Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:45

Excerpt #1, from Let’s Get Together, by Isaac Asimov

…he could see the justice in the situation. It was obvious that Breckenridge had attained enormous influence with the government as a result of his successful Intelligence work. Well, why not? Lynn said, “Sir, I am considering the possibility that we are hopping uselessly to enemy piping.” “In what way?” “I’m sure that however impatient the public may grow at times, and however legislators sometimes find it expedient to talk, the government at least recognizes the world stalemate to be beneficial. They must recognize it also. Ten humanoids with one TC bomb is a trivial way of breaking the stalemate.” “The destruction of fifteen million human beings is scarcely trivial.” “It is from the world power standpoint. It would not so demoralize us as to make us surrender or so cripple us as to convince us we could not win. There would just be the same old planetary death-war that both sides have avoided so long and so successfully. And all They would have accomplished is to force us to fight minus one city. It’s not enough.” “What do you suggest?” said Jeffreys, coldly. “That They do not have ten humanoids in our country? That there is not a TC bomb waiting to get together?” "I’ll agree that those things are here, but perhaps for some reason…

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Excerpt #2, from Vikram and the Vampire: Classic Hindu Tales of Adventure, Magic, and Romance

…Of all the learned Brahmans in the learnedest university of Gaur (Bengal) none was so celebrated as Vishnu Swami. He could write verse as well as prose in dead languages, not very correctly, but still, better than all his fellows–which constituted him a distinguished writer. He had history, theosophy, and the four Vedas of Scriptures at his fingers’ ends, he was skilled in the argute science of Nyasa or Disputation, his mind was a mine of Pauranic or cosmogonico-traditional lore, handed down from the ancient fathers to the modern fathers: and he had written bulky commentaries, exhausting all that tongue of man has to say, upon the obscure text of some old philosopher whose works upon ethics, poetry, and rhetoric were supposed by the sages of Gaur to contain the germs of everything knowable. His fame went over all the country; yea, from country to country. He was a sea of excellent qualities, the father and mother of Brahmans, cows, and women, and the horror of loose persons, cut-throats, courtiers, and courtesans. As a benefactor he was equal to Karna, most liberal of heroes. In regard to truth he was equal to the veracious king Yudhishtira. True, he was sometimes at a loss to spell a common word in his mother tongue, and whilst he knew to a fingerbreadth how many palms and paces the sun, the moon, and all the stars are distant from the earth, he would have been puzzled to tell you where the region called Yavana[119]…

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Excerpt #3, from The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

…I hurriedly gave Betteredge my address in London, so that he might write to me, if necessary; promising, on my side, to inform him of any news which I might have to communicate. This done, and just as I was bidding him farewell, I happened to glance towards the book-and-newspaper stall. There was Mr. Candy’s remarkable-looking assistant again, speaking to the keeper of the stall! Our eyes met at the same moment. Ezra Jennings took off his hat to me. I returned the salute, and got into a carriage just as the train started. It was a relief to my mind, I suppose, to dwell on any subject which appeared to be, personally, of no sort of importance to me. At all events, I began the momentous journey back which was to take me to Mr. Bruff, wondering—absurdly enough, I admit—that I should have seen the man with the piebald hair twice in one day! The hour at which I arrived in London precluded all hope of my finding Mr. Bruff at his place of business. I drove from the railway to his private residence at Hampstead, and disturbed the old lawyer dozing alone in his dining-room, with his favourite pug-dog on his lap, and his bottle of wine at his elbow. I shall best describe the effect which my story produced on the mind of Mr. Bruff by relating his proceedings when he had heard it to the end. He ordered lights, and strong tea, to be taken into his study; and he…

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Excerpt #4, from Ethics, by Benedictus de Spinoza

…follows:–1. That God is absolutely the proximate cause of those things immediately produced by him. I say absolutely, not after his kind, as is usually stated. For the effects of God cannot either exist or be conceived without a cause (Prop. xv. and Prop. xxiv. Coroll.). 2. That God cannot properly be styled the remote cause of individual things, except for the sake of distinguishing these from what he immediately produces, or rather from what follows from his absolute nature. For, by a remote cause, we understand a cause which is in no way conjoined to the effect. But all things which are, are in God, and so depend on God, that without him they can neither be nor be conceived. PROP. XXIX. Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature. Proof.–Whatsoever is, is in God (Prop. xv.). But God cannot be called a thing contingent. For (by Prop. xi.) he exists necessarily, and not contingently. Further, the modes of the divine nature follow therefrom necessarily, and not contingently (Prop. xvi.); and they thus follow, whether we consider the divine nature absolutely, or whether we consider it as in any way conditioned to act (Prop. xxvii.). Further, God is not only the…

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Excerpt #5, from Poems, by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, by Emily Dickinson

…But not the obligation To electricity. It founds the homes and decks the days, And every clamor bright Is but the gleam concomitant Of that waylaying light. The thought is quiet as a flake, – A crash without a sound; How life’s reverberation Its explanation found! XXVII. On the bleakness of my lot Bloom I strove to raise. Late, my acre of a rock Yielded grape and maize. Soil of flint if steadfast tilled Will reward the hand; Seed of palm by Lybian sun Fructified in sand. XXVIII. CONTRAST….

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Excerpt #6, from Astounding Stories, August, 1931, by Various

…around. He saw no one observing him, and could count on carrying a pretty good bluff in his uniform, which was rapidly shedding its water. With a firm step Mich’l walked to Lane Mollon’s door, threw it open, and entered. * * * * * Lane sat up on his couch, his feet striking the floor with an angry thump. But when he recognized Mich’l he paled slightly. “Where is she?” Mich’l demanded roughly, “before I burn you down!” “You said once,” Lane began sneeringly, “that you wanted to fight me. Now, if you’ll just put down that–” “Not now,” Mich’l dissented with deadly coldness. “Where is Nida? Speak fast.” Lane did so. “She isn’t here. The little short[2] crowned me with a chair, and slipped out. How did I–” [Footnote 2: Short–trouble-maker, spitfire. A colloquialism probably growing out of the once frequently used electrical term “short-circuit.”] “When? Hurry up!” "Hardly an hour ago. She walked down the corridor, showed a thick-witted guard my own executive pass, and got away. But I got that…

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Excerpt #7, from A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

…F.] Q. In a long straight STREET, WHY do the houses seem to be SMALLER and smaller the FURTHER they are OFF? A. Because the further any house is off, the more acute will be the angle made by its perpendicular height with our eye. Thus in the last figure– If A B be a house at the top of the street, its perpendicular height will be that of the line A B. If C D be a house at the bottom of the street, its perpendicular height will appear to be that of E F. Q. Why does a man on the TOP of a MOUNTAIN or church spire seem to be no BIGGER than a CROW? A. Because the angle made by the perpendicular height of the man (at that distance) with our eye, is no bigger than the perpendicular height of a crow close by. [Illustration: Let AB be a man on a distant mountain or spire, and CD a crow close by: The man will appear only as high as the line CD, which is the height of the crow.] Q. Why does the MOON appear to us so much BIGGER than the STARS, though in fact it is a great deal SMALLER?…

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Excerpt #8, from The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing, by Joseph Triemens

…privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 3. No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any laws or regulations therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. SECTION III. 1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of Congress. 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claim of the United States, or of…

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Excerpt #9, from Uncle Wiggily’s Travels, by Howard Roger Garis

…water on himself, and they went on, feeling much better. But still they were warm again in a short time, and then the elephant said: “I know what I am going to do. I am going to get some more ice cream cones. They will cool us off better than anything else. I’ll go for them and bring back some big ones. You stay here in the shade, Uncle Wiggily, but don’t walk on ahead, or you may tumble into the water again.” “I’ll not,” promised the rabbit. “I’ll wait right here for you.” Off the elephant started to get the ice cream cones and pretty soon he came to the store where the man sold them. [Illustration] “I want two of your very coldest cones,” said the elephant to the man, for sometimes, in stories, you know, elephants can talk to people. “I want a big strawberry cone for myself,” the elephant went on, “and a smaller one for my friend, Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit.” “Very well,” said the man, “but you will have to wait until I make a large cone for you.” So that man took seventeen thousand, six hundred and eighty-seven little cones and made them into one big one for the elephant. Then he took eighteen thousand, two hundred and ninety-one quarts of strawberry ice cream, and an extra pint, and put it into the big cone. Then he made a…

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Excerpt #10, from The Sky Detectives; Or, How Jack Ralston Got His Man, by Ambrose Newcomb

…With his accustomed sagacity Jack made notes of some of the facts thus laid before him; but since these were in shorthand, and would be utterly unintelligible to any outside party, should they chance to fall into enemy hands, there was no danger that any mischief would follow. By degrees he was filling up with scraps of description, and everything connected with former attempts at locating the hideout, where all this unlawful scrip was being turned off the press, to flood the Southwest. That was always his way of doing—when given a tough job Jack would live alongside it, breathing the very atmosphere of the undertaking, until he found himself sympathetic with the aims and ambitions of the criminals whose apprehension was placed on his shoulders by his Big Boss. “We’ll have dinner early, Perk,” he told the other, who had been carrying out a number of special duties while Jack was busy elsewhere, “so as to retire to our room at the hotel. No going out after nightfall for us just at present, especially in a strange city, where some sneak might waylay us coming back from the theater. All that sort of pleasure must be put out of our heads just at present.” “Huh! guess you’re hittin’ the nail on the head, old hoss, when you say that,” grunted Perk, who very probably had already picked out just the screen play he wanted so badly to see; but he was a good scout, and able to put duty above pleasure, when the occasion arose for making a…

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Excerpt #11, from Guide to Fortune Telling, by Dreams, by Anonymous

…are going on well; if you are in trade, an increase of business; if you quarrel, and he overcomes you, it is a good sign, for you will conquer all obstacles to your promotion, happiness and fortune; but, if you conquer him, then you will never rise to any great preferment by the means you are at present adopting; many things will miscarry with you, but in general you will be fortunate. Acquaintance.–To dream you quarrel or fight with an acquaintance is unlucky; it forebodes a division amongst your own family, much to the injury and prejudice of the dreamer; if you are in love, your sweetheart will prove unfaithful, and marry some one else; if you are in business, heavy loss will befall you, and you will disagree with some of your best friends on the most trivial matters; if you have a law-suit, your attorney will neglect you, your witnesses will be tardy and backward, and finally you will lose your cause. Do not for some time undertake a journey by land, or a voyage by sea, or enter into new undertakings, for you will be unsuccessful; leave, if you can, your present place of residence, and, above all, avoid lending money, for you will surely lose it, together with the friendship of those to whom you lend it. Angels.–To dream you see angels in your sleep is a sure sign that one is near you, therefore be mindful of the rest of your dream, for it…

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Excerpt #12, from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau

…not want the world to be changed; but he answered with a chuckle of surprise in his Canadian accent, not knowing that the question had ever been entertained before, “No, I like it well enough.” It would have suggested many things to a philosopher to have dealings with him. To a stranger he appeared to know nothing of things in general; yet I sometimes saw in him a man whom I had not seen before, and I did not know whether he was as wise as Shakespeare or as simply ignorant as a child, whether to suspect him of a fine poetic consciousness or of stupidity. A townsman told me that when he met him sauntering through the village in his small close-fitting cap, and whistling to himself, he reminded him of a prince in disguise. His only books were an almanac and an arithmetic, in which last he was considerably expert. The former was a sort of cyclopædia to him, which he supposed to contain an abstract of human knowledge, as indeed it does to a considerable extent. I loved to sound him on the various reforms of the day, and he never failed to look at them in the most simple and practical light. He had never heard of such things before. Could he do without factories? I asked. He had worn the home-made Vermont gray, he said, and that was good. Could he dispense with tea and coffee? Did this country afford any beverage beside water? He had soaked hemlock leaves in water and drank it, and thought that was…

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