"Curtail" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... dissent from the favourite speculations of the moment. If he did, instantly a roar of menaces recalled him to a sense even of personal danger. And, again, the mere vivacity of his audience, requiring perpetual amusement and variety, compelled a man, as great even as Demosthenes, to curtail his arguments, and rarely, indeed, to pursue a theme with the requisite fulness of development or illustration; a point in which the superior dignity and the far less fluctuating mobility of the Roman mind gave ...
— The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey—Vol. 1 - With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg • Thomas de Quincey
... daughter so obedient—and my younger daughter so affectionate—I must also have trials in my business. I expected a great loan from Van Boozenberg's bank, and I haven't got it. He's an old driveling fool. Mrs. Newt, you must curtail expenses. There's one mouth less, and one Stewart's ...
— Trumps • George William Curtis
... similarly costumed, and a noble trio they looked as they sat modestly in a corner, talking to each other in whispers, and endeavouring, as much as possible, to curtail their ...
— The Young Fur Traders • R.M. Ballantyne
... proper dignity attaching to my office; other reasons besides these important considerations lead me to decline this testimony, which is not suitable to me. I THINK OF NOTHING BUT OUR ARMY. I should be much distressed to curtail the share of those brave soldiers." And the Marquis's resolution to refuse ...
— Self Help • Samuel Smiles
... Emily shed tears, and together we persuaded him not to curtail his holiday, which, indeed, he could not have done without assigning the reason to the elders, and this was out of the question. Nor did he venture to hang back when, as our service was to be on Sunday afternoon, my father proposed to walk ...
— Chantry House • Charlotte M. Yonge
... for feeling irritated, though there was no particular reason to expect his two friends to curtail their hours of slumber because he had done so. But he was not in a position where it is easy to be reasonable, and in his situation every minute seemed to him ...
— The Young Miner - or Tom Nelson in California • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... total necessary outlays of the Government. It would be thoroughly worth effecting, as every saving would, great or small. Our duty is not altered by the scale of the saving. But my point is that the people of the United States do not wish to curtail the activities of this Government; they wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every enlargement, with the mere growth, indeed, of the country itself, there must come, of course, the inevitable increase of expense. The sort of economy we ought to ...
— President Wilson's Addresses • Woodrow Wilson
... been vaguely conscious that there was a lull in Miss Hillary's talk and a strange silence over the room, but she had merely taken the opportunity to stick syllables on the ends of certain words which haste had compelled her to curtail. She was in the act of fixing up "contumacious," and making it a little more un-English if possible, when the poke ...
— 'Lizbeth of the Dale • Marian Keith
... The Transportation Act of 1920 upon the Interstate Commerce Commission, and since transferred to the Federal Communications Commission, over accounts and depreciation rates of telephone companies does not, in the absence of exercise by the federal agency of its power, operate to curtail the analogous State authority;[875] nor is an unconstitutional burden laid upon interstate commerce by the action of a State agency in requiring a telephone company to revise its intrastate toll ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin
... members of the Diet resolved to establish a journal for the publication of their discussions; and Kossuth was selected as one of those who were to preside over it; but the Archduke Palatine objected, of course, because the object was to curtail the reports and garble them. Kossuth, however, was enabled by the more liberal of his colleagues to publish the reports on his own account. He then extended the journal by the insertion of leading articles; and his counsels and criticisms ...
— The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852 • Various
... one of the names on the bill, in two colors. The agent mailed one of these bills to the show. It was not until the portly proprietor, Dr. Thayer, explained to Alfred that his name was entirely too long for a quarter sheet, and that if he, Alfred, desired to be billed, he must curtail the name. "I've just knocked your hat off," laughed the good natured showman. Alfred thought little of the matter. He only regarded the name as a nom-de-plume. Other bills were printed bearing the name of Al. G. Field; when nearing the end of the circus ...
— Watch Yourself Go By • Al. G. Field
... He had refused to take away his brother's birthright. And was there not good reason to believe that this refusal was prompted by laudable feelings? What selfish motive could faction itself impute to the royal mind? The Exclusion Bill did not curtail the reigning King's prerogatives, or diminish his income. Indeed, by passing it, he might easily have obtained an ample addition to his own revenue. And what was it to him who ruled after him? Nay, if he had personal ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 1 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... enlightened public opinion should come to conclude that on the whole it is not so used, the people will find means to limit those rewards and to curtail that power. ...
— The New York Stock Exchange and Public Opinion • Otto Hermann Kahn
... scornfully. "You can't settle everything nowadays by that big word. We are coming to put the public good before property. If the nation should decide to curtail your 'right,' as you call it, in the general interest, it will do it, and you ...
— Marcella • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... on cultivating his garden, feeling the melancholy satisfaction that he was at least sheltered from all the wicked revolutionaries under the shadow of that colossus of stone, which inspired awe and respect from its majestic age. They might curtail the revenues of the temple, but they would be powerless against the Christian faith of those ...
— The Shadow of the Cathedral • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... the scorching words were ended. Grandcourt had meant to stay till evening; he wished to curtail his visit, but there was no suitable train earlier than the one he had arranged to go by, and he had still to speak to Lydia on the second object of his visit, which like a second surgical operation seemed to require ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot
... spell of semi-starvation, and the memories lingered long after hunger had again gripped the three travelers. By this time they knew that they had cut themselves too short in the matter of food, but the only possible alteration that could now be made in their arrangements was to curtail their journey, and rather than do that they were ready cheerfully to face the distress of having an enormous appetite, and very little with ...
— The Voyages of Captain Scott - Retold from 'The Voyage of the "Discovery"' and 'Scott's - Last Expedition' • Charles Turley
... everybody has read to his heart's content all the proceedings of that historic and dreadful Thursday night. I have already published elsewhere an account of my experiences; and within my limits here I must somewhat curtail the story. But it is well to correct some of the many errors which have found their way into the press. In the slight reaction which has followed the first wild outburst, it is now seen that there were certain ...
— Sketches In The House (1893) • T. P. O'Connor
... guests. Some, indeed, proposed returning at once to Stonegate, but they were overruled by the younger members of the party, who were anxious to remain until the moon had risen, and also by Mrs. Woburn's desire not to curtail their enjoyment; and it was finally settled that the steamer should not return until ...
— Ruth Arnold - or, the Country Cousin • Lucy Byerley
... had been 43s., to 75s. 2d. Bread riots broke out in Sussex, in Birmingham, Nottingham, Coventry, and other places. Bills were passed with the object of husbanding the supply of wheat; liberal bounties were granted on importation, and the members of parliament entered into an agreement to curtail the use of wheaten flour in their own households. A bill for the regulation of wages, introduced by Whitbread, the brewer, and advocated by Fox, was opposed by Pitt and was rejected. Starving men are quick to believe assertions that their sufferings are caused ...
— The Political History of England - Vol. X. • William Hunt
... defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all. If anywhere there are efforts tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro, let these efforts be turned into stimulating, encouraging, and making him the most useful and intelligent citizen. Efforts or means so invested will pay a thousand per cent. interest. These efforts will be twice blessed—"blessing him ...
— Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence - The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of - Slavery to the Present Time • Various
... variety into the stocks—it will not diminish the surplus: and as there would be no sense in continuing to produce more of these things than necessary, it would then be the duty of the Administration to curtail or restrict production of the necessaries of life. This could be done by reducing the hours of the workers without reducing their wages so as to enable them to continue to ...
— The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists • Robert Tressell
... activities, many of which seem more or less trivial; all of which leads the average worker to ponder rather seriously just why it is that the Church can vigorously advocate and promote legislation seeking to curtail his liberty to enjoy, in his own way, the limited number of leisure hours at his disposal, and yet turn a deaf ear to the cry of tortured men, women, and children for relief from the curse of low wages, ...
— The Necessity of Atheism • Dr. D.M. Brooks
... where the serfs were purposely kept in ignorance of the true meaning and intention of the emperor's ukase, a vague idea took possession of their minds that they were free, and that the proprietors had no right to compel them to labor, or in any way curtail their liberty. Many of them left the estates to which they were attached, and sought occupation elsewhere on their own account; others refused to obey the orders given them by their seigneurs, ...
— The Land of Thor • J. Ross Browne
... take of it. In the House of Peers Lord Thurlow described the bill as one to take the crown off his head and place it on that of Mr. Fox; and, even without adopting that description to its full extent, the King might easily regard the bill as a very unscrupulous attempt to curtail his legitimate authority and influence. He became most anxious to prevent the bill from being presented to him for his royal assent. And it was presently represented to him that the knowledge of his desire would probably induce the Lords to reject it. Among the ...
— The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860 • Charles Duke Yonge
... trick of that minx Feng!" Chia Chen smiled. "How ever could they have reached such straits? She's certain to have seen that expenses were great, and that heavy deficits had to be squared, so wishing again to curtail some item or other, who knows which, she devised this plan as a preparatory step, in order that when it came to be generally known, people should say that they had been reduced to such poverty. But from the result of the calculations I ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... diminishing quantity warned him to restrain himself. He eked it out by mixing with it a kind of leaf much used by Indians for this purpose, but which, by itself, was not considered worth smoking. Even with this aid, however, he was compelled to curtail the indulgence; then the weed failed altogether, and he was finally induced to engage in philosophical meditations as to the folly of creating a needless desire which could not be gratified. The unsatisfied craving, ...
— The Walrus Hunters - A Romance of the Realms of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne
... replied. "You are going to London, and so am I. I have decided to curtail my visit by a few days, under the circumstances. I shall travel up with you. My luggage ...
— The Danvers Jewels, and Sir Charles Danvers • Mary Cholmondeley
... is wimmen's work. I would not wish for a moment to curtail the holy rights of wimmen. I wouldn't want to stand in her way, and keep her from doin' all this modest, un-pretendin' work, for which her weaker frame and less hefty brain ...
— Samantha Among the Brethren, Complete • Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley)
... a Yellow Reformer, his caustic, or amusing, or pathetic pen, as the case demanded, has never been idle. Away back in the old days the gambling element in Louisville fairly "owned the town" and he attempted to curtail their power. They tried to cajole him and to bribe him and when both alike failed, intimidated the millionaire owner of the Commercial out from under him! He either had to sacrifice Allison or his street railway interests, ...
— The Dead Men's Song - Being the Story of a Poem and a Reminiscent Sketch of its - Author Young Ewing Allison • Champion Ingraham Hitchcock
... The labourer's work, which for the farmer is ten hours a day, for the squire nine, is for the peer only eight. Miss Jones, when she becomes Lady de Jongh, does not pay less than threepence apiece for each "my lady" with which her ear is tickled. Even the baronet when he becomes a lord has to curtail his purchases, because of increased price, unless he be very wide awake to the affairs of the world. Old Lady Fawn, who would not on any account have owed a shilling which she could not pay, and who, in the midst of her economies, was not close-fisted, knew very well what ...
— The Eustace Diamonds • Anthony Trollope
... for his position by clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got deeply into debt ...
— Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 4, January, 1885 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various
... of 1858. If I rightly apprehend the spirit of the note of the Foreign Office, and of the regulations which accompany it, there is, to state it in the least objectionable form, an apprehension in the yamen that it may become necessary to curtail some of these rights, in consequence of the alleged conduct of French missionaries. This idea cannot be entertained for one moment by the ...
— An Inevitable Awakening • ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN
... of the European governments, vessels of every description were, as I discovered upon our arrival at Manila, few and far between in Eastern seas; so, in spite of the assurance that I was not to permit the question of expense to curtail my itinerary, it is perfectly certain that we could not have visited the remote and inaccessible places which we did had it not been for the lively interest taken in our enterprise by the Honorable Francis Burton Harrison, Governor-General of the ...
— Where the Strange Trails Go Down • E. Alexander Powell
... written, but suffice it to say that it is the principal means of standardizing the game. If the big teams of the country played throughout the season in seclusion, the final games would be a hodge-podge of varying systems which would curtail the interest of the spectator and all but block the development of ...
— Football Days - Memories of the Game and of the Men behind the Ball • William H. Edwards
... of adornment, and how necessary became a mild infusion of personal vanity to complete the delicate and fascinating dye of the feminine mind. So at the end of the week's absence, which had brought him as far as Dublin, he resolved to curtail his tour, return to Endelstow, and commit himself by making a reality of the hypothetical offer ...
— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy
... posterior part of the trunk (the pelvis) from being parallel, as it ought to be, with the line connecting the shoulders. To facilitate the attainment of a "square seat," some saddlers incline the upper crutch a good deal towards the off side, and thus curtail the space between that crutch and the near side of the horse's shoulder and neck so much, that the rider is unable to get her right leg into proper position, and is consequently obliged to "hook it back." I need hardly ...
— The Horsewoman - A Practical Guide to Side-Saddle Riding, 2nd. Ed. • Alice M. Hayes
... of the confinement, it is the better wisdom to curtail all out-of-door visiting, shopping, social engagements, etc.,—everything in fact out-of-doors except actual exercise, for two weeks previous to the confinement date. The usual walk in the open air should be continued up to the actual confinement day. The daily bath may be taken, and ...
— The Eugenic Marriage, Volume I. (of IV.) - A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies • W. Grant Hague, M.D.
... denude myself or curtail my income—a man at his wife's discretion, I was saying a man at his wife's mercy . ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... imagined he was awake, were his two most prominent characteristics. Out of consideration for his years and his love of repose, I troubled him as little as possible; but even the small amount of service which I demanded he contrived to curtail in an ingenious way. The time and exertion required for traversing the intervening space between his own room and mine might, he thought, be more profitably employed; and accordingly he extemporised a bed in a small ante-chamber, ...
— Russia • Donald Mackenzie Wallace
... no second sight to look into the heart of that tragedy, and the effect of it upon me was to make me curtail my expenditure ...
— The Woman Thou Gavest Me - Being the Story of Mary O'Neill • Hall Caine
... will be found that in the subsequent discussions of this question there was generally, if not at all times, a proposition pending to in some way curtail this power of the President by legislation, which furnishes evidence that to limit such power it was supposed to be necessary to supplement the Constitution by ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland
... introduction of trapped beasts would seem to imply that the game, which under the earlier monarchs had been exceedingly abundant,—failed comparatively under the later ones, who therefore imported it from a distance. It is evident, however, that this scarcity was not allowed to curtail the royal amusement. To gratify the monarch, hunters sought remote and savage districts, where the beast was still plentiful, and, trapping their prey, conveyed it many hundreds of miles to yield a momentary pleasure to ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2. (of 7): Assyria • George Rawlinson
... by clever emphasis on this common bond and by skillful manipulation of truth and lies they steal the men away to look at land which they call their own. The land pirates do not advertise, but live on the advertising that the reputable land men do. As a result the latter curtail their advertising and do a comparatively small amount of it, since they are prevented from realizing the full profits due on the investment. This is a situation that forces the land men to realize the need of a ...
— A Stake in the Land • Peter Alexander Speek
... Besides, why curtail the luxuries of courtship? Should haste to enjoy the lusciousness of summer engulf the delights of spring? The pleasures of courtship are unsurpassed throughout life, and quite too great to be curtailed by hurrying marriage. And enhancing or diminishing them redoubles or curtails ...
— Social Life - or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society • Maud C. Cooke
... of their zeal, he never had a doubt. War taken by the job, at a given sum for thrashing the enemy right soundly, would resolve itself into a mere trading commodity, fit only to be dabbled in by shopkeepers and stockbrokers. By this turn in national affairs, Kings and Czars might curtail their ambition, and their devoted subjects, being paid to fight by the lump, would hurry through their contract. General Pierce, too, would find it decidedly more convenient, inasmuch as it would save his benevolent people the trouble of inflicting that most unwarrantable ...
— The Adventures of My Cousin Smooth • Timothy Templeton
... proper, in order to reduce the Bulk and Price of the Impression, that the Notes, where-ever they would admit of it, might be abridg'd: for which Reason I have curtail'd a great Quantity of Such, in which Explanations were too prolix, or Authorities in Support of an Emendation too numerous: and Many I have entirely expung'd, which were judg'd rather Verbose and Declamatory (and, so, Notes merely of ...
— Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare • D. Nichol Smith
... men resort to the law to curtail the natural prerogatives of this liberty. This kind of spoliation is called privilege or monopoly. We will carefully indicate its ...
— Sophisms of the Protectionists • Frederic Bastiat
... British artificers came out of the colonial consumers, and the colonists were compelled to buy only from Britain those articles which they would otherwise be able to buy at much lower prices from other countries. Moreover, they were obliged to sell only in Great Britain, where heavy imposts served to curtail the net profits of the producer. Even such manufactures as could be carried on in the colonies were ...
— Benjamin Franklin • John Torrey Morse, Jr.
... dismisses suddenly Cherif, and the European Press considers he has done a bold thing, and, misjudging Cherif, praise him for having broken with the advisers who caused the ruin of Ismail. My opinion is that Tewfik feared Cherif's proposition as being likely to curtail his power as absolute ruler, and that he judged that he would by this dismissal gain kudos in Europe, and protect ...
— The Life of Gordon, Volume II • Demetrius Charles Boulger
... renouncement," said Hadria. "I cannot conceive how anyone could say to himself, while he had longings and life still in him, 'I will give up this that I might have learnt; I will stop short here where I might press forward; I will allow this or that to curtail me and rob me of my ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird
... the outside world could have no communication of any sort with them. With the exception of a small strip of coast-land on the Indian ocean, the two republics were completely surrounded by British territory, and consequently it was not a difficult matter for the great Empire to curtail the liberties of the Boers to as great an extent as it was pleasing to the men who conducted the campaign. The small strip of coast-land, however, was the property of a neutral nation, and, therefore, could not ...
— With the Boer Forces • Howard C. Hillegas
... up, as far as I can, what I may call private business, and deal entirely with the trade. I have been doing so for some time, but it is very difficult to give up customers who have dealt with me, and my father before me. However, I shall curtail the business in that direction, as much as I can; and you will then find it much more easily managed. Small orders require just as much trouble in their execution as large ones; and a wholesale business is, in all respects, more satisfactory than one in which ...
— Held Fast For England - A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) • G. A. Henty
... supported, and it oppresses the land with taxes. The money amassed by the venders buys our legislators, corrupts our judges and governors, and controls our political parties. Who shall stay its ravages, or curtail its power? ...
— Woman: Man's Equal • Thomas Webster
... provinces according to uniform and dearly defined laws, to maintain the majesty of religion, and to give his people universal peace, as unconditionally to subjugate them, to rob them of their ancient rights, to appropriate their possessions, to curtail the fair privileges of the nobles, for whose sake alone they are ready to serve him with life and limb. Religion, it is said, is merely a splendid device, behind which every dangerous design may be contrived with the greater ease; the prostrate crowds adore the ...
— Egmont - A Tragedy In Five Acts • Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
... to prove in a former essay,[110] but the facts, examined without prejudice, certainly seem to indicate that the relation of the psychical to the physical is just that of the machine to the screw. To speak of an equivalence between the two is simply to curtail, and make almost unintelligible, the Spinozistic or Leibnizian metaphysic. It is to accept this philosophy, such as it is, on the side of Extension, but to mutilate it on the side of Thought. With Spinoza, with Leibniz, we suppose the ...
— Creative Evolution • Henri Bergson
... a very real threat to many people today, and the professional hypnotist is besieged with men and women who wish to curtail or quit smoking. This is easier said than done because smoking, although there are no physical withdrawal symptoms when one stops, is a strong, conditioned reflex and cannot (except in rare instances) be accomplished by the will alone. The best way ...
— A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis • Melvin Powers
... likewise myself; I was not mistaken in my opinion of you; the address is too long by at least two-thirds, or I should rather say it is longer by two-thirds than addresses generally are; but it will do—I will not curtail it of a word. I shall win my election.' And in truth he did win his election; and it was not only his own but the general opinion that he ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... that there can be no adequate individual freedom where the State is all-powerful, even if the State be a Socialist one. Some of them are out-and- out Anarchists, who wish to see the State wholly abolished; others only wish to curtail its authority. Owing to this movement, opposition to Marx, which from the Anarchist side existed from the first, has grown very strong. It is this opposition in its older form that will occupy us ...
— Proposed Roads To Freedom • Bertrand Russell
... spurring them on in this race against Life? It was the depth of a Cumbrian winter, and the days were short. Clearly they would never reach Penrith to-night. The delay at Hollowbank and the shortened twilight before a coming snowstorm must curtail their journey. They agreed to put up for the night ...
— The Shadow of a Crime - A Cumbrian Romance • Hall Caine
... their second crop; ply the syringe frequently amongst the foliage, and sprinkle the paths, &c., to keep the atmosphere moist. Shut up early in the afternoon. As the fruit of the first crop ripens, curtail the supply of atmospheric moisture—otherwise before they reach maturity they are apt to turn mouldy. The roots to be regularly supplied with water, and some liquid manure added about once a week to assist ...
— In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year • William Keane
... from possible to impose uniformity of speech, for the more rulers strive to curtail freedom of speech the more obstinately are they resisted; not indeed by the avaricious, the flatterers, and other numskulls, who think supreme salvation consists in filling their stomachs and gloating over their money-bags, ...
— The Philosophy of Spinoza • Baruch de Spinoza
... Why then was it introduced? The answer is, that it could only have been done for greater caution, and to guard against all cavilling refinements in those who might hereafter feel a disposition to curtail and evade the legitimate authorities of the Union. The Convention probably foresaw, what it has been a principal aim of these papers to inculcate, that the danger which most threatens our political welfare is that the State governments will finally sap the foundations ...
— The Federalist Papers • Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison
... with break-away Transnistria region inhibit establishment of a joint customs regime with Ukraine to curtail smuggling, arms transfers, ...
— The 2002 CIA World Factbook • US Government
... England is ushered in by "An Introductory Essay" by the Rev. G. Gilfillan, A.M. I had lived in hopes, through each successive edition, that either the good taste of the publishers would strike out the preface entirely, or the amended taste of its author curtail some of its redundancies. As neither has been the case, but the 4th edition of the book now lies before me, I beg to offer the ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 203, September 17, 1853 • Various
... begin where the boy is, but should begin its work upon what he is. Only so can it direct him toward what he ought to be. If the boy would alight at the National Gallery in order to regale himself with the masterpieces of art, why, pray, should the teacher try to curtail this desire and force him into Westminster Abbey? If she will accompany him into the Gallery and prove herself his friend and guide among the treasures of art, she will, doubtless, experience the joy of hearing him ask her to be his companion ...
— The Vitalized School • Francis B. Pearson
... imprisoned converts if it could be done consistently with their personal safety. But the missionaries believed that the intention of the Turks, and also the tendency of Sir Henry's movements, were seriously to curtail their own liberty and that of their converts, and greatly to embarrass the propagation of the Gospel, as well among all the nominally Christian sects, as ...
— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume II. • Rufus Anderson
... his anathema-maranatha at those who would presume to abridge the prescriptive rights of the plutocracy—who doubt that grinding penury in a land bursting with fatness is pleasing to the All-Father! He would by no means curtail the wealth of Dives or better the condition of Lazarus; but thinks it good policy for the former to refrain from piling his plate so high in the presence of the hungry plebs, lest the latter cease crying for crumbs and swipe the tablecloth! Dr. Rainsford is a paid servant of Dives, his duly ordained ...
— Volume 1 of Brann The Iconoclast • William Cowper Brann
... to dispense benefits not as rights but as acts of grace. If England trusted to her aristocracy (to put the matter in a nutshell) all would be well with her in the future even as it had been in the past, but any attempt to curtail their splendours must inevitably detract from the prestige and magnificence of the Empire. . . . And he responded suitably to the obsequious salute of the professional, and remembered that the entire golf links were his property, and that the Club paid a merely nominal rental ...
— Michael • E. F. Benson
... of Religion," anyhow appointed, had become comical to him. It had come to seem to him supremely ridiculous that there should be anything like a caste of Brahmins or officers of Religion in England, by whatever means that caste should be formed or recruited. To curtail proof under this head, let me give but one extract. It is the richest bit of sheer humour that I have yet found in Milton, and is better and deeper, in that kind, ...
— The Life of John Milton Vol. 3 1643-1649 • David Masson
... educational opportunity latent in the realization of workmanship standards in the same way that machinery sacrificed it. They both curtail the workers' chance to discover first-hand what the processes of fabrication are, the processes in which they are involved; they must adopt ready-made methods of doing their work, they must accept them out of hand without questioning, ...
— Creative Impulse in Industry - A Proposition for Educators • Helen Marot
... years on terms proposed by themselves, they might seldom in peace put forth their strength to influence elections or control the affairs of the nation. But if any private citizen or public functionary should interpose to curtail its powers or prevent a renewal of its privileges, it can not be doubted that he would be made to feel ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, - Vol. 2, Part 3, Andrew Jackson, 1st term • Edited by James D. Richardson
... the rivalry and hatred of Arsinoe the more. She and Lysandra were sisters, or, rather, half-sisters—being daughters of the same father. They were, however, on this very account, natural enemies to each other, for their mothers were rivals. Arsinoe, of course, was continually devising means to curtail the growing importance and greatness of Agathocles. Agathocles himself, on the other hand, would naturally make every effort to thwart and counteract her designs. In the end, Arsinoe succeeded in convincing ...
— Pyrrhus - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... them; so she did not hurry, though the great Flemish clock on the stair-landing chimed eleven as she entered her room. It was an extraordinarily late hour, but she only smiled, as she struck her pretty fore-fingers together in time with it. She was not disposed to curtail the day; it was her method, always, to take the full flavour of every event that ...
— The Maid of Maiden Lane • Amelia E. Barr
... There is a good deal of cultivated land, and scattered farm-houses appear. The soil is excellent. But it is like a pearl cast before an obstinate, unfriendly climate. Late frosts prolong the winter. Early frosts curtail the summer. The only safe crops are grass, oats, and potatoes. And for half the year all the cattle must be housed and fed to keep them alive. This lends a melancholy aspect to agriculture. Most of the farmers look as if they had never seen better days. With few exceptions ...
— Little Rivers - A Book Of Essays In Profitable Idleness • Henry van Dyke
... them to curtail their royal visit was the state of politics at home, which had suddenly become critical. There were symptoms, and considerable ones, of disturbance and danger when they departed for their wedding tour, ...
— Endymion • Benjamin Disraeli
... request, to whom arrears for four years had been due, raised his laureate salary to L300. The additional hundred dropped at the king's death, and James was mean enough even to curtail the annual butt of sack. He probably had little hope of converting the author of "Religio Laici" to his faith, else he would not have withheld what Charles had so recently granted. Afterwards, when he ascertained that an interesting process was ...
— The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol I - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes • John Dryden
... about "seven days old," is in its first quarter. If we had time, it would be a most interesting thing to watch the advance of the lunar sunrise every night, for new beauties are displayed almost from hour to hour; but, for the purposes of our description it is necessary to curtail the observations. At first quarter one half of the lunar hemisphere which faces the earth is illuminated by the sun, and the line of sunrise runs across some of the most wonderful ...
— Pleasures of the telescope • Garrett Serviss
... reverted to the past. "I have a tale to relate," he said, "and much explanation to give concerning the past; perhaps you can assist me to curtail it. Do you remember your father? I had never the happiness of seeing him, but his name is one of my earliest recollections: he stands written in my mind's tablets as the type of all that was gallant, amiable, and fascinating in man. ...
— The Last Man • Mary Shelley
... unrepublican in principle. Accordingly our great grandfathers preferred to entrust executive powers to committees rather than to single individuals; and when they assigned an important office to an individual they usually took pains to curtail its power and influence. This disposition was visible in our early attempts to organize city governments like little republics. First, in the board of aldermen and the common council we had a two-chambered legislature. Then, lest the mayor should become ...
— Civil Government in the United States Considered with - Some Reference to Its Origins • John Fiske
... matter before the Sirdar, who struck with the justice of our plea summoned us all before him, when we stated our case anew. He gave his decision, that the Times correspondents twain should only have the right to send 100 words each by telegram. We disclaimed having any desire to curtail their letter-writing. That did not matter. The affair I am glad to say was conducted throughout with much good feeling, both Colonel Frank Rhodes and Mr Hubert Howard acknowledging the right of our contention, and the affair gave rise to no break ...
— Khartoum Campaign, 1898 - or the Re-Conquest of the Soudan • Bennet Burleigh
... the inner end of Thirsty Sound in latitude 22 deg. 16'; and curtail the distance of thirty miles from Pier Head in captain Cook's chart, to twelve miles ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2 • Matthew Flinders
... in running errands, and Pelle was not one to curtail them; he had no liking for the smelly workshop and its wooden chairs. There was so much to be fetched and carried, and Pelle considered these errands to be his especial duty; when he had nothing else to do he roved about ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo
... Lestrange grew interested in the phenomenon of a blacksmith that bound books and read them. He began to dream of patronage and responsive devotion. What a thing it would be for him, in after years, with the cares of property and parliament combining to curtail his leisure, to have such a man at his beck, able to gather the information he desired, and to reduce, tabulate, and embody it so as to render his chief the best-informed man in the House! while at other times he would manage ...
— There & Back • George MacDonald
... content himself with a less quantity than he could have wished, and have to substitute oatmeal and potatoes, or some other inferior food for wheaten bread and butchers meat; still, it is less in his power to curtail the consumption of agricultural produce than of manufactures, so that the manufacturing classes suffer from the general distress which renders the people unable to consume in a greater degree than ...
— The Economist - Volume 1, No. 3 • Various
... not menace Italy; did not curtail her authority; did not attack her honor or interests. We always responded loyally to the duties of our alliance and afforded her our protection when she took the field. We have done more. When Italy directed covetous glances across ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 3, June, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various
... prefer "dress pieces" and dramas to farces or burlesque, let some competent person curtail the one you choose ...
— The Peace Egg and Other tales • Juliana Horatia Ewing
... of the regency bill was not settled for some days. On the 1st of January an amendment to it, tending to diminish the expenses of the king's household, and to curtail the authority of the queen over that household, was carried against ministers by a majority of thirteen; and this decision was confirmed the next day by the rejection of an amendment moved by Mr. Perceval, which went to restore the ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... Elizabeth and Drake to Burleigh, who wished to curry favor with the Spanish traders rather than provoke the Spanish power, Doughty was busy tampering with the men. A storekeeper had to be sent back for peculation designed to curtail Drake's range of action. Then Doughty tempted officers and men: talked up the terrors of Magellan's Strait, ran down his friend's authority, and finally tried to encourage downright desertion by underhand means. This was ...
— Elizabethan Sea Dogs • William Wood
... a large proportion of the workmen of both countries each day deliberately work slowly so as to curtail the output. Almost every labor union has made, or is contemplating making, rules which have for their object ' curtailing the output of their members, and those men who have the greatest influence with the working-people, the labor leaders as well as many people with philanthropic ...
— The Principles of Scientific Management • Frederick Winslow Taylor
... voluntarily entered the Union could voluntarily withdraw from it. They did not fight for Confederate money. It was not worth ten cents a yard. They did not fight for Confederate rations—you would have had to curtail the demands of your appetite to make it correspond with the size and quality of those rations. They fought for what they thought was a proper construction ...
— America First - Patriotic Readings • Various
... day, before that woeful message came, he had counted the minutes he could spend with her, and now he was timing his visit so as to curtail it to the least possible duration, and taxing his ingenuity as to how best to avoid seeing her alone. It was Saturday, and he trusted to the half holiday for the protection of Ben's presence; his depression of spirits would be less noticeable ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 5, June 1905 • Various
... crop, reap, mow, lop, prune, clip, shear, whittle, shave, trim, detruncate, dock, curtail, exscind, dissect, chamfer, amputate, carve, chase, chisel, lance, bisect, cleave, razee, slit, incise, fell, score, ...
— Putnam's Word Book • Louis A. Flemming
... It's a thing I bought Of a bit of a chit of a boy i' the mid o' the day— I like to dock the smaller parts-o'-speech, As we curtail the already cur-tailed cur (You catch the paronomasia, play 'po' words?) Did, rather, i' the pre-Landseerian days. Well, to my muttons. I purchased the concern, And clapt it i' my poke, having given for same By way o' chop, ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various
... the Constitution of the United States rights for women or rights for mankind. I shall not extend it by inference in favor of freedom, but any inference which will limit its operation, which will destroy or curtail its ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage
... painted the picture of Queen Elena richly decked in finery, jewels, gold, and precious stones: "Since thou didst not know how to paint her beautiful, thou didst paint her rich." But I adhere to and declare the truth, and I even curtail in this relation what I might say of it. Although I confess that this relation has not been designedly embellished, it is written rich in truth (which is the greatest beauty and splendor that can be given a history), with which its defects will be supplied, since there is nothing in ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XXII, 1625-29 • Various
... high destiny of the race be accomplished. She is the mother of the race, and every stain of littleness or inferiority cast upon her by our institutions will soil the offspring she sends into the world, and clip and curtail to that extent his fair proportions. If we would abrogate that littleness of her character which finds a delight in the gewgaws of fashion, and an enjoyment in the narrow sphere of gossipping, social life, or tea-table scandal, so long the ridicule of our sex; open to her new and more ennobling ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage
... of such a machine was prompted by the desire to curtail the physical sufferings of the victim, instead of prolonging them, as under the ancient system. It is, however, difficult to believe that the mediaeval judges were actuated by any humane feelings, when we find that, in order to reconcile ...
— Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period • Paul Lacroix
... I arrived so unavoidably late, and that the early darkness of winter renders the roads so difficult for those who have long journeys to make, I shall somewhat curtail the remarks I have in mind," he said, pompously, and took another long ...
— Mixed Faces • Roy Norton
... Maroney in Eldridge street jail. He detailed what had transpired at Jenkintown, and told Maroney that he had the money hid in a safe place in Philadelphia. This was undoubtedly the truth, as the money was safe in the vaults of the Adams Express. I deemed it best to curtail expenses as soon as possible, and instructed White to impress upon Maroney that Jenkintown was not a safe place for his wife, and that she had better leave there. He was to endeavor to get Maroney to send her to the west, and to Chicago, if possible. He told Maroney that he was afraid some ...
— The Expressman and the Detective • Allan Pinkerton
... of Santa Barbara had been placed in the way of the priests. Governor Fages wished to curtail their authority, and sought to make innovations which the padres regarded as detrimental in the highest degree to the Indians, as well as annoying and humiliating to themselves. This was the reason of the long delay in founding Santa Barbara. It was the same with the following Mission. It had ...
— The Old Franciscan Missions Of California • George Wharton James
... purposes except for a short period during the last war with Great Britain, nor should it ever become a charge on the general Treasury. If Congress shall adhere to this principle, as I think they ought, it will be necessary either to curtail the present mail service so as to reduce the expenditures, or so to modify the act of the 3d of March last as to improve its revenues. The extension of the mail service and the additional facilities which will be demanded by the rapid extension ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various
... immediately into the hands of the general synod. The Society was not quite ready to do this, but it began to withdraw in a gradual way. It sent out few, if any, fresh missionaries to take the places of those who had died or retired, and it began to curtail its monetary grants. It had spent (according to Mr. Swainson's estimate) some quarter of a million pounds on New Zealand: it might well ask, Had not the time arrived for its ...
— A History of the English Church in New Zealand • Henry Thomas Purchas
... provisions had been stacked in the packing case cupboards, for the reason that to store food in the tent would seriously curtail the space that the boys ...
— The High School Boys in Summer Camp • H. Irving Hancock
... this garb that they piously went to legislatures and demanded investigations into the rascally methods of the railroad magnates. The facts, said they, should be made public, so as to base on them appropriate legislation which would curtail the power of such autocrats. Contrasted with the baseness and hypocrisy of the trading class, Vanderbilt's qualities of brutal candor and selfishness shine out as brilliant virtues. [Footnote: No observation ...
— Great Fortunes from Railroads • Gustavus Myers
... enforce their right to life against your right to things at whatever point the two claims might directly or indirectly conflict. The effect of the disproportionate possession of the wealth of a community by some of its members to curtail and threaten the living of the rest is not in any way affected by the means by which that wealth was obtained. The means may have constituted, as in past times they often did by their iniquity, an added injury to the community; but the fact of the disproportion, however resulting, was a continuing ...
— Equality • Edward Bellamy
... held in his hand? The State Tribune of Mr. Peter Pardriff, who had stood so staunchly for Mr. Crewe and better things? Who had hitherto held the words of the Leith statesman in such golden estimate as to curtail advertising columns when it was necessary to print ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... arrive at the same instant, that curtail all subjects but what belong to themselves. Nous allons commencer!—Heaven preserve and prosper the beloved partner of my soul. I dare enter upon nothing; I can only say the first of the two letters, written before the order of commencer was issued, is one ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 3 • Madame D'Arblay
... can they curtail necessity? To produce more is impossible; they can work neither harder nor longer. Shall they take a middle course, and consume five and a half while producing six and a half? They would soon find that with the stomach there is no compromise—that beyond a certain degree of abstinence ...
— What is Property? - An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government • P. J. Proudhon
... monsieur. I have no right to curtail M. le Comte's liberties. But I let you go with a ...
— Helmet of Navarre • Bertha Runkle
... invading the cottages, for there were few abroad that winter's morning; sometimes knocking up the lazy people from their beds, for where so little work was to be done, perhaps so little food and fire to be had, they cared not to curtail their slumbers. I had no time to think of them, however; aching with weariness and desperation, I hurried on. The gig did not overtake me: and it was well I had not waited for it; vexatious rather, that I had been fool enough to ...
— The Tenant of Wildfell Hall • Anne Bronte
... position of Marduk, however, became more and more assured without danger of being shaken, the feeling of rivalry in his relations to the other gods began to disappear. Marduk's supremacy no longer being questioned, there was no necessity to curtail the homage paid to Shamash at Sippar or to En-lil at Nippur; hence the religious importance of the old centers is not diminished by the surpassing glory of Babylon. There was room for all. Marduk's toleration is the best evidence ...
— The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria • Morris Jastrow
... quite fruitlessly, to negotiate with Charles on his own account, while the diet was much more zealous to curtail his powers than to resist the Swedish monarch, and was determined that, at any price, the Saxon troops should leave Poland. Intrigues were going on on all sides. Presently Charles set his forces in motion. When ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol XII. - Modern History • Arthur Mee
... universally applicable, but the intelligent drainer will seek to modify his practice according to the circumstances of the case. As a general rule, the drains ought to be as deep as possible, but in numerous instances it may be more advantageous to curtail their depth and increase their number. If, for instance, a thick impervious pan resting on a clay were found at the depth of three feet below the surface, it would serve no good purpose to make the drains deeper; but if the pan were ...
— Elements of Agricultural Chemistry • Thomas Anderson
... belief that Socrates corrupted the young. This man, who, beyond what has been already stated, kept his appetites and passions under strict control, who was pre-eminently capable of enduring winter's cold and summer's heat and every kind of toil, who was so schooled to curtail his needs that with the scantiest of means he never lacked sufficiency—is it credible that such a man could have made others irreverent or lawless, or licentious, or effeminate in face of toil? Was he ...
— The Memorabilia - Recollections of Socrates • Xenophon
... her hand reverently to his lips and kissed it. "Let it not be long," said he. "Life is too short to curtail one hour of happiness from the years full of trouble ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby
... who have died in the last seven years were added to all that are now here," the stranger asserted, "I would treat all of these and those grievously, and would curtail their ...
— Irish Fairy Tales • James Stephens
... not be a model of etiquette, but I should never dream of soliciting, of welcoming an interview from even so old a friend as the Countess of Reist under such circumstances. Well, in the midst of our conversation, which I was doing my best to curtail, her brother arrived unexpectedly from Solika and found us together. He chose to consider her presence in my room compromising, and demanded that I should marry her. After that—chaos. As I told you, Reist has given up his command and deserted me. I believe that I have promised to ...
— The Traitors • E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
... Kuwait in August 1990. In the wake of the Persian Gulf crisis, many Palestinians have returned to the West Bank, increasing unemployment, and export revenues have plunged because of the loss of markets in Jordan and the Gulf states. Israeli measures to curtail the intifadah also have pushed unemployment up and lowered living standards. The area's economic outlook remains bleak. GNP: exchange rate conversion - $1.3 billion, per capita $1,200; real growth rate ...
— The 1992 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... scarcely fail to realize that a point must be reached when the federal government would assert its authority in Utah territory, but they deemed a conflict with the government of less serious moment than a surrender which would curtail their own civil and criminal jurisdiction, and bring their doctrine of polygamy within reach of the law. A specimen of the unbridled utterances of these leaders in those days will be found in a discourse by Mayor Grant in the Tabernacle, ...
— The Story of the Mormons: • William Alexander Linn
... this engagement. Here there were no protecting villages, hedges, or banks. A swift, headlong rush that could be measured in seconds was impossible under the circumstances. At 2000 yards the British infantry came under rifle fire, and had no communication trenches to curtail the zone of fire. An armistice was concluded on January 21, 1916, for a few hours, to allow for the removal of the wounded and the burial of the dead. In forty-eight hours the Tigris had risen as high as seven feet in some places and the country around was under water, which ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume IV (of 8) • Francis J. (Francis Joseph) Reynolds, Allen L. (Allen Leon)
... continuing to encroach on the dominions of the mussulmauns, Adil Shaw at length resolved, if possible, to punish his insolence and curtail his power by a general league of the faithful against him; for which purpose he convened an assembly of his ...
— A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar; A Contribution to the History of India • Robert Sewell
... of things crowded themselves into a few brief years! It is not easy to curtail these boyhood adventures of Sam Clemens and his scapegrace friends, but one might go on indefinitely with their mad doings. They were an unpromising lot. Ministers and other sober-minded citizens ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine
... enlist. Your worships must know That a few days ago, An order went out, 25 For the foot guards so stout To wear tails in high taste, Twelve inches at least: Now I've got him a scale To measure each tail, 30 To lengthen a short tail, And a long one to curtail.) — Yet how can I when vext, Thus stray from my text? Tell each other to rue 35 Your Devonshire crew, For sending so late To one of my state. But 'tis Reynolds's way From wisdom to stray, 50 And Angelica's whim To be frolick like him, But, alas! ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith • Oliver Goldsmith
... for good reasons, either from propriety or the necessity of relaxing the mind, etc. Thus, in accustoming one's self to retrench the useless little by little, one accustoms one's self to offer what is not proper to curtail. ...
— Stepping Heavenward • Mrs. E. Prentiss
... are merely temporary. The lord of the soil must, if he desire to keep them within his borders, treat them with the greatest prudence and tact. Should the government displease them in any way, or appear to curtail their liberty, they pack up their tents and take flight into the desert. The district occupied by them one day is on the next vacated and left to desolation. Probably the same state of things existed in ancient times, and the border nomes on the east of the Delta were in turn inhabited or deserted ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12) • G. Maspero
... movement in France and England for the last thirty years; and I must limit myself to pointing out that Mr. Clausen has gone back to first principles, whereas Mr. Stanhope Forbes still continues at the point where Bastien-Lepage began to curtail, deform, and degrade the original inspiration. Mr. Clausen, I said, overcame the difficulty of the trousers by generalisation. Mr. Stanhope Forbes copied the trousers seam by seam, patch by patch; and the ugliness of ...
— Modern Painting • George Moore
... the governors-general, soliciting their opinions, and ere long copies of the project were circulating in London, Paris, and Vienna. In the spring of 1890, Russia and Western Europe were filled with alarming rumors concerning an enactment of some "forty clauses," which was designed to curtail the commercial activities of the Jews, to increase the rigor of the "Temporary Rules" within the Pale, and restrict the privileges conferred upon several categories of Jews outside of it, to establish medieval Jewish ghettos in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev, and similar ...
— History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II • S.M. Dubnow
... you that I can fight my own battles, and that I have no possible need of your sympathy. Put me alone, sir, and with my back to the wall. G. E. C. is happiest then. Well, sir, let us do what we can to curtail this visit, which can hardly be agreeable to you, and is inexpressibly irksome to me. You had, as I have been led to believe, some comments to make upon the proposition which I ...
— The Lost World • Arthur Conan Doyle
... be when Norah, and Maggie, and Katie have not only their mass and confession, their Fourth-of-July and Christmas, their mission-weeks, their social engagements and family plans, and their appointments with their dress-makers, to curtail your claims upon their bargained time and service, but their share in the primary meetings and caucuses, committees, and torch-light processions, and mass meetings? For what shall prevent the excitements, the pleasurings, the runnings hither and thither, that men delight in ...
— Debate On Woman Suffrage In The Senate Of The United States, - 2d Session, 49th Congress, December 8, 1886, And January 25, 1887 • Henry W. Blair, J.E. Brown, J.N. Dolph, G.G. Vest, Geo. F. Hoar.
... the old morality had so far been allowed no place, as seeming to demand from him the admission of certain first principles such as might misdirect or retard him in his efforts towards a complete, many-sided existence; or distort the revelations of the experience of life; or curtail his natural liberty of heart and mind. But now (his imagination being occupied for the moment with the noble and resolute air, the gallantry, so to call it, which composed the outward mien and presentment of his strange friend's inflexible ...
— Marius the Epicurean, Volume Two • Walter Horatio Pater |
