Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

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Excerpt #1, from Robot nemesis, by E. E. Smith

…be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away–you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. START: FULL LICENSE THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE…

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Excerpt #2, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare

…And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, Mine own, and not mine own. DEMETRIUS. Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think The Duke was here, and bid us follow him? HERMIA. Yea, and my father. HELENA. And Hippolyta. LYSANDER. And he did bid us follow to the temple. DEMETRIUS. Why, then, we are awake: let’s follow him, And by the way let us recount our dreams. [Exeunt.] BOTTOM. [Waking.] When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is ‘Most fair Pyramus.’ Heigh-ho! Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God’s my life! Stol’n hence, and left me…

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Excerpt #3, from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…“This writing is of extraordinary interest,” said Holmes, who had been examining it with intense concentration. “These are much deeper waters than I had thought.” He sank his head upon his hands, while the Inspector smiled at the effect which his case had had upon the famous London specialist. “Your last remark,” said Holmes, presently, “as to the possibility of there being an understanding between the burglar and the servant, and this being a note of appointment from one to the other, is an ingenious and not entirely impossible supposition. But this writing opens up—” He sank his head into his hands again and remained for some minutes in the deepest thought. When he raised his face again, I was surprised to see that his cheek was tinged with colour, and his eyes as bright as before his illness. He sprang to his feet with all his old energy. “I’ll tell you what,” said he, “I should like to have a quiet little glance into the details of this case. There is something in it which fascinates me extremely. If you will permit me, Colonel, I will leave my friend Watson and you, and I will step round with the Inspector to test the truth of one or two little fancies of mine. I will be with you again in half an hour.”…

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Excerpt #4, from The Art of War, by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

…troops, and place it secretly in ambuscade. Then your opponent will sally forth to the rescue.“] 12. On open ground, do not try to block the enemy’s way. [Because the attempt would be futile, and would expose the blocking force itself to serious risks. There are two interpretations available here. I follow that of Chang Yu. The other is indicated in Ts’ao Kung’s brief note: "Draw closer together"—i.e., see that a portion of your own army is not cut off.] On ground of intersecting highways, join hands with your allies. [Or perhaps, "form alliances with neighbouring states."] 13. On serious ground, gather in plunder. [On this, Li Ch’uan has the following delicious note:”When an army penetrates far into the enemy’s country, care must be taken not to alienate the people by unjust treatment. Follow the example of the Han Emperor Kao Tsu, whose march into Ch’in territory was marked by no violation of women or looting of valuables. [Nota bene: this was in 207 B.C., and may well cause us to blush for the Christian armies that entered Peking in 1900 A.D.] Thus he won the hearts of all. In the present passage, then, I think that the true reading must be, not ‘plunder,’ but ‘do not plunder.’" Alas, I fear that in this instance the worthy commentator’s feelings outran his judgment. Tu Mu, at least,…

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Excerpt #5, from Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3

…Mr. O’CONNELL. I think, isn’t that in connection with the civil-liberties trust? It is not in connection with the trade-union trust. Isn’t that right? Mr. TAVENNER. That was paid out from another fund in the same trust, not from the one in which—- Mr. O’CONNELL. No. The will established, I think I can explain it, the will established three trusts, one that was called the Robert Marshall Foundation, we were denoted always as the trade-union trust. The second trust was a civil-liberties trust and 5 trustees, not all of the 5 trustees on the trade-union trust, were trustees on the civil-liberties trust. There were 15. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you on both? Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I was only on the trade union trust. Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have any knowledge of the payment from this other trust–that is, the civil-liberties trust–of the grant of $20,000 for defense of Remington? Mr. O’CONNELL. I know nothing about it except, was that contained in Mr. Dies’ speech? Was that reported—- Mr. TAVENNER. No. Mr. O’CONNELL. I really personally have no–I am not a member of that civil-liberties trust and I don’t know. There is also a…

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Excerpt #6, from The Railway Children, by E. Nesbit

…working properly. By the time she had seen him shut off steam with a big shining steel handle, Bobbie knew more about the inside working of an engine than she had ever thought there was to know, and Jim had promised that his second cousin’s wife’s brother should solder the toy engine, or Jim would know the reason why. Besides all the knowledge she had gained Bobbie felt that she and Bill and Jim were now friends for life, and that they had wholly and forever forgiven her for stumbling uninvited among the sacred coals of their tender. At Stacklepoole Junction she parted from them with warm expressions of mutual regard. They handed her over to the guard of a returning train–a friend of theirs–and she had the joy of knowing what guards do in their secret fastnesses, and understood how, when you pull the communication cord in railway carriages, a wheel goes round under the guard’s nose and a loud bell rings in his ears. She asked the guard why his van smelt so fishy, and learned that he had to carry a lot of fish every day, and that the wetness in the hollows of the corrugated floor had all drained out of boxes full of plaice and cod and mackerel and soles and smelts. Bobbie got home in time for tea, and she felt as though her mind would burst with all that had been put into it since she parted from the others. How she blessed the nail that had torn her frock!…

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Excerpt #7, from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete, by Michel de Montaigne

…in his house, and in his ordinary actions, for which we are accountable to none, and where there is no study nor artifice. And therefore Bias, setting forth the excellent state of a private family, says: “of which a the master is the same within, by his own virtue and temper, that he is abroad, for fear of the laws and report of men.” And it was a worthy saying of Julius Drusus, to the masons who offered him, for three thousand crowns, to put his house in such a posture that his neighbours should no longer have the same inspection into it as before; “I will give you,” said he, “six thousand to make it so that everybody may see into every room.” ‘Tis honourably recorded of Agesilaus, that he used in his journeys always to take up his lodgings in temples, to the end that the people and the gods themselves might pry into his most private actions. Such a one has been a miracle to the world, in whom neither his wife nor servant has ever seen anything so much as remarkable; few men have been admired by their own domestics; no one was ever a prophet, not merely in his own house, but in his own country, says the experience of histories: –[No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre, said Marshal Catinat]–‘tis the same in things of nought, and in this low example the image of a greater is to be seen. In my country of Gascony, they look upon it as a drollery to see me in print; the further off I am read from my own home, the better I am esteemed. I purchase printers in Guienne; elsewhere they…

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Excerpt #8, from Helps to Latin Translation at Sight, by Edmund Luce

…(i.) Vocabulary.–All you need notice here is the force of +re-+ in +retentus+ = held back, cf. our re-tain. (ii.) Translation.–Before you translate, notice Ovid’s frequent use of parataxis, i.e. placing one thought side by side with another thought, without any connective, even although one thought is, in sense, clearly subordinate to another. This is one of the ways in which all great poets heighten the effect of what they say, and many examples of it are to be found in Ovid’s best elegiac verse. As you look through this passage you will find: (a) Lines 1, 2, 3, 4 each form a complete sentence. (b) In the whole passage there is not one subordinate conjunction. (c) The only expressed connective is the simplest link-word +et+. The principal verb is +retentus est+, the subject +lupus+. +Sequens agnam+ describes +lupus+, and +saepe+ and +a voce+ tell us when and why the wolf was stayed. Often has the wolf in pursuit of the lamb been stayed at the sound. (For this use of +a+ or +ab+ to express origin or source cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 655 [V. 709]: Pectora traiectus Lynceo Castor +ab ense+.) +IV.+ +Saepe avidum fŭgiens restitit agnă lupum.+ (i.) Vocabulary.– +Restitit+ = stood still; +re + si-st-o+, i.e. from √sta-,…

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Excerpt #9, from Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

…experiences. He digests his events badly; he never gets “done” with them; and German depth is often only a difficult, hesitating “digestion.” And just as all chronic invalids, all dyspeptics like what is convenient, so the German loves “frankness” and “honesty”; it is so CONVENIENT to be frank and honest!–This confidingness, this complaisance, this showing-the-cards of German HONESTY, is probably the most dangerous and most successful disguise which the German is up to nowadays: it is his proper Mephistophelean art; with this he can “still achieve much”! The German lets himself go, and thereby gazes with faithful, blue, empty German eyes–and other countries immediately confound him with his dressing-gown!–I meant to say that, let “German depth” be what it will–among ourselves alone we perhaps take the liberty to laugh at it–we shall do well to continue henceforth to honour its appearance and good name, and not barter away too cheaply our old reputation as a people of depth for Prussian “smartness,” and Berlin wit and sand. It is wise for a people to pose, and LET itself be regarded, as profound, clumsy, good-natured, honest, and foolish: it might even be–profound to do so! Finally, we should do honour to our name–we are not called the “TIUSCHE VOLK” (deceptive people) for nothing…. 245. The “good old” time is past, it sang itself out in Mozart–how…

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Excerpt #10, from The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy

…“Does Sir Percy Blakeney know that . . . I mean, does he know the part you played in the arrest of the Marquis de St. Cyr?” She laughed—a mirthless, bitter, contemptuous laugh, which was like a jarring chord in the music of her voice. “That I denounced the Marquis de St. Cyr, you mean, to the tribunal that ultimately sent him and all his family to the guillotine? Yes, he does know. . . . I told him after I married him. . . .” “You told him all the circumstances—which so completely exonerated you from any blame?” “It was too late to talk of ‘circumstances’; he heard the story from other sources; my confession came too tardily, it seems. I could no longer plead extenuating circumstances: I could not bemean myself by trying to explain—” “And?” “And now I have the satisfaction, Armand, of knowing that the biggest fool in England has the most complete contempt for his wife.” She spoke with vehement bitterness this time, and Armand St. Just, who loved her so dearly, felt that he had placed a somewhat clumsy finger upon an aching wound. “But Sir Percy loved you, Margot,” he repeated gently. “Loved me?—Well, Armand, I thought at one time that he did, or I should…

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Excerpt #11, from In Great Waters: Four Stories, by Thomas A. Janvier

…close over beyond a still sea and a sun-bright sky a storm is cooking up that will kill him if it can. And even when he feels the coming of it–if he be well to seaward, or if he be tempted by the fish being plenty and by the bareness of his own pockets to hold on in the face of it–he must have more in his head than any coast pilot has if he is to win home to Yarmouth Harbour or to Lowestoft Roads. For God in his cruelty has set more traps to kill seafarers off this easterly outjut of England, I do believe, than He has set anywhere else in all the world: there being from Covehithe Ness northward to the Winterton Overfalls nothing but a maze of deadly shoals–all cut up by channels in which there is no sea-room–that fairly makes you queazy to think about when you are coming shoreward in a northeast gale. And as if that were not enough to make sure of man-food for the fishes, the currents that swirl and play among these shoals are up to some fresh wickedness with every hour of the tide-run and with every half shift of wind. Whether you make in for Yarmouth by Hemesby Hole to the north, or by the Hewett Channel to the south, or split the difference by running through Caister Road, it is all one: twisting about the Overfalls and the Middle Cross Sand and the South Scroby, there the currents are. What they will be doing with you, or how they will be doing it, you can’t even make a good guess at; all that you can know for certain…

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Excerpt #12, from Ethics, by Benedictus de Spinoza

…part or inadequately. Note.–Here, I doubt not, readers will come to a stand, and will call to mind many things which will cause them to hesitate; I therefore beg them to accompany me slowly, step by step, and not to pronounce on my statements, till they have read to the end. PROP. XII. Whatsoever comes to pass in the object of the idea, which constitutes the human mind, must be perceived by the human mind, or there will necessarily be an idea in the human mind of the said occurrence. That is, if the object of the idea constituting the human mind be a body, nothing can take place in that body without being perceived by the mind. Proof.–Whatsoever comes to pass in the object of any idea, the knowledge thereof is necessarily in God (II. ix. Coroll.), in so far as he is considered as affected by the idea of the said object, that is (II. xi.), in so far as he constitutes the mind of anything. Therefore, whatsoever takes place in the object constituting the idea of the human mind, the knowledge thereof is necessarily in God, in so far as he constitutes the essence of the human mind; that is (by II. xi. Coroll.) the knowledge of the said thing will necessarily be in the mind, in other words…

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