"Humble" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... may well be compared to the influence exerted by those whom I have designated as Oscar Wilde's fuglemen in the England of today. The easiest way to success in London society is to be notorious in this sense. Whatever career one may have chosen, however humble one's birth, one is then certain of finding distinguished friends and impassioned advocates. If you happen to be in the army and unmarried, you are declared to be a strategist like Caesar, or an organizer like Moltke; if you are an artist, ...
— Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (of 2) - His Life and Confessions • Frank Harris
... dinner, we found that Brandon had so far recovered as to become very hungry, very proud, and very pharisaically pious. Mr Cate dined with us. He was full of holy congratulations on the miraculous event. The sawyer received all this with a humble self-consequence, as the infallible dicta of truth, and, apparently, with the utter oblivion of any such things existing as purl and red-hot pokers. Was he a deep hypocrite, or only a self-deceiver? Who can know the ...
— Rattlin the Reefer • Edward Howard
... summons of death. It is a striking circumstance that the fullness of greatness for one who had been Senator, Minister to England, Secretary of State, and President, remained to be won in the comparatively humble position of a Representative ...
— John Quincy Adams - American Statesmen Series • John. T. Morse
... at ease. The man was so polite and so humble. He thanked her for her information so gratefully. Moreover, he evidently cared so little about her or her looks. She felt perfectly safe, for it was easy to see that he thought more of the ...
— Lying Prophets • Eden Phillpotts
... Then she put on her little white dimity hood, and got the pitcher, which was charmingly shaped, from the cupboard shelf. The cupboard was a three-cornered one beside the chimney. The cottage which Margary and her mother lived in, was very humble, to be sure, but it was very pretty. Vines grew all over it, and flowering bushes crowded close to the diamond-paned windows. There was a little garden at one side, with beds of pinks and violets in it, ...
— The Pot of Gold - And Other Stories • Mary E. Wilkins
... her husband. "But wandering sight-seers cannot be expected to make much money. At this time I was very glad indeed to cease from roving and enjoy the comforts of a home, even though it were a humble one. The family with whom I took service was that of Maria Edgeworth, who lived with ...
— The Vizier of the Two-Horned Alexander • Frank R. Stockton
... of the magician, his arrogant demeanour towards the higher powers, and his unabashed claim to exercise a sway like theirs could not but revolt the priest, to whom, with his awful sense of the divine majesty, and his humble prostration in presence of it, such claims and such a demeanour must have appeared an impious and blasphemous usurpation of prerogatives that belong to God alone. And sometimes, we may suspect, lower motives concurred to whet the edge of the ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer
... Nor know the man, by whom I might procure Her remedy, as I of duty ought, As to the law of kinship doth belong. With careful heart the secret means I sought, Though small effect is of my travail sprung: Full often as I durst I have assay'd With humble words the princess to require To name the man which she hath so denay'd,[62] That it abash'd me further to desire, Or ask from whence those cloudy thoughts proceed, Whose stony force, that smoky sighs forth send, Is lively witness how that careful dread And hot desire within her do contend: ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) • Various
... surface of his lines. Presently emotion asserted its authority again, more discreetly and under the restraint of an imperious intellect in SULLY PRUDHOMME, readily taking the form of sympathy with the humble, in FRANOIS COPPE, or returning to the old communicative frankness of self-revelation with VERLAINE. With VERLAINE we reach a conscious reaction from the objective and impersonal art of the Parnassiens. ...
— French Lyrics • Arthur Graves Canfield
... once, and open a modest book and stationery store. During past years I have met with many pecuniary reverses, and I now find it necessary to engage in some commercial occupation that will furnish me with a livelihood. The book and stationery business, though an humble one, seems to me not inapt nor altogether uncongenial. I am a graduate of the University of Virginia; and Mrs. Blaylock's really wonderful acquaintance with belles-lettres and poetic literature should go far toward insuring success. Of course, ...
— Waifs and Strays - Part 1 • O. Henry
... the mighty change, And thought at first her humor strange; Deemed his own worldly ways the best— But soon his error stood confessed. Ceased is the noise, the jarring strife, For now how humble is the wife! He proudly feels each cross event, While she, poor sinner, is content; No more she has her stubborn will, Returns him daily good for ill; And though her love is still the same. She loves him with a purer flame. Oft would she pray the God of ...
— Stories for the Young - Or, Cheap Repository Tracts: Entertaining, Moral, and Religious. Vol. VI. • Hannah More
... chose this latter humble manner of approach, for the simple reason that this part of the grounds lay unlighted, and he hoped, therefore, to pass unobserved through the shadows. The warm, red light that streamed from an uncurtained French window on the ground floor only deepened the uncertainty ...
— The Scarlet Feather • Houghton Townley
... said Nigel, "and yet I hope that he is one who can relish a soldier's fare and sleep under a humble roof, for indeed we can but give our best, poor as ...
— Sir Nigel • Arthur Conan Doyle
... are few souls so humble, so conventual as that. George Eliot, as Mr. Walkley recalled, was terrified lest ill-judged blame or ill-judged praise should discourage her production; but then she made it a strict rule never to read any criticism, so that, of course, ...
— Essays in Rebellion • Henry W. Nevinson
... and mine are mutual to encounter this evil, already progressing beyond the barriers which were opposed to it, while there is still time to check it, the necks of these haughty nations will learn to humble their pride, and the borders of the empire will remain inviolate. It remains for you to give, by your strength, prosperous effect to the hopes which ...
— The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus • Ammianus Marcellinus
... Their manner was so humble and adoring that he felt sorry for them. They had begged his pardon in the same words that he had intended to beg God's. And then he was just—the only just creature that God had created. In his heart ...
— Christmas Outside of Eden • Coningsby Dawson
... around her seemed to be suddenly gathered in front of her, and it was with a start of surprise that she suddenly realised: "Oh, but they don't believe in this any more than I do!" The faces around her were agitated, with odd humble beseeching looks, as though they were helpless utterly and were hoping that some one would suddenly come and lead them somewhere that they might be comfortable again and ...
— The Captives • Hugh Walpole
... came the eager, humble reply. "I'll do just like you say. Shan't nobody find out from me. Johnnie—" there was a pause—"Johnnie, Pap and Shade didn't get off as soon as they expected. Something was the matter with the machine, I believe. They ain't been gone to exceed a quarter of ...
— The Power and the Glory • Grace MacGowan Cooke
... to-night; to be a witness to such good fortune; to partake in these—in this celebration. Why, I feel almost as glad as if I had held four three oughts twelve myself; as if the five thousand were mine instead of belonging to our charming hostess. The good wishes of my humble self go out to Miss Sieppe in this moment of her good fortune, and I think—in fact, I am sure I can speak for the great institution, the great company I represent. The company congratulates Miss Sieppe. We—they—ah—They wish her every happiness her new fortune ...
— McTeague • Frank Norris
... and die in prosperity, and some of the most honest and conscientious are driven into bankruptcy. Perhaps his manner was unfortunate, and he was not really as proud as he looked to be. Some of those who carry their head erect and look imperial are humble as a child, while many a man in seedy coat and slouch hat and unblacked shoes is as proud as Lucifer. You can not tell by a man's look. Perhaps he was not unscrupulous in business, for there are two sides to every story, and everybody that accomplishes ...
— New Tabernacle Sermons • Thomas De Witt Talmage
... of this mean and humble family was in point of fact Wang. They were natives of this district. Their ancestor had filled a minor office in the capital, and had, in years gone by, been acquainted with lady Feng's grandfather, that is madame Wang's father. Being covetous of the influence ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book I • Cao Xueqin
... were moist, and her tone was so sincere that Priam Farll found it quite remarkably affecting. Of course she was talking about Henry Leek, the humble valet, and not about Leek's illustrious master. But Priam saw no difference between his lot and that of Leek. He felt that there was no essential difference, and that, despite Leek's multiple perfections as a valet, he never ...
— Buried Alive: A Tale of These Days • Arnold Bennett
... not taking the next step, and what to the social scout looked a dusty bypath may prove to be the highway of progress for the hoboing millions. Side issues are constantly cropping up to knock out the main issues of the stump orator; so let us be humble. For this reason I refuse to discuss possibilities in infinity. You and I cannot have become products of an environment which is not in existence. It is safe to suppose that our needs are like those of the race and that in us nothing is vestigial that is active in others. You ...
— The Kempton-Wace Letters • Jack London
... doing it has rejected with scorn the Christian teachings concerning humility and meekness, justice and mercy, brotherhood and love. The objects of its adoration have become Strength, Courage, and ruthless Will-power; let the weak perish and help them to perish; let the gentle, meek, and humble submit to the harsh and proud; let the shiftless and incapable die; the world is for the strong, and the strongest shall be ruler. This is a religion capable of inspiring its followers with zeal and sustained enthusiasm in promoting the national welfare at whatever cost to the individual ...
— The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915 - What Americans Say to Europe • Various
... he had recently composed, and had played several times with immense success. The call was taken up by other voices, and the sonata was drowned. Liszt rose and bowed, and presently, in response to the continued applause, he said: "I am always the humble servant of the public. But do you wish to hear the fantasia before ...
— Famous Violinists of To-day and Yesterday • Henry C. Lahee
... with beauty." That the Wallace Collection includes no work from his hand is perhaps regrettable, but truly Chardin was someone apart from all the magnificence that dazzles us there. His was the treasure of the humble. ...
— Six Centuries of Painting • Randall Davies
... calibre, he must remember how small it is, when all is said and done; that even in his day there are those who can beat him on his own ground; and also that all worldly success, like the most perfect flower, yet bears in it the elements of decay. But he will have reflected with humble satisfaction on those long years of patient striving which have at length lifted him to an eminence whence he can climb on and on, scarcely encumbered by the jostling crowd; till at length, worn out, the time comes for ...
— Beatrice • H. Rider Haggard
... there was something he would find that would save him—somewhere, sometime ... not God merely—'like a key that will open all the doors in the house.' To me he was fascinating. He knew so much, he was so humble, so kind, so amusing. Nobody liked him, of course. They tried to turn him out of the place, gave him a little living at last, and he married his cook. Was she his key? She may have been ... I never saw him again. But I used to wonder. Why was the doctor ...
— The Dark Forest • Hugh Walpole
... principal objection. We are intending to settle in this quiet village. We hope to pass the rest of our lives here. We mean to be one of the people. If our house is too grand it may not be so easy for our neighbors to approach us, or for us to gain access to their humble cottages. Besides, if we are not extravagant, and too far above them, they will try to imitate us. Instead of the square, upright, though neat houses they have now, they will see how much expression a little porch or portico will give ...
— Berties Home - or, the Way to be Happy • Madeline Leslie
... I never asked which was the greatest or best or usefullest of arts or sciences, but which had clearness and accuracy, and the greatest amount of truth, however humble and little useful an art. And as for Gorgias, if you do not deny that his art has the advantage in usefulness to mankind, he will not quarrel with you for saying that the study of which I am speaking is superior in this particular of essential truth; as in the comparison of white colours, ...
— Philebus • Plato
... can cure the ailments of the body, as He does those of the soul, my boy. I may prove, I trust, a humble instrument in His hands; but I will exert all the skill I possess, and pray to Him ...
— Snow Shoes and Canoes - The Early Days of a Fur-Trader in the Hudson Bay Territory • William H. G. Kingston
... shall have the pleasure of telling you. I have met with it when someone or other of your model husbands and fathers have come out there to have a bit of a look round on their own account, and have done the artists the honour of looking them up in their humble quarters. Then we had a chance of learning something, I can tell you. These gentlemen were able to instruct us about places and things that we had never ...
— Ghosts - A Domestic Tragedy in Three Acts • Henrik Ibsen
... lingering in the branches of the old forest trees along the river until they fell upon the ear of the roaming savage, and arrested his careless footsteps. The voice of prayer was heard, breathing to heaven in fervid accents a recognition of the Divine goodness, and an humble consecration of devout worshippers, and the fair land they had adopted as their home, to God. The Gospel Message heralded the dispensation of grace, mercy and peace alike to all, bearing in its wings the gift of healing, and a glorious prophecy of the coming reign of the Messiah over "the wilderness ...
— Thirty Years in the Itinerancy • Wesson Gage Miller
... describe, the expression which came upon his face as he perused the words of decided rejection which were written on that sheet; but certainly, had poor Emily heard how he cursed her, how he vowed to have revenge, and to humble her pride, as he called it, she would have rejoiced rather than grieved that such a man had obtained no hold upon her affection, no command of her fate. He was still in the midst of his tempest of passion, when, without John ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 • Various
... The vision of Somers's humble position as jackal to this lion of a family and house and studio and social reputation—Somers, to whom strange conceits and wild imaginings were departed joys never to return—led Pierston, as the painter's contemporary, to feel that he ought to be one of the bygones ...
— The Well-Beloved • Thomas Hardy
... chiffonniere's ideas of life had been cast in a lowly and humble mould, so that from the beginning these new surroundings seemed highly satisfactory, if not in many respects absolutely joyous. For instance, the beds were prison beds, but they were clean and the dormitories ...
— Mlle. Fouchette - A Novel of French Life • Charles Theodore Murray
... and respect. The few Dutch merchants suffered to reside in Japan were restricted to a small island in Nagasaki harbor, leaving it only once in four years when the Resident, or chief agent, journeyed to Yeddo to offer gifts and most humble obeisance to the Shogun, "creeping forward on his hands and feet, and falling on his knees, bowed his head to the ground, and retired again in absolute silence, crawling exactly like a crab," said one of these pilgrims ...
— The Old Merchant Marine - A Chronicle of American Ships and Sailors, Volume 36 in - the Chronicles Of America Series • Ralph D. Paine
... was now an orphan. The only aunt the poor boy had, his father's sister, wrote the account, and she was obliged to add the painful fact that, with the loss of his father, Sidney would lose the means of further education, and must look forward to some humble means of earning his daily bread, with as little delay ...
— Happy Days for Boys and Girls • Various
... is more a negative than a positive function, a very humble one. Governesses to children at home can do little more than stand between children and the faults of the people about ...
— Deerbrook • Harriet Martineau
... thine own Son, humble and exalted more than any creature, fixed term of the eternal counsel, thou art she who didst so ennoble human nature that its own Maker disdained not to become His own making. Within thy womb was rekindled the love through whose warmth this flower has thus blossomed in the eternal peace. Here ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11 • Various
... whose eye dwells steadfastly on the military situation, untroubled by conflicting claims. "What a wonderful happy turn would have been given to the King's affairs in this country had Sir George Rodney gone with his whole force to Tobago as soon as he might, and in my humble opinion ought to have done. Nay, had he even gone when Mr. Drake did, the island would have been saved. I laboured much to effect it, but all in vain, and fully stated my reasons in writing as soon as the intelligence came. Every ship there with all the troops must have ...
— Types of Naval Officers - Drawn from the History of the British Navy • A. T. Mahan
... according to the complexion of individual minds, and the side they shall themselves have taken: that nothing new can be added by you or me to what has been said by others, and will be said in every age in support of the conflicting opinions on government: and that wisdom and duty dictate an humble resignation to the verdict of our future peers. I doing this myself, I shall certainly not suffer moot questions to affect the sentiments of sincere friendship and respect, consecrated to you by so long a course of time, and of which I now ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... God through our Lord Jesus Christ."[209] "Let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."[210] (d) There must be also humble, earnest resolution to be obedient to the will of God. The forgiveness secured by the death of Jesus is more than mere deliverance from the penalty of sin or the acquittal of the sinner. It is the remission of sins, the putting away of the sin. With ...
— Exposition of the Apostles Creed • James Dodds
... extraordinary father, as any judge of music would have said, who had heard the notes melting from that old black violin, on that rainy night in December. There are not many such instances of men springing from such humble origin in Eastern Mississippi; but this is not a ...
— The Memories of Fifty Years • William H. Sparks
... admire the artist who draws these pictures. But we say to ourselves that his ideas show the influence of a primitive and obsolete order of things, when the warrior caste and the priestly caste were alone in honour, and the humble work of the world was done by slaves. We have now changed all that; the modern majority consists in work, as Emerson declares; and in work, we may add, principally of such plain and dusty kind as the work of cultivators of the ground, handicraftsmen, men of trade and business, men of the ...
— English Prose - A Series of Related Essays for the Discussion and Practice • Frederick William Roe (edit. and select.)
... wha dwellest in the licht inaccessible, whom mortal eye hath not seen nor can see, but who dwellest with him that is humble and contrite of heart, and liftest the licht o' thy coontenance upo' them that seek it, O Lord,"—here the solemnity of the appeal gave way before the out-bursting agony of Thomas's heart—"O Lord, dinna lat's cry in vain, this thy lammie, and me, thine auld sinner, but, ...
— Alec Forbes of Howglen • George MacDonald
... walking in the ways of God's appointment, as laid down in the word, and then they will find that God cannot deny himself, but will make good to them every promise therein; and thus, by scripture evidence, they will find that they are elected unto life, and will be thankful and humble. They will then find that an hearty affectionate trusting in Christ for all his salvation, as freely promised to us, hath naturally enough in it to work in our souls a natural bent and inclination to, and ability for, the practice of all ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... the humble schoolmistress, whose entire possessions were packed in one trunk; and, forgetting myself, said, in a tone which bore ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 3 No 3, March 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... these bursts of frankness Gretchen also confided to him that Roeschen had written to a lady friend in America—a former pupil at the Conservatory who had boarded in the family—and had received from her a complete biography of his humble self, besides a computation of his income and economic prospects. It then required very little ingenuity, on his part, to conjecture why the sisters, in spite of their somewhat ostentatious amiability, frequently appeared to have been at loggerheads just as he entered. He had often heard the word ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 10 • Various
... had gossiped with the massaja, or farmer's wife, and had found out that there were a few habitable rooms in the convent still, roughly furnished, and that in summer, people of a humble sort came there sometimes from Orvieto for coolness and change—the plateau being 3,000 feet above the sea. Eleanor had inquired ...
— Eleanor • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... world, less fit than many another spot for the special presence of him of whom the prophet bears witness: 'Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.' Jesus himself, with the same breath in which once he called it his father's house, called it a den of thieves. His expulsion from it of the buyers and sellers, ...
— Hope of the Gospel • George MacDonald
... man as I was in France," he said obstinately. "More. I'm older." Then his sacrificial manner came back, and, remembering what he was there for, he resumed, all humble sweetness, like the little Dick who used to climb on Raven's knee and ask for a tell-story: "I'm going down with you. I've made ...
— Old Crow • Alice Brown
... only one family,—all these circumstances disturb sometimes the inexhaustible serenity of the Servian women, and call forth gentle lamentations, or perhaps still oftener horrible imprecations, from their humble breasts. Indeed the songs not made for particular occasions also bear strongly and distinctly the stamp of domestic life, and are fall of allusions ...
— Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic - Nations • Therese Albertine Louise von Jacob Robinson
... preparation has been of much value in hastening the fire from heaven. Often the reader is impatient to inform the loud-voiced suppliant that Baal has gone a-hunting. Yet it is alleged that the most humble bribe has at times sufficed to capture the elusive divinity. Schiller's rotten apples are classic, and Emerson lists a number of tested expedients, from a pound of tea to a night in a strange hotel. [Footnote: See the essay on Inspiration. Hazlitt says Coleridge liked to compose walking ...
— The Poet's Poet • Elizabeth Atkins
... to take my leave of Frere Charle, he said, "he hoped I was pleased with my humble fare: to such as it was I had been truly welcome". Indeed he had treated me with the kindest, most unaffected hospitality; he had laid the table, spread the dishes before me, stood the whole time by the side of my chair, and pressed me to eat: How could I not be thankful? I requested he would ...
— A Visit to the Monastery of La Trappe in 1817 • W.D. Fellowes
... of their pedigrees; they usually have a right to be. But their pride should not lead them to scorn the pedigrees of some of the peas, and corn, snapdragons and sugar beets, bulldogs and Shorthorn cattle, with which geneticists have been working during the last generation; for these humble pedigrees may throw more light on their own than a century of research in ...
— Applied Eugenics • Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson
... habitants, tillers of the soil, were small cabins, humble but warm, with wide, overhanging eaves, and consisting at most of two rooms. The partition, when there was one, was of boards. Lath and plaster were unknown. The walls within, to the height of a man's shoulders, were worn smooth by the backs ...
— The Ontario Readers: Fourth Book • Various
... Wherever he went, he was followed by Graves. Unconsciously, he exhausted the patience of that gentleman, who got heartily tired of his tramp about the streets. But the longest day will come to an end, and at last he had the satisfaction of tracking Frank to his humble lodging. Then, and not till then, he felt justified ...
— The Cash Boy • Horatio Alger Jr.
... cet humble reduit, De ses fatigues de jour se reposait la nuit. Lorsqu' explorant nos monts qu'on ignorait encore, Ce grand homme tressait ...
— Twixt France and Spain • E. Ernest Bilbrough
... finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic method; and soon after I procur'd Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein there are many instances of the same method. I was charm'd with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive argumentation, and put on the humble inquirer and doubter. And being then, from reading Shaftesbury and Collins, become a real doubter in many points of our religious doctrine, I found this method safest for myself and very embarrassing ...
— The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • Benjamin Franklin
... Sir Henry, after inspecting this ancient work of art, "it is very well to call this Solomon's Road, but my humble opinion is that the Egyptians had been here before Solomon's people ever set a foot on it. If this isn't Egyptian or Phoenician handiwork, I must say that it is very ...
— King Solomon's Mines • H. Rider Haggard
... as one who, long troubled by clouds, detects a ray of sunshine, "Well, there will be one satisfaction—Simon Lathets will come here to enter into his own, and I will drown him in the horsepond. That poor devil—always so humble in his letters, so pitiful, so deferential; so steeped in reverence for our great line and lofty-station; so anxious to placate us, so prayerful for recognition as a relative, a bearer in his veins of our sacred blood —and withal so poor, so needy, so threadbare and pauper-shod ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... the females the pistil is rather longer than that of the hermaphrodite, and the stamens are mere rudiments, with minute colourless anthers destitute of pollen. The windows of the greenhouse were left open, and the flowers were incessantly visited by humble and hive bees. Although the ten females did not produce a single grain of pollen, yet they were all thoroughly well fertilised by the one hermaphrodite plant, and this is an interesting fact. It ...
— The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species • Charles Darwin
... slowly around him as he spoke, raising his eyes to the bare rafters above, and drawing a few long breaths, as if he were inhaling the aura of some unseen presence. He appeared so perfectly gratified and contented, and I was so impressed with this humble and silent absorption of the sacred interior, that I felt vaguely conscious that any interruption of it was a profanation, and I sat still, gazing at the dying fire. Presently he arose, stretched out his hand, shook mine warmly, said, "I ...
— Colonel Starbottle's Client and Other Stories • Bret Harte
... was played by the ancestors of these dwellers in Magna Graecia hundreds of years before Pompeii was overthrown. The game, which requires nothing but the human fingers, bears no little resemblance to our own humble pastime of "Up Jenkin!" which may almost be described as a species of drawing-room mora; perhaps some Italian traveller in a past age may actually have introduced this form of the southern diversion ...
— The Naples Riviera • Herbert M. Vaughan
... "Humble love, And not proud reason, keeps the door of heaven; Love finds admission, where proud science ...
— Elsie's Motherhood • Martha Finley
... the truth, Mr. Leach. My father was as meek, and pious, and humble a Christian as ever thumped a pulpit. A poor man, and, if truth must be spoken, a poor preacher too; but a zealous one, and thoroughly devout. I ran away from him at twelve, and never passed a week at ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper
... law with respect to his forfeitures might be suspended, as a pardon had suspended it with respect to his life. Mr. Walpole signified to the house, by his majesty's command, that, seven years before, the petitioner had made humble application and submission to the king, with assurances of duty, allegiance, and fidelity; that, from his behaviour since that time, his majesty was convinced of his being a fit object of his mercy, and consented to his petitioning the house. The petition being read, ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... ahead! All this time—the darkest the house on the alley had seen—help was on the way to them. A kind-hearted city missionary, visiting one of the unfortunate families living in the upper rooms of old Ann's house, had learned from them of the noble charity of the humble old washerwoman. It was more than princely charity, for she not only denied herself nearly every comfort, but she endured the reproaches of her husband, and the tears of ...
— The Children's Book of Christmas Stories • Various
... understands Englishmen little better than they understand him. In his earlier days he has been a somewhat ardent sportsman and a good shot. He has been engaged and honourably mentioned in most of the Kaffir fights of his time.... Socially, he has always lived in a somewhat humble position, and it is to the credit of his nature as a man that he bears not the slightest trace of the parvenu. Plain and undistinguished in appearance, he combines the advantages of a prodigious memory with a remarkable aptitude for reading his fellow-man, and this last quality would ...
— South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 6) - From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum - of 9th Oct. 1899 • Louis Creswicke
... burst forth indignant against the oppression of Buonaparte. Then unworthily filling the same office which I have the honour to hold at the present moment, I discharged the glorious duty (if a portion of glory may attach to the humble instrument of a glorious cause) of recognizing without delay the rights of the Spanish nation, and of at once adopting that gallant people into the closest amity with England. It was indeed a stirring, a kindling occasion: and ...
— Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 • Edgar Jones
... en qui vit et tremble le royaume. Si quelqu'un pouvait voir dans l'oeil de ce fantome, Debout en ce moment l'epaule contre un mur, Ce qu'on apercevrait dans cet abime obscur, Ce n'est pas l'humble enfant, le jardin, l'eau moiree Refletant le ciel d'or d'une claire soiree, Les bosquets, les oiseaux se becquetant entre eux. Non; au fond de cet oeil, comme l'onde vitreux, Sous ce fatal sourcil qui derobe a la sonde Cette prunelle ...
— La Legende des Siecles • Victor Hugo
... storekeeper's first state paper, the announcement of his candidacy, in the year 1832. His first political speech was in a curious vein, glib, intimate and fantastic: "Fellow citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the internal ...
— Lincoln • Nathaniel Wright Stephenson
... the more coxy and conceited for't. So I took to going nowhere but to church, and hearing nobody but Mr. Irwine, for he said nothing but what was good and what you'd be the wiser for remembering. And I found it better for my soul to be humble before the mysteries o' God's dealings, and not be making a clatter about what I could never understand. And they're poor foolish questions after all; for what have we got either inside or outside of us but what comes from God? If we've got a resolution to do right, ...
— Adam Bede • George Eliot
... And for this reason, moreover, we have said that all ought to be called to take counsel; because it is often to a younger person that the Lord reveals what is best. The brethren, moreover, ought, with all humble subjection, to give their advice so that they do not too boldly presume to defend what seems good to them, but it should rather depend upon the judgment of the abbot; so that, whatever he decides upon as the more salutary, they should all agree ...
— A Source Book for Ancient Church History • Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D.
... waste covered the face of the globe, and huge, reptile natures held it in dominion;—who beholds the pulpy worm, down in the sea, building the pillars of continents;—so one sees the principalities of evil sliding from their thrones, and the deposits of humble faithfulness rising from the deep of ages. Our sympathy, our benevolent effort in the work of God and humanity, how much do they need not only the vision of intellectual foresight, but of the faith which, on bended knees, sees further than ...
— The Crown of Thorns - A Token for the Sorrowing • E. H. Chapin
... 1640). Nothing could have seemed more innocent or laudable than the attempt by a bishop of the Church to set forth the doctrine of St Augustine. The book professed to have been undertaken in a humble spirit. ...
— Pascal • John Tulloch
... it appeared, had been married in a black frock-coat and gray trousers, with white spats, and who had worn a chrysanthemum in his button-hole (Dick cast an almost venomous glance upon the lovely blossom just beside the paper), and the beautiful youthful dignity of the bride, "so popular among the humble denizens of the country-side." The bride's father, it seemed, had officiated at the wedding in the "sturdy old church," and had been greatly affected—assisted by the Rev. Matthieson. The wedding, it seemed, had been unusually quiet, and had been celebrated ...
— None Other Gods • Robert Hugh Benson
... english prose, joyning the sentences together as well as the capacitie of my symple witte and small lerning coulde extende themselves.' It is also most prettily dedicated: 'From Assherige, the last daye of the yeare of our Lord God 1544 ... To our most noble and vertuous Quene Katherin, Elizabeth her humble daughter wisheth perpetuall felicitie ...
— English Embroidered Bookbindings • Cyril James Humphries Davenport
... much for Patty's gravity. For she well knew the old lady was foolishly alarmed lest her nephew should fall in love with a humble "companion," and, knowing that the said nephew had gleefully watched the dance, it was difficult not to ...
— Patty's Success • Carolyn Wells
... money. Mother Carey had been disappointed in the sale of a somewhat ambitious set of groups from Fouque's "Seasons," which were declared abstruse and uninteresting to the public. She had accepted an order for some very humble work, not much better than chimney ornaments, for which she rose early, and toiled while Babie was out driving with her friends. When she had the money for this she would be more at ease, and if it came to a little more than she ...
— Magnum Bonum • Charlotte M. Yonge
... Christian was accounted a priest, however humble in learning or social position, he had the right to join with others in ordaining and setting apart to the ministry of God the man who was to lead the church as its teacher or pastor, though this practice was abandoned as the state-church idea developed, as it did in ...
— Unitarianism in America • George Willis Cooke
... of Altschloss the two months had been of great moment. They had taught him to be humble and distrustful of himself. Patsy had treated him no better and no worse than any other of her admirers, and the tonic, though doubtless bitter, had been good for the young ...
— Patsy • S. R. Crockett
... his haste. Perhaps she had not actually recognized him; perhaps she wished to avoid him only because she was in plainer clothes—a circumstance that, with his knowledge of her changed fortunes, struck him to the heart. It seemed to him that even as a humble employee of the bank he was in some way responsible for it, and wondered if she associated him with her humiliation. He longed to speak with her and assure her of his sympathy, and yet he was equally conscious that ...
— Trent's Trust and Other Stories • Bret Harte
... Pontic sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontic and the Hellespont, Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, Till that a capable and ...
— Quit Your Worrying! • George Wharton James
... saying, that they understand nothing at all; that those who say they see, are sure to be blind; while those who confess that they are blind, are sure some day to see. All we can do is, to keep up the childlike heart, humble and teachable, though we grew as wise as Newton or as Humboldt; and to follow, as good Socrates bids us, Reason whithersoever it leads us, sure that it will never lead us wrong, unless we have darkened it by hasty and conceited fancies of our own, and so have ...
— Madam How and Lady Why - or, First Lessons in Earth Lore for Children • Charles Kingsley
... give way, give round, give in, give up; cave in; suffer judgment by default; bend, bend to one's yoke, bend before the storm; reel back; bend down, knuckle down, knuckle to, knuckle under; knock under. eat dirt, eat the leek, eat humble pie; bite the dust, lick the dust; be at one's feet, fall at one's feet; craven; crouch before, throw oneself at the feet of; swallow the leek, swallow the pill; kiss the rod; turn the other cheek; avaler les couleuvres [Fr.], gulp down. obey &c 743; kneel to, bow to, pay homage ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... we abruptly end our exhibits of the intelligence of a few humble little birds as fairly representative of the wonderful mental ability and mechanical skill so common in the ranks of the birds of the world. It would be quite easy to write a volume on The Architectural Skill ...
— The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals • William T. Hornaday
... soon brought the truant home! One tuneful sonnet at her feet it sung, Then to her breast, its snowy mansion, sprung; Thither it went, the virtues in its train, To hail the panting blessing back again. On its fair throne it now appears as Queen, And sheds its lustre o'er this humble scene; Its radiant sceptre deigns o'er me to spread The genial beams which fancy feign'd were fled. Ah, no! her gentle heart this night is here; Where'er 'tis wanted-you will find it there: In vain the Muse shall ...
— A Lecture On Heads • Geo. Alex. Stevens
... my peculiar attitude that suggested the thought? Perhaps it had some influence. I cannot now remember; but I well remember that before proceeding farther in my design, I offered up a prayer—humble and earnest—to God, who had already, as I firmly believed, stretched forth his hand to succour me. I prayed for guidance, for strength, for success. I need not add that my prayer was heard, else I should not now have been ...
— The Boy Tar • Mayne Reid
... thoroughly understand the nature of fame and vanity can justly appreciate the self-denial, or magnanimity, of Sister Frances, in forbearing to enumerate or boast of these things. She alluded to them but once, and in the slightest and most humble manner. ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. 6 • Maria Edgeworth
... opportunity, to retail the whole shocking occurrence to her pupil as an example of the ingratitude and insubordination of the common people. For Theresa was nothing if not conservative and aristocratic. From such august anachronisms as the divine right of kings and the Stuart succession, down to humble bobbing of curtseys and pulling of forelocks in to-day's village street, she held a permanent brief for the classes as against the masses. Unluckily the Miss Minetts' hasty and watery withdrawal, with upgathered skirts, across the causeway had appealed to Damaris' sense of comedy rather than ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet
... which you belong; those who, ever since they were born, have found their food ready under their noses; those who, never using their ten fingers, never using their brains, live only to increase inherited incomes; hearts locked by greed, narrow minds unwilling to hear the just claims of the humble, of those who work and suffer for them; enemies of ...
— The Idol of Paris • Sarah Bernhardt
... who will pick—man, woman or child—is employed. Therefore, drifting through the river towns during June and July, are found specimens almost as picturesque, if not so highly colored, as those we saw at Norfolk—poor whites from the back country and mountains; people from the cities on a humble "lark," who cannot afford to rusticate at a hotel; semi-tramps, who have not attained to the final stage of aristocratic idleness, wherein the offer of work is an insult which they resent by burning a barn. Rude shanties, with bunks, are fitted up to give all the shelter they require. Here they ...
— Success With Small Fruits • E. P. Roe
... The fly has married the humble bee. Says the fly, says he, "Will you marry me, And live with ...
— The Baby's Bouquet - A Fresh Bunch of Rhymes and Tunes • Walter Crane
... repeat to Your Majesty, as the very humble mouthpiece of France, the sentiment of the governments, without whose recognition ...
— The Lighted Match • Charles Neville Buck
... his art, though humble enough in amount, amply sufficed to fulfill the affectionate purpose for which, to the last farthing, they were rigorously set aside. "Lavvie's Drawing-Room" (this was Mr. Blyth's name for his wife's bed-room) really looked as bright ...
— Hide and Seek • Wilkie Collins
... little woman with piercing black eyes. The singers of other languages did not wait to be informed; they joined the general stampede toward the ravishing paradise of midday breakfast, and as the last of them vacated the lobby, the principals no whit behind the humble members of the chorus in crowding and jamming through that doorway, Bobby breathed a sigh of relief. Only the Signorina was left to him, and Bobby hesitated just a moment as it occurred to him that, perhaps, a more personal entertainment was expected by this ...
— The Making of Bobby Burnit - Being a Record of the Adventures of a Live American Young Man • George Randolph Chester
... us stand attentive." He bids them call to mind that they are then raised above created things, placed before the throne of God, and associated with the seraphims and cherubims in sounding forth his praises, (p. 477.) In the fifth homily he again makes fervent and humble prayer, by which all things are obtained and effected, the subject of his moral exhortation. Public prayer is a duty which he frequently inculcates as a most essential obligation, a homage most honorable to God, and a most powerful means of grace to ourselves and all mankind. ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler
... of the Ambassadors to the Boodah, and the frivolous round of Court-life revolved, levee, audience, dinner, drawing-room, investiture; the Lord of the Sea descended from the throne before the Court to pin a cross upon the humble breast of his best shot and give him the title of Praeceps, gave fanciful honours to emperors, received them of them—wore when throned a brow-band of gold with only one stone, the biggest of the meteor octahedrons, that glanced about ...
— The Lord of the Sea • M. P. Shiel
... Meister (Part I, Chapter XV), Goethe, on the basis of his own personal experiences, describes his hero's emotions in the humble surroundings of Marianne's little room as compared with the stateliness and order of his own home. "It seemed to him when he had here to remove her stays in order to reach the harpsichord, there to lay her skirt on the bed before he could ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 5 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... just in time to keep poor Lorena Jane from being made a victim of. You would have been a tyrant over her, with your great pretensions, if I hadn't stopped it. You always were tyrannical, Alf Leek; and the only time you're humble as you ought to be is when you meet some one who can tyrannize over you. You are one of the sort ...
— That Girl Montana • Marah Ellis Ryan |
