Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:40

Excerpt #1, from The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

…Were I but where ’tis spoken. Pros. How? the best? 430 What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee? Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me; And that he does I weep: myself am Naples, Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld 435 The king my father wreck’d. Mir. Alack, for mercy! Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of Milan And his brave son being twain. Pros. [Aside] The Duke of Milan And his more braver daughter could control thee, If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight 440 They have changed eyes. Delicate Ariel, I’ll set thee free for this. [To Fer.] A word, good sir; I fear you have done yourself some wrong: a word. Mir. Why speaks my father so ungently? This Is the third man that e’er I saw; the first 445 That e’er I sigh’d for: pity move my father To be inclined my way!…

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Excerpt #2, from French Idioms and Proverbs, by de V. Payen

…is nothing like making one’s self at home everywhere. Il a connu la gêne = He knows what want is. Gêner Est-ce que je vous gêne? = Am I in your way? Ne vous gênez pas! = Do not stand upon ceremony! Make yourself at home! Don’t mind me! Il ne se gêne guère = Doesn’t he make himself at home! Well, he is a cool customer! Il est plus gênant que gêné = His free and easy manners are unpleasant to others, but he does not mind that. Gens A gens de village, trompette de bois = Rough tools for rough work. Gésir _C’est là que gît le lièvre_ = That is the main point; There’s the rub. Gibier C’est un gibier de potence = He is a gallows-bird. Gloire “J’aime mieux, n’en déplaise à la gloire, Vivre au monde deux jours que mille ans dans l’histoire.”…

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Excerpt #3, from Ethics, by Benedictus de Spinoza

…whereof the proof is of universal application). But the idea A is supposed to be referred to God, in so far as he is displayed through the human mind; therefore, the idea of the idea A must be referred to God in the same manner; that is (by II. xi. Coroll.), the adequate idea of the idea A will be in the mind, which has the adequate idea A; therefore he, who has an adequate idea or knows a thing truly (II. xxxiv.), must at the same time have an adequate idea or true knowledge of his knowledge; that is, obviously, he must be assured. Q.E.D. Note.–I explained in the note to II. xxi. what is meant by the idea of an idea; but we may remark that the foregoing proposition is in itself sufficiently plain. No one, who has a true idea, is ignorant that a true idea involves the highest certainty. For to have a true idea is only another expression for knowing a thing perfectly, or as well as possible. No one, indeed, can doubt of this, unless he thinks that an idea is something lifeless, like a picture on a panel, and not a mode of thinking–namely, the very act of understanding. And who, I ask, can know that he understands anything, unless he do first understand it? In other words, who can know that he is sure of a thing, unless he be first sure of that thing? Further, what can…

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Excerpt #4, from Esperanto Self

…apple | pomo | poh’mo apricot | abrikoto | ahbree-ko’toh ash | frakseno | frahk-seh’noh asparagus | asparago | ahspah-rah’go banana | banano | bahnah’no bark | arbŝelo | ahrb-sheh’lo beans | faboj | fah’boy beech (-tree) | fago | fah’go beetroot | beto | beh’toh birch (-tree) | betulo | beh-too’lo blackberry | rubuso | roo-boo’so bouquet | bukedo | bookeh’do branch | branĉo | brahn’cho buttercup | ranunkulo | rahnoon-koo’lo cabbage | brasiko | brahsee’ko carrot | karoto | kahroh’toh cauliflower | florbrasiko | flohr’brah-see’ko celery | celerio | tseh-lehree’oh cherry | ĉerizo | chehree’zo chestnut (edible) | kaŝtano | kashtah’no chrysanthemum | krizantemo | krizahn-teh’mo…

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Excerpt #5, from Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2, by William Patten

…suggestion that your daughter is already a woman and needs a father’s care, if she is ever to receive it. I beseech you to impress this subject upon the Judge. His estates can not be more precious to his heart, if he is a man of honor; nay, what is better than honor, his duty requires him to come to the side of these children, though he be ever so constrained by business or pleasure to attend to more worldly concerns." “The Judge,” exclaimed Mrs. Basil, much miffed, “is a man of hereditary ijees, Colonel Reybold. He is now in pursuit of the–ahem!–the Kinvas-back on his ancestral waters. If he should hear that you suggest a pacific life and the groveling associations of the capital for him, he might call you out, sir!” Reybold said no more; but one evening when Mrs. Basil was absent, called across the Potomac, as happened frequently, at the summons of the Judge–and on such occasions she generally requested a temporary loan or a slight advance of board–Reybold found Joyce Basil in the little parlor of the dwelling. She was alone and in tears, but the little boy Uriel slept before the chimney-fire on a rug, and his pale, thin face, catching the glow of the burning wood, looked beautified as Reybold addressed the young woman. “Miss Joyce,” he said, "our little brother works too hard. Is there…

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Excerpt #6, from Robot nemesis, by E. E. Smith

…a new ray-projector–tell them anything except the truth!" “All right. I have sufficient authority to see that your requests are granted, I think.” And thus it came about that when the immense Terrestrial Contingent lifted itself into the air Ferdinand Stone was in his private laboratory in the flagship, surrounded by apparatus and equipment of his own designing, much of which was connected to special generators by leads heavy enough to carry their full output. Earth some thirty hours beneath them, Stone felt himself become weightless. His ready suspicions blazed. He pressed Martin’s combination upon his visiphone panel. “What’s the matter?” he rasped. “What’re they down for?” “It’s nothing serious,” the admiral assured him. “They’re just waiting for additional instructions about our course in the maneuvers.” “Not serious, huh?” Stone grunted. “I’m not so sure of that. I want to talk to you, and this room’s the only place I know where we’ll be safe. Can you come down here right away?” “Why, certainly,” Martin assented. “I never paid any attention to our course,” the physicist snapped as his visitor entered the laboratory. “What was it?” “Take-off exactly at midnight of June nineteenth,” Martin recited,…

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Excerpt #7, from Lakeland Words, by Bryham Kirkby

…BETTER-LEG—Many a yan says when they’re in a gurt hurry “Noo Ah mun put t’ better leg t’ first,” but if ye nobbut hinted ’at they’d tweea odd legs ye wad git some sauce frae them. BEETLE-BATTLE—Bray a hard shirt soft. BEAL—The lowing of cattle; crying; noise made by the wind. Ah’ll gie thi summut ta beal aboot. BEALEN—Howling. “Ya dismal, dark December neet, When t’ wind in t’ chimley sood, Com bealen doon of Cross Fell heets A helm rough and loud.”—Whitehead. BEALED—To call out through fear. Summat fell afront on him an’ he fair bealed oot. BELLAR—A bull bellars when it wants to be queer. A barn whingen is bellarin’. BEARDED—“The bright and bearded barley.” It’s t’ awns o’ wheat, er barley, an’ seck an’ seck like. BEARDED-WALL—A wall that has a thickness of sod on the top in which thorns are placed to keep cattle in er oot. We’d to git ower a bearded wo. “For bearding the Kirk-garth wo” forms one item in Morland Church Accounts….

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Excerpt #8, from A Border Ruffian, by Thomas A. Janvier

…everything that the present occasion required. He seemed to have been sent from heaven direct. In twenty minutes Mr. Smith was asking for him at his hotel. “Mr. Livingstone? Mr. Livingstone is out.” “Did he leave any word as to when he would come in?” “Yes, sir. He said that a gentleman might call, and to say that he certainly would be back at six, and would not go out again to-night.” Mr. Smith looked at his watch–it was 5:30. Had there been any uncertainty as to Livingstone’s return, he would have waited. But it was clear that he was coming back to dine at his hotel, and to spend the evening there. A note, therefore, could be trusted to do the business, and by writing, instead of waiting, Mr. Smith would save half an hour; moreover, if he waited, he would not have time to make the mayonnaise. Probably it is only in Philadelphia that it ever occurs nowadays to the master of a feast to dress the salad; which, doubtless, is the reason why a better salad is served at certain dinner-tables in Philadelphia than at any other dinner-tables in the whole world. The thought of the mayonnaise settled the matter. Mr. Smith hastily wrote an account of the trying situation, and concluded his note with a solemn demand upon “dear old Van” to fill the vacant place, “in the holy name of the class of ’68, and for love of your old classmate, R. Smith.”…

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Excerpt #9, from The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

…* * * * =FLY= A familiar summer boarder who mingles with the cream of society, gets stuck on the butter and leaves his specs behind. … * * * =FLY-SCREEN= An arrangement for keeping flies in the house. … * * * =FOOT= The understanding of a girl from the west. =FOOT-PATH= Chicago, Ill. … * * * =FOOTBALL= A clever subterfuge for carrying on prize-fights under the guise of a reputable game. … * * * =FOREIGNER= [Illustration] One who is eligible to the police force. From Grk. fero, to carry off, and enara, spoils. One who carries off the spoils. … * * * =FORBEARANCE= The spirit of toleration shown when a man who knows, patiently listens to a fool who does not. … * * * *

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Excerpt #10, from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau

…and fall, the white-bellied swallows (Hirundo bicolor) skim over it, and the peetweets (Totanus macularius) “teter” along its stony shores all summer. I have sometimes disturbed a fishhawk sitting on a white-pine over the water; but I doubt if it is ever profaned by the wing of a gull, like Fair Haven. At most, it tolerates one annual loon. These are all the animals of consequence which frequent it now. You may see from a boat, in calm weather, near the sandy eastern shore, where the water is eight or ten feet deep, and also in some other parts of the pond, some circular heaps half a dozen feet in diameter by a foot in height, consisting of small stones less than a hen’s egg in size, where all around is bare sand. At first you wonder if the Indians could have formed them on the ice for any purpose, and so, when the ice melted, they sank to the bottom; but they are too regular and some of them plainly too fresh for that. They are similar to those found in rivers; but as there are no suckers nor lampreys here, I know not by what fish they could be made. Perhaps they are the nests of the chivin. These lend a pleasing mystery to the bottom. The shore is irregular enough not to be monotonous. I have in my mind’s eye the western indented with deep bays, the bolder northern, and the beautifully scalloped southern shore, where successive capes overlap each other and suggest unexplored coves between. The forest has never…

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Excerpt #11, from Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar Life, by Knox

…[Illustration: A WIFE AT IRKUTSK] There was no steamer waiting at Posolsky, but we were told that one was hourly expected. Maack was radiant at finding a letter from his wife awaiting him at the station. I enquired for letters but did not obtain any. Unlike my companion. I had no wife at Irkutsk. [Illustration: NO WIFE AT IRKUTSK.] The steamboat landing is nine versts below the town, and as the post route ended at Posolsky, we were obliged to engage horses at a high rate, to take us to the port. The alternate freezing and thawing of the road—its last act was to freeze—had rendered it something like the rough way in a Son-of-Malta Lodge. The agent assured us the steamer would arrive during the night. Was there ever a steamboat agent who did not promise more than his employers performed? According to the tourist’s phrase the port of Posolsky can be ‘done’ in about five minutes. The entire settlement comprised two buildings, one a hotel, and the other a storehouse and stable. A large quantity of merchandise was piled in the open air, and awaited removal. It included tea from Kiachta, and vodki or native whiskey from Irkutsk. There are several distilleries in the Trans-Baikal province, but they are unable to meet the demand in the country east of the lake. From what I saw in transitu the consumption must be enormous….

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Excerpt #12, from The Story of King Arthur and his Knights, by Howard Pyle

…[Sidenote: The Duke of North Umber refuseth the combat.] And when the Duke of North Umber had come nigh enough, he perceived that the chiefest of those five knights was the White Champion who had aforetime overthrown him. Wherefore he said unto that White Champion: “Sir Knight, I have once before condescended unto thee who art altogether unknown to me or to anybody else that is here. For without inquiring concerning thy quality, I ran a course with thee and, lo! by the chance of arms thou didst overthrow me. Now this quarrel is more serious than that, wherefore I and my companions-at-arms will not run a course with thee and thy companions; nor will we fight with thee until I first know what is the quality of him against whom I contend. Wherefore, I bid thee presently declare thyself, who thou art and what is thy condition.” Then Sir Gawaine opened the umbril of his helmet, and he said: “Sir Knight, behold my face, and know that I am Gawaine, the son of King Lot. Wherefore thou mayst perceive that my condition and estate are even better than thine own. Now I do declare unto thee that yonder White Knight is of such a quality that he condescends unto thee when he doeth combat with thee, and that thou dost not condescend unto him.” “Ho, Sir Gawaine!” quoth the Duke of Umber. “What thou sayest is a very strange thing, for, indeed, there are few in this world who are so…

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