"Lamely" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... to, Phil," she said, "but I can't. Thanks just as much. I would spoil my lunch," she added, lamely, making ...
— Lucile Triumphant • Elizabeth M. Duffield
... "Why," he said, lamely, "it is easily apparent, the difference between the American and the Englishman." Then, as though a bright idea had come to him, "The English never engage in conversation with strangers while ...
— Arms and the Woman • Harold MacGrath
... Miss," he began lamely. "Ma's got somethin' ... bad cold or pneumonia ... an' she won't budge. There's only one more bed room an' Lew Yates's wife has got one cot an Lew's mother-in-law has got the other. An' ...
— Six Feet Four • Jackson Gregory
... yet contrive something' he answered lamely. 'We—we may be rescued. Indeed—I am sure we shall be rescued,' he continued, fighting his fears as ...
— The Castle Inn • Stanley John Weyman
... father?" Douglas asked rather lamely, being at a loss for any adequate comment upon a tragedy which the child before him was too ...
— Polly of the Circus • Margaret Mayo
... cavalry bugle sounded the recall, and the same moment the staff came galloping across the bridge. One officer I could perceive, covered with orders and trappings, his head was bare, and his horse, splashed with blood and foam, moved lamely and with difficulty; he turned in the middle of the bridge, as if irresolute whether to retreat farther. One glance at him showed me the bronzed, manly features of our leader. Whatever his resolve, the matter ...
— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2) • Charles Lever
... enthusiasm, the disconcerting thought came suddenly that perhaps her statement might not be accurate. No such thought had ever suggested itself to him before, and it now filled him with guilty confusion. He met the clear, honest gaze of her eyes for a moment, then he stammered lamely: ...
— In the Midst of Alarms • Robert Barr
... put on a serious face, and assumed that air of determination which I was beginning to fear. Mrs Neverbend pursed up her lips, and said nothing; but I knew what was passing through her mind. I managed to turn the conversation, but I was aware that I did it very lamely. ...
— The Fixed Period • Anthony Trollope
... was the unexpected sight of your special standing on the 'Y' that made the passenger engineer lose his head," he countered lamely, evidently striving to recover himself and ...
— The Taming of Red Butte Western • Francis Lynde
... expecting the interruption, confessed a little lamely: "No, I haven't. I haven't—as it turns out. But I might have—if it wasn't for—" He paused a moment; sadly said, "Anyway, just as I thought I'd got her, I've ...
— Once Aboard The Lugger • Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson
... enough," he replied lamely. He made a pretense of rereading the letter, but only detached phrases penetrated to his consciousness. His imagination was in rebellion against the curbing to which he strove to subject it. When he had borne his answer back to Fitch's office and been discharged with the generous ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson
... being away to-day, I suppose, sir," Algy went on lamely. What he had considered a most excellent excuse on his part now suddenly struck ...
— Uncle Sam's Boys as Sergeants - or, Handling Their First Real Commands • H. Irving Hancock
... a sharp-featured young man, aggressive and apparently educated, asked Waco some questions which the tramp answered lamely. The boss, eager for recruits of Waco's stamp, nevertheless demurred until Waco reiterated the statement that he could cook, was a good cook ...
— Jim Waring of Sonora-Town - Tang of Life • Knibbs, Henry Herbert
... brother man, Still gentler, sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human; One point must still be greatly dark,— The moving why they do it; And just as lamely can ye mark How far perhaps they ...
— Home Life of Great Authors • Hattie Tyng Griswold
... about half a century ago, much pestered with them. Scarcely a person of any note escaped a pariah libel, and even servants were not excepted. For instance:—Creeplin Philip, (that is "creeplin," because he walked lamely,) was Farmer Tidball himself; and his servant, William Popham, was the upright man. Girnin Jan is Grinning John.] ool gee me a lirropin shower anow! There!—I da thenk I hired zummet or zumbody ...
— The Dialect of the West of England Particularly Somersetshire • James Jennings
... of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature, by dissembling Nature, Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time, Into the breathing world, scarce half made up; And that so lamely and unfashionably, That dogs bark at me, as ...
— The Stranger in France • John Carr
... my wish, these tyrants of all nature, Who lord it o'er mankind, rhould perish,—perish, Each by the other's sword; But, since our will Is lamely followed by our power, we must Depend on one; with ...
— All for Love • John Dryden
... oppression, in vindication of their rights and privileges: A good prince, says he, will commend such virtuous patriots" and will "mistrust the selfish suggestions of a minister, who represents to him as rebels, all those citizens who do not hold out their hands to chains, who refuse lamely to suffer ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, volume II (1770 - 1773) - collected and edited by Harry Alonso Cushing • Samuel Adams
... instead of health, and asking one of the masters how he reconciled the death of a kid like that, whom everybody loved, with his conception of an all-wise and all-merciful God. He answered, it has always seemed to me very lamely, that if we didn't believe that all was for the best, in this best of all worlds, we should ...
— We Three • Gouverneur Morris
... I wouldn't, that is, I don't," Polly answered, lamely. And Betty seized the first ...
— Polly's Senior Year at Boarding School • Dorothy Whitehill
... of a hock-cellar to be fuddled, or whether they considered that this was no bad specimen of royalty to exhibit to their children's contempt, I know not; but, happily, the signs of their displeasure fell lightly on his Highness, and our negotiation was at length, though lamely, ...
— Impressions of America - During the years 1833, 1834 and 1835. In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Tyrone Power
... began lamely, "I can't say 'zactly ez hit's any pusson's jes yit. But hit's gwine be mine when de ...
— Miss Mink's Soldier and Other Stories • Alice Hegan Rice
... from a faint by a wheeze close in his ear. The wolf leaped lamely back, losing its footing and falling in its weakness. It was ludicrous, but he was not amused. Nor was he even afraid. He was too far gone for that. But his mind was for the moment clear, and he lay and considered. The ship was no more than four miles away. ...
— Love of Life - and Other Stories • Jack London
... could come and stay with me, for two or three months at a time, and get clear away from the worries of house-keeping and—" the tyranny of father, I am about to add, but pull myself up with a jerk, and substitute lamely and stammeringly "and—and—others." ...
— Nancy - A Novel • Rhoda Broughton
... So lamely told I the tale, as I had heard my Aunt Elizabeth tell it, when she knew not I listened or understood. Alicia heard me through and said nothing, save that it was a tale worthy of the Montressors. Whereat I bridled, for I too was a ...
— Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901 • Lucy Maud Montgomery
... say, as it were automatically, "for anything," and then added, feeling the declaration was lamely insufficient, ...
— Three John Silence Stories • Algernon Blackwood
... the season through You've struggled on, and striven gamely; Your leg, for all you've tried to do, Has made your record come out lamely; Your county suffers, too, with you; Your failures very dear have cost her. But better luck in 'ninety-two To you, old ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 101, September 26, 1891 • Various
... and the rest would now retire, he thought impatiently, he might throw himself at the feet of his dear lord. As it was, he was forced to make his petition lamely, calmly, shorn of all that outward self-abasement which the case demanded. It was something, however, to be sure of privacy, to know himself alone with his Emir in ...
— The Valley of the Kings • Marmaduke Pickthall
... Yourself and the bull in the pool. Saduko, yonder, also in the pool, and a little half-bred man with a gun jumping about upon the bank. Then a litter made of boughs and you in it, and the father of Mameena walking lamely at your side. Then a hut and you in it, and the maiden called ...
— Child of Storm • H. Rider Haggard
... on lamely enough, but they never went on again. Miss Kilrain, ever after, went on for them, and ...
— Emmy Lou - Her Book and Heart • George Madden Martin
... answer, and when she had run lamely up the track, she turned at the door to see her husband ...
— Moor Fires • E. H. (Emily Hilda) Young
... of Basque seamen which contains a charming picture of a childhood in a seaside village in Guipuzcoa, delightful as it is to read, is too muddled in romantic claptrap to add much to his fame. El Mundo es Asi ("The World is Like That") expresses, rather lamely it seems to me, the meditations of a disenchanted revolutionist. The latest series, Memorias de un Hombre de Accion, a series of yarns about the revolutionary period in Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century, though entertaining, is more an attempt to escape in a jolly ...
— Rosinante to the Road Again • John Dos Passos
... was all foolishness, and that he had a book he wanted to read. So he sent me after what he called my mare's nest. It isn't, you see—no, not quite, not quite," Mr. Woods murmured, with an odd smile, and then laughed and added, lamely: "I—I suppose I'm the only ...
— The Eagle's Shadow • James Branch Cabell
... Dave stared in bewilderment. Then he lamely apologized for the trouble he had caused, and tried to thank the ...
— Heart of the Sunset • Rex Beach
... lot in the winter and then of course there was always fishing," she finished lamely. How could she explain the hundred and one things that went to make up her days in ...
— Phyllis - A Twin • Dorothy Whitehill
... but low down, and near to the cross benches. Mr Bott sat close behind him, and men knew that Mr Bott was a distinguished member of Mr Palliser's party, whatever that party might be. Lord Cinquebars moved the Address, and I must confess that he did it very lamely. He was once accused by Mr Maxwell, the brewer, of making a great noise in the hunting-field. The accusation could not be repeated as to his performance on this occasion, as no one could hear a word that he said. The Address was seconded by Mr Loftus Fitzhoward, a nephew of ...
— Can You Forgive Her? • Anthony Trollope
... and checked himself. "No," he said, "I have come because—well, I've been only too glad to come, and—I suppose it has got to be a habit," he added, rather lamely. "You see, I've never known any people in the way I have known you. It has seemed to me more like home life than anything I've ever known. There has never been any one but my father and I, and you can have ...
— David Harum - A Story of American Life • Edward Noyes Westcott
... out again; our Office able to do little, nobody trusting us, nor we desiring any to trust us, and yet have not money for any thing, but only what particularly belongs to this fleete going out, and that but lamely too. The Parliament several months upon an Act for L300,000, but cannot or will not agree upon it, but do keep it back, in spite of the King's desires to hasten it, till they can obtain what they have a mind, in revenge upon some ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... English were so strictly bound It would but passing lamely strive with it; And soon be forc'd to lose both grace and ground, Although they strove ...
— Early Theories of Translation • Flora Ross Amos
... very funny look. 'Yes-s,' she said hesitatingly; and then, seeing Vava's look of astonishment, she added lamely, 'I was in a hurry ...
— A City Schoolgirl - And Her Friends • May Baldwin
... service-book broke its neck before this ark of the covenant. Prelacy and prerogative have bowed down, and given up the ghost at its feet. What a reformation hath followed at the heels of this glorious ordinance! and truly, even among us, as poorly and lamely, and brokenly, as it hath been managed among us. I am confident, we had given up the ghost before this time, had it not been for this water of life. Oh! what glorious success might we expect, if we did make such cheerful, such holy, such ...
— The Covenants And The Covenanters - Covenants, Sermons, and Documents of the Covenanted Reformation • Various
... these weeds; ridden with me till my heart was sick; gibed me till I could 'a' wept; and when certain of my friends pursued, thinking to have me back, claps me in the rear to stand their shot! I was even grazed in the right foot, and walk but lamely. Nay, there shall come a day between us; ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 8 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... And for many moments Peters found no excuse to offer, no apology, nothing in extenuation. Lamely at last, weakly, knowing his argument to be of no avail, he muttered something to the intent that Mr. Santiago ...
— Tales of Three Hemispheres • Lord Dunsany
... after him to...." Amber caught his tongue on the verge of an indiscretion; no matter what his fears, they were not yet become a suitable subject for discussion with Rutton's servant. "I think," he amended lamely, "he had ...
— The Bronze Bell • Louis Joseph Vance
... wish heartily He would pack them off, and send them anywhere on ass-back or cart, (cart preferably,) to rid our country of 'em. But now again to the point: for if we fall among the potsherds we shall hobble on but lamely. Since thou art raised unto a high command in the army, and hast a dragoon to hold yonder thy solid and stately piece of horse-flesh, I cannot but take it into my fancy that thou hast some commission of array or disarray to ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXVIII. February, 1843. Vol. LIII. • Various
... not mind; he will not miss me as he would have missed me before this unhappy business of the railroad came between us," Mottram said lamely. ...
— Studies in love and in terror • Marie Belloc Lowndes
... relation of the following anecdote to his nephew: Josiah Ogden Hoffman and Martin Wilkins, an effective and witty advocate, had been appointed to examine students for admission. One student acquitted himself very lamely, and at the supper which it was the custom for the candidates to give to the examiners, when they passed upon their several merits, Hoffman paused in coming to this one, and turning to Wilkins said, as if in hesitation, though all the while intending to admit him, "Martin, I think ...
— Washington Irving • Charles Dudley Warner
... you, Helene Churchill! You never stop to consider whether anything's fun or not; all you care is whether it's 'nice'!" Excitedly she turned to meet the cheap little wink from Zillah's sainted eyes. "Bah! What's 'nice'?" she persisted a little lamely. Then suddenly all the pertness within her crumbled into nothingness. "That's—the—whole trouble with you, Zillah Forsyth!" she stammered. "You never give a hang whether anything's nice or not; all you care is whether it's fun!" Quite helplessly she began to wring her hands. "Oh, how do I ...
— The White Linen Nurse • Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
... materializing business, for instance.... I can understand that the minds of the dead can affect ours; but I don't see how they can affect matter—in table-rapping, for instance, and still more in appearing, and our being able to touch and see them.... I think that's my position," he ended rather lamely. ...
— The Necromancers • Robert Hugh Benson
... to recover herself,' I said, rather lamely. 'Gladys is very sensitive; she is more delicately organised than most people; her feelings are unusually deep. She has had a severe shock; it will not be easy to ...
— Uncle Max • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... as he drew his hand away, for he felt that this time she was looking at him and not at a whimsical caricature of his brother. "Why, what have I done now?" he asked, lamely. "I can't remember having sent you any stale ...
— The Troll Garden and Selected Stories • Willa Cather
... the lad eagerly. "I should be glad to have your opinion of"—he hesitated, and then finished lamely, "of the Jacobis, I mean. You are such a judge of character, and all that sort ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... Reggie a little lamely, "she didn't go, and so I put it up to the governor that there was no reason she couldn't go now. He saw it the same way—he's a rippin' good sort, the governor is—and he's left it to us to make the trip all the way round—that is, ...
— Baseball Joe Around the World - Pitching on a Grand Tour • Lester Chadwick
... your mother, who was ill, died with the shock, because they refused to go to Zululand whither Dingaan had ordered that they should be taken. So seeing that you were travelling here I came to rescue you, lest you should fall into their hands, and," he added lamely, "you know the rest." ...
— The Ghost Kings • H. Rider Haggard
... affected as it is obscure. It is true that, in his latter plays, he had worn off somewhat of the rust; but the tragedy which I have undertaken to correct was in all probability one of his first endeavours on the stage.... So lamely is it left to us, that it is not divided into acts. For the play itself, the author seems to have begun it with some fire. The characters of Pandarus and Thersites are promising enough; but, as if he grew weary of his task, after an entrance or two, he lets them fall; and ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 • Various
... laughed lamely. A joke of this description made him feel rather sick, for a Jew never makes a soldier or a sailor, and they are rarely found in those positions unless ...
— From One Generation to Another • Henry Seton Merriman
... of late, men, beginning to be sensible of this convenience, have here and there registred and printed some few Centuries, yet for the most part they are set down very lamely and imperfectly, and, I fear, many times not so truly, they seeming, several of them, to be design'd more for Ostentation then publique use: For, not to instance, that they do, for the most part, omit those Experiences they have made, wherein their ...
— Micrographia • Robert Hooke
... lad, gently," remonstrated Roger, "we will not give it up; we may as well be worrying over this cryptogram as doing nothing, and better, because it helps to pass the time, and keeps our thoughts from— from—other things," he ended rather lamely. ...
— Across the Spanish Main - A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood
... talking shells on the neck of the Duck, and the singing shells in her beak, and though painfully and lamely, yet he followed the sound she made with the shells. From place to place with swift flight she sped, then awaiting him, ducking her head that the shells might call loudly. By and by they came to the country of thick rains ...
— Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest • Katharine Berry Judson
... that had been wounded walked lamely, but was still in fair condition, and the Confederate, being unable to walk, was allowed to ride, Sanford leading the steed. The whole party turned back to the trail, where they found Life and his men and the third ...
— An Undivided Union • Oliver Optic
... I marry him, then, it will be because I truly—-" She paused, halted at the great word. "Because I truly do admire and care for him," she substituted, somewhat lamely. ...
— Harriet and the Piper - (Norris Volume XI) • Kathleen Norris
... aware of me and the innumerable lies to which I lamely submit. I am the public to him—one of a herd of identical faces drifting by. And this beggar has perfected a technique of attack. It is his duty to sit on the pavement and lay for me and hit me with a slapstick labeled platitude and soak me over the head with a bladder ...
— A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago • Ben Hecht
... myself ungrateful. Oh, Cecil, had I only known——" Here he pauses, warned by the superciliousness of her bearing, and goes on rather lamely. "Are you cold? Shall I get you a shawl?" They are standing on the veranda, and the evening ...
— Molly Bawn • Margaret Wolfe Hamilton
... afterwards work through four or five hours of the night with an easy steadiness which nothing but sound health could produce. Mr Broune, thinking of himself and his own circumstances, could see no reason why he should not be in love. 'I hope we know each other intimately at any rate,' he said somewhat lamely. ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope
... to you. I just saw the strings in the pool and took a few," answered the boy, lamely. "Give me ...
— Randy of the River - The Adventures of a Young Deckhand • Horatio Alger Jr.
... her woes, but whenever she glanced at either, the sorrowful face of the Mary girl rose before her. To make matters worse, Jerry proposed to her that they call upon Constance the next day, and Marjorie was obliged to refuse lamely without giving any apparent reason. It was in the nature of a relief to her when the party broke up. In spite of the gratifying knowledge that the girls had pronounced her new white silk frock the prettiest gown ...
— Marjorie Dean High School Freshman • Pauline Lester
... helpless limbs would allow, feeling that so long as they got away from their captors it did not so much matter which direction they took. He turned his head from time to time to see if Ned was all right, and found that he was lamely struggling on after him, but always gave him ...
— Jack at Sea - All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy • George Manville Fenn
... "if I were you, I would go and read, or I would lie down if I felt tired; but I wouldn't do that." The patient considered a moment, and vacantly answered, "No, sir, I won't; I'll—I'll go and read," and so he lamely shuffled away into one of the little rooms. I turned my head before we had gone many paces. He had already come out again, and was again poring over the matting, and tracking out its fibres with his thumb and forefinger. I stopped to ...
— The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices • Charles Dickens
... the verge of saying, "I don't think he has," as she suddenly realised what image was called up by the mention of Rachel's possible husband—"but she might marry some one who hasn't," she ended lamely. ...
— The Arbiter - A Novel • Lady F. E. E. Bell
... as he thinks he is by a long shot," Dixie remarked, rather lamely, for she was slightly chilled by Henley's failure to comment favorably on the picture, "but he has a good heart. He is a church member in fair standing, and has a Bible class of young ladies in Sunday-school, and ...
— Dixie Hart • Will N. Harben
... gently scan your brother Man, Still gentler sister Woman; Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang, To step aside is human: One point must still be greatly dark, The moving Why they do it; And just as lamely can ye mark, How ...
— Robert Burns - Famous Scots Series • Gabriel Setoun
... man that feared God desired to fear him better, saying, 'I desire to fear thy name' (Neh 1:11). But these desires failed, as to the performance of what was begun, so that they were forced to come off but lamely, as to their faith and fear they had; yet the desires were true, good, and such as was accepted of God by Christ; not according to what they had not, but as to those good motions which they had. Distinguish then the desires of the righteous in the nature of them, ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... the flame now instead of into Feversham's face, and for an equal length of time. He could think of nothing whatever to say, and yet he was conscious that something must be said. In the end he said lamely:— ...
— The Four Feathers • A. E. W. Mason
... to write," he said, "or at least try to write. I think I can make a living at it. It's worth trying. There's nothing else, you see," he added, a little lamely. ...
— People of Position • Stanley Portal Hyatt
... him to tell her the worst. He hedged, said that it wasn't just one thing that was wrong, but everything—everything. She asked him if he had ever known a case that resembled Arthur's. No, he thanked Heaven that he hadn't. Could he advise her what to do? Lamely he suggested a tutor, and then, as an afterthought, a ...
— The Tragic Bride • Francis Brett Young
... question to answer; but growing once more full of energy now that he was satisfied that there was no immediate danger, Pen stepped back lamely, as if every muscle were strained, to his companion's side, to be greeted with a smile and a movement of ...
— !Tention - A Story of Boy-Life during the Peninsular War • George Manville Fenn
... had attended two funerals that week, and like a jaded actor came lamely to his work. His prayer was not entirely satisfactory to the older people, they had ...
— Other Main-Travelled Roads • Hamlin Garland
... Tutt. Then he paused, recalling a certain celebrated wager which he had lost to Mr. Tutt upon the question of who cut Samson's hair. "I bet you don't know who said it!" he concluded lamely. ...
— By Advice of Counsel • Arthur Train
... Him. When once the sight has come, every word you utter about it, or Him, seems so lame and weak that you despair of ever being able to let out at your lips what has gotten into you. But let me try, even if lamely, in the eager yearning that it may help you know if, thus far, you have missed seeing Him, and maybe—so much better—help you to see Him. For until you have—well, nothing, absolutely nothing, is ...
— Quiet Talks on Following the Christ • S. D. Gordon
... whether I believe in you or not," protested Adam Tellwright, the shrewd man of business, very lamely. "I've come to ...
— The Matador of the Five Towns and Other Stories • Arnold Bennett
... said rather lamely. "We have not so subtle and highly developed a system as you, not approaching it; but tell me more. As to the information—how do you manage? It appears that all of you know ...
— Herland • Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman
... admitted lamely. Larry had always been able to instruct me about most matters; it was wholly possible that he could speak wisely about ...
— The House of a Thousand Candles • Meredith Nicholson
... on something better than food and clothes! They really live—I'm sure they do—and have ideas and really grow!" She caught her breath. What an idiot, to have said so much! "I'm so glad," she added lamely, "that you got my husband into your club. It's bound to do so much for him." She threw a sharp little glance at Dwight, and scowled, for she thought she ...
— His Second Wife • Ernest Poole
... He stopped. "Well," he began again, "I think it has to do with light rays passing through a—well, hm-mm, there's an electric impulse, see—I guess it's that that sends out—" He stopped altogether. "Well golly Moses, Mr. Wicker," he ended lamely, "it seems to be ...
— Mr. Wicker's Window • Carley Dawson
... at home to-morrow," he said. "It looks as if she'd gone for—for the present," he ended lamely, put down his hat and went into the east room and ...
— The Prisoner • Alice Brown
... rested there, but presently added, gravely, 'I constantly feel the impossibility of getting through this world and keeping straight without help—the help that is provided for us,' he added, lamely enough. ...
— The Pillars of the House, V1 • Charlotte M. Yonge
... strange creatures. How often he had heard that said, he thought lamely. He felt no anger, no surprise or resentment, at the trick. It was only to be expected. He could sit on till morning; easily till morning. He had never noticed before how empty a well-furnished room could seem. It was his own room too; his ...
— The Return • Walter de la Mare
... for his vulgar way of looking at things. "It's no fault of Morten's that his father's like that!" he retorted lamely. ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo |
