the Quicksilver from Air. For, though my Quicksilver were with good care cleansed from the Air; yet I find that which Mr. Boyle useth, much better: for, comparing his with mine at the same times, and both in Oxford, at no great distance; I find his Quicksilver to stand alwaies somewhat higher than mine (sometimes neer a quarter of an Inch;) ...
— Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - Vol 1 - 1666 • Various
... engravings of the most instructive works of art; and hold evening meetings, to which ladies would be admitted. It should allow at least L400 a year for the support of free pupils. In connection with its drawing and modelling schools should be a professorship of anatomy, or, what were better, some arrangement might be made with the College of Surgeons, or some such body, for courses of instruction for its pupils. The training for its pupils in sculpture, painting, and design should include the study of ancient and modern costumes, zoology, and of vegetable ...
— Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry • Thomas Davis
... Marlowe's hand. "I'd like to thank you again, sir. Looking at it from my point of view, it's something for nothing—at least, while I'm alive. And it's a very nice planet, too, from the way Mr. Mead described it. Even better ...
— Citadel • Algirdas Jonas Budrys
... Fermentation Insect Powder Johnson Grass Jersey Kale Kafir and Egyptian Corn Lawns, Mossy Moonshine Farming Oats and Rust Pasturing Young Grain Hurry-up California Winter Rape and Milo Rye in California Rye Grass, Italian better than Speltz Spurry, Giant Soil Light, Scant Moisture Sunflowers and Soy Beans Russian Spineless Cactus Sorghum Smutty Late Sown Sorghums for Seed for Planting Sacaline Special Crops Teosinte Vetches for San Joaquin ...
— One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered • E.J. Wickson
... thread would not enter. The girl kept trying at the eye, and the judge kept fidgeting. The marriage of the thread could not be consummated, the bodkin remained virgin, and the servant began to laugh, saying to La Portillone that she knew better how to endure than to perform. Then the roguish judge laughed too, and the fair Portillone cried for ...
— Droll Stories, Volume 3 • Honore de Balzac
... and gravel pit has helped him in getting his equipment quickly, and in that he has been fortunate. But the thing I want to say to you men is that the Commissioners are in hearty accord with the statements just made by Mr. Earth, regarding concrete roads. We feel that you are entitled to better roads, that the county will be greatly benefited by the building of these roads. Of course, the state will pay half the cost of these roads, the county one-fourth, but the balance of the cost will have to be borne by you. I know there is no one here who ...
— Hidden Treasure • John Thomas Simpson
... sufficient to render men happier and better, because it comprises all that is good and useful in other laws, either civil or religious, that is to say, it constitutes essentially the moral part of them; so that if other laws were divested of it, they ...
— The Ruins • C. F. [Constantin Francois de] Volney
... of the multitude," Aaron sighed. "I haven't the brains to organise. I talk sometimes but I get too excited. There are others—many others—who speak more convincingly, but no one feels more than I feel, no one prays for the better times more fervently than I. It isn't for myself—it isn't for ourselves, even; it's for the children, it's ...
— A People's Man • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... nothing to do there. He was never able to comprehend that work done on a profitless basis deteriorates and is presently not worth anything, and that customers are then obliged to go where they can get better work, even if they must pay better prices for it. He had plenty of time, and he took up Blackstone again. He also put up a sign which offered his services to the public as a lawyer. He never got ...
— Chapters from My Autobiography • Mark Twain
... menials, that must needs have otherwise arisen, that the Squire of Crompton compelled his guests to wear red coats. The habitues of the place, who were the contemporaries of the Squire, had, as it were, gone to seed. But there was a sprinkling of a better class, or, at all events, of a class that had not as yet sunk so low as they in the mire of debauchery: a young lord or two in their minority, whom their parents or guardians could not coerce into keeping better company; and other young gentlemen ...
— Bred in the Bone • James Payn
... assertion, adding jocularly: "Perhaps you'd better call up headquarters and ask your boss if he wants you to kill the ...
— The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush • Francis Lynde
... in the same way. A homeopathic doctor has a right to use any sized doses he wishes, but he claims experience has proven that large doses are not often necessary and that the medicine usually acts better attenuated. ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter
... machinery, and, especially in the later period, they became very weak in the hind limbs (and therefore weak or slow in starting their flight). The coming selection will therefore dismiss them from the scene, with the Deinosaurs and Ammonites, and retain the better organised bird as the lord ...
— The Story of Evolution • Joseph McCabe
... do not talk so. You are not going to leave me yet, Mary. You will be, you are better," said her ...
— The Rector of St. Mark's • Mary J. Holmes
... of countless volcanoes diffused, lurid and threatening, over the face of their satellite! How strange the thought that the once active fires should all have died away, and the Moon have thus been prepared for the better reception and reflection of the solar radiance in order to ...
— The Story of the Herschels • Anonymous
... to the English. What do they expect from them? Do they think that the English wish to help them? Do they look for wealth and support from the English? My brothers of the Long House know better. They have seen the English hide from the anger of the Great Mountain. They have seen the iron hand of New France reach out across the northern country, and along the shores of the great lakes, and down the Father of Waters in the far west, while the English were clinging ...
— The Road to Frontenac • Samuel Merwin
... will most likely be the new Emperor!" my Lady explained. "Where could we find a better? Unless, perhaps—" ...
— Sylvie and Bruno • Lewis Carroll
... benefits one mine benefits all. Many of the little streams run between steep banks, and in the rainy season mud and water combine to make the line impracticable. Yet there is nothing to stand in the way of a cheap tram; and perhaps this would cost less and keep better than a metalled road. The twisting of the track, 'without rhyme or reason,' reminded me of the snakiest paths in Central Africa. Our course, as the map shows, was in every quadrant of the ...
— To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II - A Personal Narrative • Richard Francis Burton and Verney Lovett Cameron
... Audley, Lord Eglinton; and all of the armed neutrality, who are: Duke of Northumberland, Lord Rawdon, Lord Selkirk, Lord Breadalbane, Lord Hawke, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Huntingdon; Lord Lonsdale absent; Lord Lansdowne with us, and spoke better than I ever heard him in my life, fewer flourishes, and less rhodomontade. The Chancellor spoke incomparably; and did give it Lord Loughborough and Lord Rawdon most completely, particularly the former, who felt it. We are in good spirits, for we fall ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham
... disposal of these riches occurred only a short time ago, and they have only been employed by me within the last few years. Your ignorance on the subject, therefore, is easily accounted for. However, you will be better informed as to me and my possessions ere long." And the count, while pronouncing these latter words, accompanied them with one of those ghastly smiles that used to strike ...
— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... by nine months, and had been a widow but seven, yet in spite of this fact, and of his own expected "decay," he pressed his love-making with an impetuosity akin to that with which he had urged his suit of Miss Philipse, and (widows being proverbial) with better success. The invalid had left Mount Vernon on March 5, and by April 1 he was back at Fort Loudon, an engaged man, having as well so far recovered his health as to be able to join his command. Early in May he ordered a ring from Philadelphia, ...
— The True George Washington [10th Ed.] • Paul Leicester Ford
... is better without that," Lavretsky said hurriedly. "So then," he pursued, approaching the ...
— A House of Gentlefolk • Ivan Turgenev
... to me."— There was a mild sadness in the tone, a sort of "the world's in an awfu' state,—but no doot it's a' for the best, an' I'm resigned to my lot, though I wadna objec' to its being a wee thing better, oo-ay,"—feeling in it, which told of much sorrow in years gone by, and of deep humility, for there was not a shade of complaint ...
— Freaks on the Fells - Three Months' Rustication • R.M. Ballantyne
... with much secrecy, the gourd was produced, and the Bishop had "a try." By some strange coincidence he felt so much better after it that he begged for the rest of the stuff to comfort him on his homeward journey, which ultimately he accomplished in ...
— Smith and the Pharaohs, and Other Tales • Henry Rider Haggard
... assume that the existing competitive regime can be moralized and made to represent the interests of equity and fair dealing. If this can be done, nothing more is needed. If it cannot be done, the existing regime must make way for something better. The conviction that it can be done is finding expression just now in the vigorous efforts that are being made to amend and strengthen the laws which restrain plunderers and oppressors, so that opportunities ...
— The Church and Modern Life • Washington Gladden
... Rollo's special care; for warrior though he was, he well knew that war is destructive, and that the prosperity of a land must be founded upon productive labor. The peasantry of Normandy were not slow to discover that they were better off under their new ruler than they ever had been under the old; and they rewarded Rollo with a sincere loyalty and devotion. Their confidence in his power to right wrong, became in the course of time half superstitious; and if any of ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5 of 8 • Various
... you risk such danger for my sake," the Shadow Witch answered firmly. "Better an endless prison for me than such dreadful peril for you. I speak of what I know—none but my brother has ever dared to enter yonder place. ...
— The Shadow Witch • Gertrude Crownfield
... and sixth centuries, wandering far afield, through the German forests, along the great rivers Danube and Main, to Italy and Switzerland, where St. Fridian at Lucca and St. Gall in the hills above the Bodensee are still held in pious memory. The Saxon monk Winfrith, better known as St. Boniface, also deserved well of the people of Central Europe, for it was his zeal and energy which assisted Charles the Great in his colonizing achievements. In our own times other missionaries of Anglo-Saxon ...
— From a Terrace in Prague • Lieut.-Col. B. Granville Baker
... many real chasms in our thinking that it seems truly astonishing to see it taught so long. By the theory of the ether the problems are not solved, they are merely postponed or evaded; for while solving one difficulty it creates a multitude of its own. How then are we better off than ...
— Q. E. D., or New Light on the Doctrine of Creation • George McCready Price
... for one it was only waiting for her, and in a moment I mentioned it. "Give up this crude purpose of seeing him! Go away without it. That will be far better." ...
— The Death of the Lion • Henry James
... birds? Bana shoots with shot, but I kill with bullets." To try him, I then asked for leave to go to Usoga, as Grant was so far off; but he said, "No, wait until he comes, and you shall both go together then; you fancy he is far off, but I know better. One of my men saw him coming along carried on a stretcher." I said, "No; that must be a mistake, for he told me by letter he would ...
— The Discovery of the Source of the Nile • John Hanning Speke
... Socialist convention,—and to inveigh against "capitalists" and "bloated bondholders" in a style that was much more novel then than it is now. Lamartine greatly disapproved of these Luxembourg proceedings; but he argued that it was better to countenance them than to throw Louis Blanc and his friends into open opposition to the Government. Louis Blanc was a charming writer, whose views on social questions have made great progress since his day. His brother Charles wrote a valuable book on art. He himself wrote a "History of ...
— France in the Nineteenth Century • Elizabeth Latimer
... God, my Father! lend an ear, My supplication deign to hear; Far from me may such folly be; A better mind, ...
— Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs - Translated by John Kelly • Paul Gerhardt
... have been a little disappointed, Reuben, because hitherto you have been at stations where you have had but little opportunity of distinguishing yourself. However, I thought better to keep you at quiet work, until you were thoroughly master of your duties; and had, moreover, got your full strength. I don't know whether you have quite arrived at that yet, but I think you will do, anyhow," and he smiled as he ...
— A Final Reckoning - A Tale of Bush Life in Australia • G. A. Henty
... started on his march through Georgia, as Hood had supposed that Sherman would follow him into Tennessee. Was there any more reason for the one supposition than the other? Ought not Sherman as well as Hood to have known his antagonist better than such a supposition would imply? Was it not extremely unreasonable to suppose that Hood, after he had marched hundreds of miles west from Atlanta and reached the base of his projected operations in Tennessee, would turn ...
— Forty-Six Years in the Army • John M. Schofield
... grant; For, if I could deserve, I have deserved her: My toils, my hazards, and my subjects' lives, Provided she consent, may claim her love; And, that once granted, I appeal to these, If better I could chuse ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) - The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian • John Dryden
... one on a sharpened stick and held it out to broil. When the mushrooms were cooked they each ate until they felt better. Then Dick ...
— Girl Scouts in the Adirondacks • Lillian Elizabeth Roy
... learned that it was this discussion between the General and the dead man which had produced the shouts of laughter from the 24th Chasseurs at the head of the column, I thought it better that my regiment did not take part in this comedy which seemed to me to be as much contrary to discipline as the misdemeanors it was supposed to punish or prevent. I therefore turned my squadrons about, and setting off at the trot I left this unhelpful scene and, returning ...
— The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot, Translated by - Oliver C. Colt • Baron de Marbot
... papa,' she cried, as she half threw herself, half tumbled upon him, for she felt giddy again with moving so fast. 'Dear papa, are you getting better? Please don't die, dear papa, and I will try to be good. And oh, please forgive me, and don't say I ...
— The Rectory Children • Mrs Molesworth
... perhaps, as well that we begin the year with this most bleak and unlovely day. We may have a better one to terminate 1851. I was obliged to increase my travelling clothes, and put on an extra holi on account of the cold wind; and yet the temperature was not very low, it being only 46 deg. at sunrise. The wind evidently ...
— Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2 • James Richardson
... sober and winning conversation. She was the only child of Hall Ravenscroft Esq.r of this parish, by the mother descended of ye Staplays of this county. Her sorrowful husband, sadley weighing such a considerable losse, erected this monument, that an impartiall memorial of her might bee the better communicated ...
— The History and Antiquities of Horsham • Howard Dudley
... fragments of his conversation reached Miss Deringham. "We'll send someone back for the steer," he said. "Jack's no better?" ...
— Alton of Somasco • Harold Bindloss
... icebergs from Antarctica; occasional El Nino phenomenon occurs off the coast of Peru when the trade winds slacken and the warm Equatorial Countercurrent moves south, killing the plankton that is the primary food source for anchovies; consequently, the anchovies move to better feeding grounds, causing resident marine birds to starve by the thousands because of their lost food source; ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to May and in extreme south from May to October; persistent fog in the northern ...
— The 1995 CIA World Factbook • United States Central Intelligence Agency
... the row about me has no otherwise affected me than by the attack upon yourself, which is ungenerous in Church and State: but as all violence must in time have its proportionate re-action, you will do better by and ...
— Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5 (of 6) • (Lord Byron) George Gordon Byron
... only three small cruisers and a destroyer, so that their fleet was even now almost as numerous as China's had been at the beginning of the battle. True, the Yoshino and the Fuji were little better than wrecks, and the other ships had one and all received a very severe drubbing; but they were still afloat and more or less under control, while their undamaged guns now outnumbered those of the Chinese by ...
— A Chinese Command - A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas • Harry Collingwood
... the story is now obscure, but the horrid tale goes on to relate that the lion gave a frightful roar and leaped upon the tenth man, biting him to death in a single snap. The dilemma of the others is obvious. They knew better than to disturb a lion while it is eating. To do so would be to court sudden death. So they sat still and watched the beast slowly and greedily devour their comrade. Having finished his meal the great beast, surfeited with food, slowly ...
— In Africa - Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country • John T. McCutcheon
... but it is better for him to be angry once than unhappy always, as I should certainly make him did I ...
— Woman in the Ninteenth Century - and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition - and Duties, of Woman. • Margaret Fuller Ossoli
... world, to keep her faith towards thee, by eluding the snares with which wicked men have beset her? By the souls of my fathers! my heart is so much moved by her ingenuity, mingled as I see it is with the most perfect candour and faith, that I myself, in fault of a better champion, would willingly raise the axe in ...
— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott
... to ask any man. Sure, I'm afraid to die. I just don't like the idea of being not-alive. As bad as life is, it's better than nothing. But the way he put the question he was implying that I should be happy to die for the benefit of Humanity in general, and that's a question that is unfairly loaded. After all, everybody is slated to kick off. There is no other way of resigning from the universe. So if I ...
— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith
... possessed of, as those who have it are almost sure to be made dupes of by the designing. But, though easy and generous, he was anything but a fool; he had a quick and witty tongue of his own when he chose to exert it, and woe be to those who insulted him openly, for there was not a better boxer in the whole country round. My parents were married several years before I came into the world, who was their first and only child. I may be called an unfortunate creature; I was born with this beam ...
— The Romany Rye • George Borrow
... countries the rococo taste had also taken hold. France sustained a higher standard than England, and such figure work as was introduced into furniture was better executed, though her joinery was inferior. In Italy old models of the Renaissance still served as examples for reproduction, but the ornament became more carelessly carved and the decoration less considered. Ivory inlaying was largely executed in Milan and Venice; mosaics of marble were specialites ...
— Illustrated History of Furniture - From the Earliest to the Present Time • Frederick Litchfield
... as an infamous pursuit. He kept two lists containing names of knights and senators whom he intended to put to death, and these contained the majority of both those bodies of Roman patricians. He is said to have put one man to death for being better dressed than himself, and ...
— Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris
... added, quickly, as he noticed a certain haughty expression in his subordinate's face, "Pardon me, monsieur; we had better not discuss this question now. Suppose you see ...
— Captain Brand of the "Centipede" • H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise
... increast, In Vallies hollow, soft, and warm, With Hills to ward off every Storm, Where Water salt runs trickling down, And Tendrils lie o'er all the Ground, Such as the Tree itself shoots forth, And better if't be tow'rds the North; When such a Piece of Ground you see, If in the midst a Pit there be, There plant it deep unto the Root, And never ...
— The Ladies Delight • Anonymous
... the raven was considered a sign of evil augury to a person whose house was about to be entered by a visitor, for his croaking forebode treachery. But the raven's croaking was thought to foretell misfortune to a person about to enter another's house. If he heard the croaking he had better turn back, for an evil fate ...
— Welsh Folk-Lore - a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales • Elias Owen
... make my husband over to Doctor Isaacson, if you have lost confidence in yourself. It will be much better. And then, perhaps, we shall have ...
— Bella Donna - A Novel • Robert Hichens
... is true that sometimes an enveloping darkness aids one to clearer vision; as in a panorama building, for example, where the obscurity about the entrance prepares one better for the climax, and gives the scene depicted a ...
— The Story of a Child • Pierre Loti
... ask," he replied, looking as though there was nothing in the world that he would like better, "what ...
— Dawn • H. Rider Haggard
... gates of mine, Squire?" and his voice quavered, as though gratitude might yet get the better ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... climb a tree very well indeed, with her stout little legs, and she could say a great many verses of poetry by heart. Besides, she felt sure that Toto the black poodle, and Samson the great cat, and all the other pets, loved her as well as the rest, and perhaps even better. So she did not mind being plain at all, until she was about thirteen years old and the new ...
— Our Frank - and other stories • Amy Walton
... up and looking its best with a blazing fire and a singing kettle, and a cozy meal ready laid for two people; and then all they would have to say to one another—on his part much to hear and little to tell, for his life had jogged on at a very commonplace trot, his business neither better nor worse, but still, with the aid of the little sum his more than rigid economy had enabled him to save, they might make a fair start, free from all debt and able to pay ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 26, August, 1880 - of Popular Literature and Science • Various
... universally put upon it in the north-west. It was in vain I said, "There are other men as brave and as good who are still free and from whom we will hear better news." Those to whom I spoke were incredulous. Still I must do the people of the county the justice to say that in a meeting of their district-leaders at —— it was discussed for two successive nights with great animation whether or not the district ...
— The Felon's Track • Michael Doheny
... for it, but just as he came near to it there suddenly arose a violent wind, and the sea rolled higher and higher against him. He turned about with a view of approaching it on another side, but with no better success. His vessel, as often as he approached the island, was driven back as if by ...
— Folk-Lore and Legends; Scandinavian • Various
... marshal said. "But at any rate you had better abstain from attempting any steps such as Colonel Hume tells me you once thought of for obtaining the release of your father. Success will be all but impossible, and a failure would destroy altogether any hopes you may ...
— Bonnie Prince Charlie - A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden • G. A. Henty
... a woman who was constantly bullied by her husband who did not like him the better for it," Miss Clapperclaw says. And though this speech has some of Clapp's usual sardonic humor in it, I can't but think there is ...
— The Christmas Books • William Makepeace Thackeray
... seigneuries. Very large sums are also received by them from those who enter the convents, and for baptisms, burials, and masses for the dead. The enslaving, enervating, and retarding effects of Roman Catholicism are nowhere better seen than in Lower Canada, where the priests exercise despotic authority. They have numerous and wealthy conventual establishments, both at Quebec and Montreal, and several Jesuit and other seminaries. The Irish emigrants constitute ...
— The Englishwoman in America • Isabella Lucy Bird
... his early efforts were is shown by his saying: "My pencil gave birth to a family of cripples." His steady progress, too, is shown in his custom, on every birthday, of burning these 'Crippled' drawings, then setting to work to make better, truer ones. ...
— John James Audubon • John Burroughs
... the house," she said, with something almost of pride in her voice. "If there be no place open to me but a gaol I will do that. Perhaps I had better go now and get my things removed at once. Say a word of love for me to her;—a word of respectful love." And she moved as though she ...
— Orley Farm • Anthony Trollope
... Deering, Rich, Risby, Gold, suffered for their crime. The bishop of Rochester, Abel, Addison, Lawrence, and others were condemned for misprision of treason; because they had not discovered some criminal speeches which they heard from Elizabeth;[**] and they were thrown into prison. The better to undeceive the multitude, the forgery of many of the prophetess's miracles was detected; and even the scandalous prostitution of her manners was laid open to the public. Those passions which so naturally insinuate themselves amidst the warm intimacies maintained ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. - From Henry VII. to Mary • David Hume
... yet adopted the European style which, perhaps, they have sense enough to see, is far more complex and inconvenient than their own. Of this much I am certain that no mysterious production of Worth would be more becoming, or suit them better than their ...
— In Eastern Seas - The Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83 • J. J. Smith
... transparency to the invisible rays. Our bisulphide of carbon, for example, which, employed in prisms, is so eminently suitable for experiments on the visual rays, is by no means so suitable for these ultra-violet rays. Flint glass is better, and rock crystal is better than flint glass. A glass prism, however, ...
— Six Lectures on Light - Delivered In The United States In 1872-1873 • John Tyndall
... Conde surrenders to the French. Freron and Tallien propose measures of moderation, that is, a system opposite to that of terror. Sept. 1. The Emperor threatens to withdraw his troops, if the circles of Germany do not support him better. The academy cf arts and sciences of Paris discovers a method of making pot-ash from the horse-chesnut (sic). Bois-le-Duc and Breda inundated. The convention passes some decrees favourable to the emigrants. 5. Rochelle and Montfort denounce the nobles and priests. 6. ...
— Historical Epochs of the French Revolution • H. Goudemetz
... could not tolerate such at Vassar. The forms and benches of the recitation-room were better for taking notes ...
— Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals • Maria Mitchell
... layer of buttered bread in the bottom of a well buttered dish, with chopped apples, sugar, grated bread and butter, and a little pounded cinnamon; fill up the dish with alternate layers of these articles, observing that it is better to have the inner layer of bread thinner than that of the top and bottom. This is a nice dish for those who cannot ...
— Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers • Elizabeth E. Lea
... not had time; and I am obliged at last to write and say that I have been long engaged to the Pickwick publishers to a dinner in honor of that hero which comes off to-morrow. I am consequently unable to accept your kind invite, which I frankly own I should have liked much better." ...
— The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete • John Forster
... prominent to take his place as President of the Academy of Arts. By becoming more known to the New York public, and exerting my talents to discover the best methods of promoting the arts and writing about them, I may possibly be promoted to his place, where I could have a better opportunity of doing something for the arts in our country, the object at ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Samuel F. B. Morse
... bluff speaker, with a chuckle, and he thrust his hand into his pocket. "There you are; there's a shilling for you to get some cider. I dare say you know where better than I can tell you. No, ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn
... Caesar desired nothing better. The two armies posted themselves on two parallel chains of hills; the Celts began the engagement, broke up the Roman cavalry which had advanced into the plain, and rushed on against the Roman legions posted on the slope of the hill, but were ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen
... tape grass, water poppy, milfoil, willow moss, and floating plants like duckweed. Even if you do not know these by name they are probably common in your neighbourhood. Fill the tank with clean water. That taken from a spring or well is better than cistern water. After two or three days, when the plants seem to be well rooted, put in your fish. You may keep your aquarium in a light place, but always keep it out of the sun in summer and away from the heat of a stove or ...
— Outdoor Sports and Games • Claude H. Miller
... young man himself will think all the better of you for your prudence after the triumph of the day is forgotten. It is a pretty and a becoming calash, and ought not to be ...
— The Pathfinder - The Inland Sea • James Fenimore Cooper
... "So! that is better," commented George. "Now, senors," he continued, "I am not going to make a long business of my talk with you, for we have already wasted far too much time in this accursed building. I have but a few questions ...
— The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer • Harry Collingwood
... subject is of itself exempted. These philosophers are the curious reasoners concerning the material or immaterial substances, in which they suppose our perceptions to inhere. In order to put a stop to these endless cavils on both sides, I know no better method, than to ask these philosophers in a few words, What they mean by substance and inhesion? And after they have answered this question, it will then be reasonable, and not till then, to enter seriously into ...
— A Treatise of Human Nature • David Hume
... islands. He had also full authority from Mary, dowager of Sterling, but this was all. Nevertheless the man was very consequential, and said on his first arrival that he came here to see Governor Stuyvesant's commission, and if that was better than his, he was willing to give way; if not, Governor Stuyvesant must yield to him. To make the matter short, the Director took copies of the papers and sent the man across(2) in the Falconer; but as this vessel put into England, the man did not reach Holland, having ...
— Narrative of New Netherland • Various
... to trail,' says I to myself. I thought before that she seemed to be in moderate circumstances, at least. This must be the Governor's mansion, or the Agricultural Building of a new World's Fair, anyhow. I'd better go back to the village and get posted by the postmaster, or drug ...
— Options • O. Henry
... he said, "I should certainly drop Doriaa pretty clear hint. What is good form in Italy he knows better than we do, or ought to, seeing he's a gentleman; but you can tell him it's damned bad form to court a newly made widow—especially one who loved her husband as your niece did, and who has been separated from ...
— The Red Redmaynes • Eden Phillpotts
... he has of any other the better," said the great man drily. "I haven't said a word about the melody itself, which is quite out of the ordinary compass, and makes demands upon the singer's vocalisation which are not likely to make a demand for the song. What ...
— Merely Mary Ann • Israel Zangwill
... in her eye. She was as cool as a cucumber outside, but I'm sure that was only the crust over the crater, and that there was the usual volcano inside. It's bound to find a safety-valve, so Flossie had better ...
— The New Girl at St. Chad's - A Story of School Life • Angela Brazil
... too impressed with that 16 x 19 view of outer space. It's been done much better in the movies. There's just no awesomeness to it, no sense of depth or immensity. It's as impressive as a piece of velvet ...
— The Dope on Mars • John Michael Sharkey
... is in vain for me to expect it from America, and unless you can supply it, it will be necessary for me immediately to disencumber myself of most of my expenses, and confine myself to mere necessaries, until a change may take place for the better. This circumstance conspires with those of a more public nature, to make me very solicitous to know what you can, or cannot do ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. VIII • Various
... parson's comin' I better make hot biscuits too. He's after likin' them, an' I kin open one o' they little white crocks o' jam. He holds more'n what ye'd think a wee bit man the likes o' he would manage to, though he don't never fat up, an' it goes ter show as grub makes brains with some folks, an' blubber ...
— Sweetapple Cove • George van Schaick
... Mace," cried Frank promptly, "can't you find a little better employment of your time than ...
— The Boys of Bellwood School • Frank V. Webster
... the cloak. What my entreaties could not do, my gold did. He accepted it. I, however, went away with the cloak triumphantly, and had to appear to the whole town of Florence as a madman. I did not care, however, about the opinion of the people; I knew better than they that I profited ...
— Stories by Foreign Authors: German (V.2) • Various
... to be released from what she deemed a slavery, and to return to that vortex of folly and dissipation which had once plunged her into the deepest misery; but her plan she flattered herself was now better formed: she resolved to put herself under the protection of no man till she had first secured a settlement; but the clandestine manner in which she left Madame Du Pont's prevented her putting this plan in execution, though Belcour solemnly protested he would make her a handsome ...
— Charlotte Temple • Susanna Rowson
... sought to resist the coming of that higher standard. On the contrary, in its own sphere it has ever endeavored to maintain an exemplary standard, and it has ever shown itself ready and willing to introduce better methods whenever experience showed them to be wise or suggestion showed them to ...
— The New York Stock Exchange and Public Opinion • Otto Hermann Kahn
... Indianapolis; the gargantuan coal-pockets and ore-docks along the Erie shore; the tinsel summer resorts; the lush Indiana farmlands, with their stodgy, bovine people—all of these things are sketched in simply, and yet almost magnificently. I know, indeed, of no book which better describes the American hinterland. Here we have no idle spying by a stranger, but a full-length representation by one who knows the thing he describes intimately, and is himself a part of it. Almost ...
— A Book of Prefaces • H. L. Mencken
... pockets, and a consequent disgorging of trophies and remembrances. A fight was going on meantime in the Rue de la Paix between a company of Marines and the multitude of people gathered in the street, who struggled and fought with an energy worthy of a better cause in hopes of gaining a share in the spoils. As I emerged from the conflict into the comparative peace and coolness of the Boulevard, I was stopped by a procession—two battalions of National Guards returning much shorn of numbers, from the Bois de Boulogne, bringing with them ...
— The Insurrection in Paris • An Englishman: Davy
... myself, I knew the Hawaiian myths better than this old fisherman, although I possessed not his memorization that enabled him ...
— On the Makaloa Mat/Island Tales • Jack London
... said Edwy, as they reached the camp on their return; "goodnight. I hope you will be in better spirits ...
— Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune • A. D. Crake
... new poem entitled, On the Death of the late Usurper, O.C. On the Restoration the accommodating poet was ready with a congratulatory address to Charles II., who, pointing out its inferiority as a poem to that addressed to Cromwell, elicited the famous reply, "Poets, Sire, succeed better in fiction than in truth." The poem, however, whatever its demerits, succeeded in its prime object, and the poet became a favourite at Court, and sat in Parliament until his death. In addition to his lighter pieces, on which his fame ...
— A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature • John W. Cousin
... and such as were in operation were so rude in character that Colonel Marshall, who was a man of education and culture, decided not to attempt to train his children in them. Being unable to raise the means of sending them to better schools in other parts of the Colony, he determined to become their teacher himself, and applied himself to his task with a devotion which was signally rewarded by the brilliant career of his eldest son. He laid especial weight upon their acquiring a thorough knowledge of the English language and ...
— Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made • James D. McCabe, Jr.
... the best fiction of the day at a price practically the same as the paper-covered novel. A first-class work of fiction by a notable writer, well printed, and handsomely bound in red cloth, gilt back, is much better value than either a magazine or paper-covered novel, which, once read, is usually only ...
— The Recipe for Diamonds • Charles John Cutcliffe Wright Hyne
... feels lonely, and longs for you to come back. 'If Watty only were here, I should feel quite young again,' he has said to me a hundred times. He sends you his love; and Seppi, who is still with me, and is now a faithful servant, does the same. So good-by, Walter. I think you now know what you had better do." ...
— Harper's Young People, December 30, 1879 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... minister, and that his letters were just the soft stuff, to foster a piety that came out in feminine moods and emotions rather than in well- kept accounts and a well-managed kitchen and nursery. But we who have read Rutherford know better than that. Lady Cardoness is told, in kindest and sweetest but most unmistakable language, that she has to work out a not easy salvation in Cardoness Castle, and that, if her husband fails in his hard task, no small part of his blood will lie at ...
— Samuel Rutherford - and some of his correspondents • Alexander Whyte
... as his past had been, that he was innocent. But at the same time he saw that he must have patience, and nerve himself for some trials; and the sooner these were undergone, the sooner he was aware of the place he held in men's estimation, the better. He longed to have presented himself once more at the foundry; and then the reality would drive away the pictures that would (unbidden) come of a shunned man, eyed askance by all, and driven forth to shape ...
— Mary Barton • Elizabeth Gaskell
... East River front of the city, with Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Long Island City on the opposite shores. Blackwell's, Randall's, and Ward's islands, with their magnificent edifices, are passed, and Hell Gate is an additional attraction. One is given a better idea of the size of New York and Brooklyn in this way, than in almost any other. Not the least of the attractions is the United States Navy Yard, at Brooklyn, an admirable view of which may be obtained from the deck of the steamer in passing it. The boats run hourly from Peck ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... answer to an imploring look from his niece. "No place for a girl," he repeated firmly. "I shall have no time to look after her, and she can't roam the country wild. Grandma Watterby is too old to go round with her, and the daughter-in-law has her hands full. I'd like nothing better, Bob, than to take you with me to-morrow, and you'd learn a lot of value to you, too, on a trip of this kind. But I honestly want you to stay with Betty; a brother is a necessity now if ever ...
— Betty Gordon in the Land of Oil - The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune • Alice B. Emerson
... Charlotta, extremely confused; If it were so, you take a strange time and method to declare it in;—but I know of no concern I have in your amours, your gratitude, or your perfidy; and you had better follow and endeavour to appease your enraged mistress, than lose your time on me ...
— The Fortunate Foundlings • Eliza Fowler Haywood
... "Since the minute they first attacked my two men and me, trying to repair the disabled Pauillac in that infernal valley so far to northward, they haven't given me an hour's respite! Before night there'll be war! Well, let them come. The quicker now the better!" ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England
... seem to have forgotten: my memory is a better one than yours, and I'm not likely to forget the day I tramped back to the claim in that God-forsaken Australian hole to find that you'd discovered the gold while I'd been on the trail to raise food and money—discovered it and sold ...
— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice
... less than a day, but I would counsel the unpracticed—if not pressed for time—to allow themselves two. Nothing is gained in the Alps by over-exertion; nothing is gained by crowding two days' work into one for the poor sake of being able to boast of the exploit afterward. It will be found much better, in the long run, to do the thing in two days, and then subtract one of them from the narrative. This saves fatigue, and does not injure the narrative. All the more thoughtful among ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... improvement merely because it is complete. They call it utopian and revolutionary that anyone should really have his own way, or anything be really done, and done with. Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better ...
— What's Wrong With The World • G.K. Chesterton
... there is little difference among the workers. All alike are half starved, half clothed, overworked to a frightful degree; the report specifying numbers whose day's work runs from fourteen to sixteen hours, and with neither time to learn some better method of earning a living, nor hope enough to spur them on in any new path. This class is found chiefly among sewing-women on cheap clothing, bags, etc.; and there is no present means of reaching them or altering the ...
— Women Wage-Earners - Their Past, Their Present, and Their Future • Helen Campbell
... I ventured after a bit; 'tip us off to a quiet bunch of eating that will fit a couple of appetites just out seeing the sights. Nothing that will put a kink in a year's income, you know, Beau; just suggest some little thing that looks better than it tastes, but is not too ...
— You Can Search Me • Hugh McHugh
... Most vegetables are better cooked the day they are gathered. Pick over, wash and prepare them for cooking. Always cook vegetables in freshly boiled water and keep water boiling until done. Add salt last few minutes ...
— The New Dr. Price Cookbook • Anonymous
... motion that the number should be reduced to twelve thousand. A warm debate ensuing, was managed in favour of the first motion by lord Hervey, sir Robert Walpole and his brother, Mr. Pelham, and sir Philip Yorke, attorney-general. This gentleman was counted a better lawyer than a politician, and shone more as an advocate at the bar than as an orator in the house of commons. The last partisan of the ministry was sir William Yonge, one of the lords commissioners in the treasury; a man who rendered himself serviceable and necessary by stooping ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only suit one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really beautiful young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to display grace of form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with her dainty toes, for the amusement and instruction of a small tame jackal—the only one I ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming ...
— Mr. Isaacs • F. Marion Crawford
... of art all medicines tried, And every noble remedy applied; With emulation each essay'd His utmost skill, nay more, they pray'd: Never was losing game with better conduct play'd. Death never won a stake with greater toil, Nor e'er was fate so near a foil: But like a fortress on a rock, The impregnable disease their vain attempts did mock; They mined it near, they ...
— The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol I - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes • John Dryden
... "as father says we should always do, I'll just go back and think over what I've done this holiday afternoon; and if I forgot myself in anything and went wrong, it will be best for me to know it, so that I can do better next time. ...
— Happy Days for Boys and Girls • Various
... was not exactly the subject on which Mr. Johnsen wished to speak. There were many things which might weigh on the mind and oppress the thoughts. It would be better, once for all, to disburden the conscience by coming forward honestly ...
— Garman and Worse - A Norwegian Novel • Alexander Lange Kielland
... busily engaged, and then suddenly left Rome for a tour in Eastern Hellas. It is usually supposed that he came into collision with Sulla through the freedman Chrysogonus, who was implicated in the case of Roscius. The silence of Cicero is enough to condemn this theory, which rests on no better evidence than that of Plutarch. Cicero himself, even when mentioning his speech in defence of Roscius, never assigns any other cause for his departure than his health, which was being undermined by his ...
— Academica • Marcus Tullius Cicero
... see a posy that was finished off better, soft and nice, with pretty little stripes painted on 'em, and all the little things like threads in the middle, sech as the open posies has, standing up, with little knots on their tops, oh, so pretty,—you never did! Makes you think real hard, that does; leastways, makes ...
— Story-Tell Lib • Annie Trumbull Slosson
... Philology" (p.208): "Among modern savages the individual objects of sense have names enough, while general terms are very rare. The Mohicans have words for cutting various objects, but none to signify cutting simple."[31] In taking this view we certainly are better able to explain the actual forms of the Aryan roots, viz., by elimination, rather than by composition. If we look for instance, as I did myself formerly, on such roots as yudh, yuj, and yau{t}, ...
— Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV - Essays chiefly on the Science of Language • Max Muller
... he took this life quite seriously. Though he did not suppose that he was going to continue dwelling in a hall bedroom, yet never did he regard himself as a collegian Haroun-al-Raschid on an amusing masquerade, pretending to be no better than the men with whom he worked. Carl was no romantic hero incog. He was a workman, and he knew it. Was not his father a carpenter? his father's best friend a tailor? Had he not been a waiter ...
— The Trail of the Hawk - A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life • Sinclair Lewis
... sure that this weather would hold, chief, it would have been better to have waited a few days before making our start, for by that time the snow would have been hard ...
— In The Heart Of The Rockies • G. A. Henty
... cities my studies would certainly be interrupted. In a quiet, sleepy provincial town I should have much more chance of coming in contact with people who could not speak fluently any West-European languages, and much better opportunities for studying native life and local administration. Of the provincial capitals, Novgorod was the nearest, and more interesting than most of its rivals; for it has had a curious history, much older than that of St. Petersburg or even of ...
— Russia • Donald Mackenzie Wallace
... intended this sudden movement for a surprise he could not have selected a better time for it, and if he had kept his two columns together, instead of sending Siegel off with thirteen thousand men to operate in another quarter, Price's army would have "been eliminated from the problem of war," and the battle of ...
— Rodney The Partisan • Harry Castlemon
... dinner one or two bolder spirits suggested that mathematics were of increasing importance, the general feeling was that they were a less noble study than the classics. Neither German nor chemistry was taught, and French only by the form-masters; they could keep order better than a foreigner, and, since they knew the grammar as well as any Frenchman, it seemed unimportant that none of them could have got a cup of coffee in the restaurant at Boulogne unless the waiter had known a little English. Geography was taught chiefly by making ...
— Of Human Bondage • W. Somerset Maugham
... as he and Ethel walked away together, 'poor young things, they have a chequered time before them. Pretty well for the doctor who hated sick people, Wards, and Stoneborough; but, after all, I have liked none of our weddings better. I like people to rub one ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge
... have a moral object 'to rescue virtue from oblivion and restrain vice by the terror of posthumous infamy'.[2] His prime interest is character: and when he has conducted some skilful piece of moral diagnosis there attaches to his verdict some of the severity of a sermon. If you want to make men better you must uncover and scarify ...
— Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II • Caius Cornelius Tacitus
... the plump and the lean; everybody, in short, found a shoe to fit him. At the end of a fortnight not one was left. I am told that the plumpest were taken first, because it was thought that, being less active, they were more likely to keep at home, and that they could resist the winter cold better. Those who wanted a wife applied to the directresses, to whom they were obliged to make known their possessions and means of livelihood before taking from one of the three classes the girl whom they found most to their liking. The marriage ...
— Old Quebec - The Fortress of New France • Sir Gilbert Parker and Claude Glennon Bryan
... little achievement in order to win her; the best task to which his boy could set himself. If two young people so loving each other were to marry on rather narrow means, what then? A happy home was better than the finest house in Mayfair; a generous young fellow, such as, please God, his son was—loyal, upright, and a gentleman—might pretend surely to his kinswoman's hand without derogation; and the affection he bore Ethel himself was so great, and the sweet regard with which she returned it, ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray |
