"Procrastinate" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... vain for such connection in my edition of the Glossary (Paris, 1733). The truth most probably is, that morganatic, in the phrase "matrimonium ad morganaticam," {126} was akin to the Gothic maurgjan, signifying, "to procrastinate," "to bring to an end," "to shorten," "to limit." This application of the word would naturally rise out of the restrictions imposed upon the wife and ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 38, Saturday, July 20, 1850 • Various
... twitterer he replied in the usual way. The bard wrote acknowledging the letter, but asking for a definite criticism. "I do not think myself a Shakespeare or a Milton, but I KNOW I am better than Mr Coventry Patmore or Mr Austin Dobson." Mr Browning tried to procrastinate: he was already deeply engaged with earlier arrivals of volumes of song. The poet was hurt, not angry; he had expected other things from Mr Browning: HE ought to know his duty to youth. At the intercession of a relation Mr Browning now did his best, ...
— Alfred Tennyson • Andrew Lang
... was already far advanced. There is no weapon so fatal as delay in the hands of Egyptians. I knew the intentions of the authorities were to procrastinate until the departure of the expedition would become impossible. It was necessary to insist upon the immediate purchase of vessels which should ...
— Ismailia • Samuel W. Baker
... anger this infamous bull, I would do my utmost to tear him to pieces with steel, and break off the horns of the monster, lately so much beloved. Abandoned I have left my father's house, abandoned I procrastinate my doom. O if any of the gods hear this, I wish I may wander naked among lions: before foul decay seizes my comely cheeks, and moisture leaves this tender prey, I desire, in all my beauty, to be the food of tigers." "Base Europa," thy absent father urges, ...
— The Works of Horace • Horace
... men were getting uneasy because pay was two weeks overdue. The syndicate told me to apply the working margin of three hundred thousand at once for this purpose. Of course there was a shortage; it was bound to be discovered. I tried to procrastinate—tried to put off the payment of the men; then came the threatened strike on account of non-payment of wages. I knew it was all up with me. When I saw I must be found out, ...
— Flamsted quarries • Mary E. Waller
... not the man to procrastinate, and presently he began to speak, in a low but curiously intense voice, from which the others instinctively took their cue. He was a short man, inclined to stoutness, but with the clear, sharp eye and the underhang of jaw which tell of right principle and indomitable perseverance. ...
— The Lieutenant-Governor • Guy Wetmore Carryl
... already won; with the statement of the press still unchallenged that women voters were "the balance of power" which decided the last presidential election, the movement has reached a position of national significance in the United States. Any policy which seeks to shift responsibility or to procrastinate action, is, to use the mildest phraseology, unworthy of the Congress in whose charge the making of ...
— Woman Suffrage By Federal Constitutional Amendment • Various
... is appointed for guilt like mine. It is just. I may shudder at the foresight of my punishment and shrink in the endurance of it; but I shall be indebted for part of my torment to the vigour of my understanding, which teaches me that my punishment is just. Why should I procrastinate my doom and strive to render my burden more light? It is but just that it should crush me. Its procrastination is impossible. The stroke is already felt. Even now I drink of the cup of retribution. A change of being cannot ...
— Edgar Huntley • Charles Brockden Brown
... consciousness of neglect on his side, rendered more keen now that he again found himself in the scene endeared by the remembrance of their kindness, he was, nevertheless, both too well bred and too warm-hearted to procrastinate the performance of a duty which the regulations of society and natural impulse alike assured him was indispensable. On the very morning, therefore, after his arrival, having sauntered awhile over the old abbey and strolled over ...
— Venetia • Benjamin Disraeli
... it was believed to be a measure which would facilitate the settlement of accounts between the States. Its advocates declared that they did not entertain and never had entertained any wish to procrastinate a settlement. On the contrary it was greatly desired by them. They had themselves brought forward propositions for that purpose, and they invited their adversaries to assist in improving the plan which had ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing
... fixed time. Anything that you should accomplish, do on or ahead of time. You want, of course, to give due deliberation to weighty matters, but by making quick decisions on little things you will acquire the ability to make quick decisions in bigger things. Never procrastinate. Decide quickly one way or the other even at the risk of deciding wrong. Practice this for a week or two and ...
— The Power of Concentration • Theron Q. Dumont
... wee doe procrastinate the plantinge (and where our men have nowe presently discovered, and founde it to be the best parte of America that is lefte, and in truthe more agreable to our natures, and more nere unto us, than Nova Hispania), the Frenche, the Normans, the Brytons, or the Duche, ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of - the English Nation. Vol. XIII. America. Part II. • Richard Hakluyt
... to the measure, as an innovation, they quickly saw its utility, and seemed to wish a more vigorous exertion of the commissioners; but numbers sometimes procrastinate design. If it is difficult to find five men of one mind, it is more difficult to find a superior number. That business which would run currently through the hands of five, stagnates at ...
— An History of Birmingham (1783) • William Hutton |
