Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:46

Excerpt #1, from Familiar Quotations, by John Bartlett

…[351-3] See Middleton, page 172. LOUIS THEOBALD. 1691-1744. None but himself can be his parallel.[352-1] The Double Falsehood. FOOTNOTES: [352-1] Quæris Alcidæ parem? Nemo est nisi ipse (Do you seek Alcides’ equal? None is, except himself).–SENECA: Hercules Furens, i. 1; 84. And but herself admits no parallel.–MASSINGER: Duke of Milan, act iv. sc. 3. JAMES BRAMSTON. —- -1744. What ’s not devoured by Time’s devouring hand? Where ’s Troy, and where ’s the Maypole in the Strand? Art of Politics. But Titus said, with his uncommon sense, When the Exclusion Bill was in suspense: "I hear a lion in the lobby roar; Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door And keep him there, or shall we let him in…

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Excerpt #2, from History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent

…Babylonian history, but the signs and characters impressed upon them offer the greatest contrast to the Sumerian and early Babylonian characters with which we are familiar. Although they cannot be fully deciphered at present, it is probable that they are tablets of accounts, the signs upon them consisting of lists of figures and what are probably ideographs for things. Some of the ideographs, such as that for “tablet,” with which many of the texts begin, are very similar to the Sumerian or Babylonian signs for the same objects; but the majority are entirely different and have been formed and developed upon a system of their own. [Illustration: 230.jpg CLAY TABLET, FOUND AT SUSA, BEARING AN INSCRIPTION IN THE EARLY PROTO-ELAMITE CHARACTER.] The photograph is taken from M. de Morgan’s Délégation en Perse, Mem., t. vi, pi. 23. On these tablets, in fact, we have a new class of cuneiform writing in an early stage of its development, when the hieroglyphic or pictorial character of the ideographs was still prominent. [Illustration: 231.jpg CLAY TABLET, RECENTLY FOUND AT SUSA, BEARING AN INSCRIPTION IN THE EARLY PROTO-ELAMITE CHARACTER.] The photograph is reproduced from M. de Morgan’s Délégation en Perse, Mém., t. vi, pi. 22….

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Excerpt #3, from The Art of War, by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

…one can command the services of a good general like Sun Tzŭ, who was employed by Wu Tzŭ-hsu, there is no need to learn it oneself. Hence the remark added by Confucius: “If I fight, I conquer.” The men of the present day, however, willfully interpret these words of Confucius in their narrowest sense, as though he meant that books on the art of war were not worth reading. With blind persistency, they adduce the example of Chao Kua, who pored over his father’s books to no purpose, [67] as a proof that all military theory is useless. Again, seeing that books on war have to do with such things as opportunism in designing plans, and the conversion of spies, they hold that the art is immoral and unworthy of a sage. These people ignore the fact that the studies of our scholars and the civil administration of our officials also require steady application and practice before efficiency is reached. The ancients were particularly chary of allowing mere novices to botch their work. [68] Weapons are baneful [69] and fighting perilous; and useless unless a general is in constant practice, he ought not to hazard other men’s lives in battle. [70] Hence it is essential that Sun Tzŭ’s 13 chapters should be studied. Hsiang Liang used to instruct his nephew Chi [71] in the art of war. Chi got a rough idea of the art in its general bearings, but would not pursue his studies to their proper outcome, the consequence being that…

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Excerpt #4, from Literary Lapses, by Stephen Leacock

…Drum nothing! It was pants–a pair of the nicest little short pants–yellowish-brown short pants–with dear little stripes of colour running across both ways, and here again Santa Claus had written, “Hoodoo, from Santa Claus, one fort net.” But there was something wrapped up in it. Oh, yes! There was a pair of braces wrapped up in it, braces with a little steel sliding thing so that you could slide your pants up to your neck, if you wanted to. The boy gave a dry sob of satisfaction. Then he took out his last present. “It’s a book,” he said, as he unwrapped it. “I wonder if it is fairy stories or adventures. Oh, I hope it’s adventures! I’ll read it all morning.” No, Hoodoo, it was not precisely adventures. It was a small family Bible. Hoodoo had now seen all his presents, and he arose and dressed. But he still had the fun of playing with his toys. That is always the chief delight of Christmas morning. First he played with his tooth-brush. He got a whole lot of water and brushed all his teeth with it. This was huge. Then he played with his collars. He had no end of fun with them, taking them all out one by one and swearing at them, and then putting them back and swearing at the whole lot together. The next toy was his pants. He had immense fun there, putting them on…

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Excerpt #5, from Right Ho, Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

…It has been well said of Bertram Wooster that, while no one views his flesh and blood with a keener and more remorselessly critical eye, he is nevertheless a man who delights in giving credit where credit is due. And if you have followed these memoirs of mine with the proper care, you will be aware that I have frequently had occasion to emphasise the fact that Aunt Dahlia is all right. She is the one, if you remember, who married old Tom Travers en secondes noces, as I believe the expression is, the year Bluebottle won the Cambridgeshire, and once induced me to write an article on What the Well-Dressed Man is Wearing for that paper she runs–Milady’s Boudoir. She is a large, genial soul, with whom it is a pleasure to hob-nob. In her spiritual make-up there is none of that subtle gosh-awfulness which renders such an exhibit as, say, my Aunt Agatha the curse of the Home Counties and a menace to one and all. I have the highest esteem for Aunt Dahlia, and have never wavered in my cordial appreciation of her humanity, sporting qualities and general good-eggishness. This being so, you may conceive of my astonishment at finding her at my bedside at such an hour. I mean to say, I’ve stayed at her place many a time and oft, and she knows my habits. She is well aware that until I have had my cup of tea in the morning, I do not receive. This crashing in at a moment when she knew that solitude and repose were of the essence…

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Excerpt #6, from Gladiator, by Philip Wylie

…He shook hands with them. Mrs. Shayne went to an automobile. Her husband invited Hugo to a café. Over the wine he became suddenly less dignified, more human, and almost pathetic. “Tell me about him, Danner. I loved that kid once, you know.” Hugo found himself unexpectedly moved. The man was so eager, so strangely happy. He stroked his white moustache and turned away moist eyes. So Hugo told him. He talked endlessly of the trenches and the dark wet nights and the fire that stabbed through them. He invented brave sorties for his friend, tripled his accomplishments, and put gaiety and wit in his mouth. The father drank every syllable as if he was committing the whole story to memory as the text of a life’s solace. At last he was crying. “That was the Tom I knew,” Hugo said softly. “And that was the Tom I dreamed and hoped and thought he would become when he was a little shaver. Well, he did, Danner.” “A thousand times he did.” Ralph Jordan Shayne blew his nose unashamedly. He thought of his patiently waiting wife. “I’ve got to go, I suppose. This has been more than kind of you, Mr. Danner–Lieutenant Danner. I’m glad–more glad than I can say–that you were there. I understand from the major that you’re no small shakes in this army yourself.” He smiled deferentially….

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Excerpt #7, from Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

…“Wisdom from the hermitage, I suppose! But I see you have left Benares.” Ananta’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction; he yet hoped to secure my pinions in the family nest. “My sojourn in Benares was not in vain! I found there everything my heart had been longing for! You may be sure it was not your pundit or his son!” Ananta joined me in reminiscent laughter; he had had to admit that the Benares “clairvoyant” he selected was a shortsighted one. “What are your plans, my wandering brother?” “Jitendra persuaded me to Agra. We shall view the beauties of the Taj Mahal {FN11-2} here,” I explained. “Then we are going to my newly-found guru, who has a hermitage in Serampore.” Ananta hospitably arranged for our comfort. Several times during the evening I noticed his eyes fixed on me reflectively. “I know that look!” I thought. “A plot is brewing!” The denouement took place during our early breakfast. “So you feel quite independent of Father’s wealth.” Ananta’s gaze was innocent as he resumed the barbs of yesterday’s conversation. “I am conscious of my dependence on God.” "Words are cheap! Life has shielded you thus far! What a plight if you were forced to look to the Invisible Hand for your food and…

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Excerpt #8, from The Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt

…Americans. Cooper, as usual, praises all concerned; but in this instance not with very good judgment. He says the line-of-battle was highly judicious, but this may be doubted. The weather was peculiarly suitable for the gun-boats, with their long, heavy guns; and yet the line-of-battle was so arranged as to keep them in the rear and let the brunt of the assault fall on the Lawrence, with her short carronades. Cooper again praises Perry for steering for the head of the enemy’s line, but he could hardly have done any thing else. In this battle the firing seems to have been equally skilful on both sides, the Detroit’s long guns being peculiarly well served; but the British captains manoeuvred better than their foes at first, and supported one another better, so that the disparity in damage done on each side was not equal to the disparity in force. The chief merit of the American commander and his followers was indomitable courage, and determination not to be beaten. This is no slight merit; but it may well be doubted if it would have ensured victory had Barclay’s force been as strong as Perry’s. Perry made a headlong attack; his superior force, whether through his fault or his misfortune can hardly be said, being brought into action in such a manner that the head of the line was crushed by the inferior force opposed. Being literally hammered out of his own ship, Perry brought…

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Excerpt #9, from The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, by H. G. Wells

…the grass by the forge were three yellow and chocolate waggons and some picturesque strangers of both sexes putting up a cocoanut shy. The gentlemen wore blue jerseys, the ladies white aprons and quite fashionable hats with heavy plumes. Wodger, of the “Purple Fawn,” and Mr. Jaggers, the cobbler, who also sold old second-hand ordinary bicycles, were stretching a string of union-jacks and royal ensigns (which had originally celebrated the first Victorian Jubilee) across the road. And inside, in the artificial darkness of the parlour, into which only one thin jet of sunlight penetrated, the stranger, hungry we must suppose, and fearful, hidden in his uncomfortable hot wrappings, pored through his dark glasses upon his paper or chinked his dirty little bottles, and occasionally swore savagely at the boys, audible if invisible, outside the windows. In the corner by the fireplace lay the fragments of half a dozen smashed bottles, and a pungent twang of chlorine tainted the air. So much we know from what was heard at the time and from what was subsequently seen in the room. About noon he suddenly opened his parlour door and stood glaring fixedly at the three or four people in the bar. “Mrs. Hall,” he said. Somebody went sheepishly and called for Mrs. Hall. Mrs. Hall appeared after an interval, a little short of breath, but all…

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Excerpt #10, from Science and the modern world: Lowell Lectures 1925, by Alfred North Whitehead

…basis or on a subjectivist basis. By a subjectivist basis I mean the belief that the nature of our immediate experience is the outcome of the perceptive peculiarities of the subject enjoying the experience. In other words, I mean that for this theory what is perceived is not a partial vision of a complex of things generally independent of that act of cognition; but that it merely is the expression of the individual peculiarities of the cognitive act. Accordingly what is common to the multiplicity of cognitive acts is the ratiocination connected with them. Thus, though there is a common world of thought associated with our sense-perceptions, there is no common world to think about. What we do think about is a common conceptual world applying indifferently to our individual experiences which are strictly personal to ourselves. Such a conceptual world will ultimately find its complete expression in the equations of applied mathematics. This is the extreme subjectivist position. There is of course the half-way house of those who believe that our perceptual experience does tell us of a common objective world; but that the things perceived are merely the outcome for us of this world, and are not in themselves elements in the common world itself. Also there is the objectivist position. This creed is that the actual elements perceived by our senses are in themselves the elements of a…

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Excerpt #11, from Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly, March 1899, by Various

…————————-+—————-+—————- New South Wales | 292,217 | 341,722 New Zealand | 251,645 | 280,176 Queensland | 805,928 | 918,100 Victoria | 812,765 | 837,258 West Australia | 674,994 | 1,050,183 +—————-+—————- Total | 2,837,549 | 3,527,439 | | 2,837,549 | +—————- | | 689,890 …————————-+—————-+—————- “There was an increase in the gold product of these five colonies of $13,107,910, the ounce crude averaging about $19 in value. The total gold product of Australia in 1898 was, as I estimate it, about $67,792,000. In 1897 it was $55,684,182. As yet no figures of the gold output of the two Australian colonies–Tasmania and South Australia–have come under my observation.”Persons not connected with the bureau, but whose opinions are entitled to respect, have estimated the increase in…

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Excerpt #12, from Around the World with Josiah Allen’s Wife, by Marietta Holley

…“Well, no,” he admitted, “I believe that the Church of Christ is invincible.” “Do you vote, Elder Minkley?” “Well, no, as it were, Sister Arvilly, I have felt for years that politics was too vile for me to mix myself with.” Sez Arvilly, “Do you believe in following the Lord Jesus Christ?” Sez Elder Minkley, his good natured face lighting up, “My Divine Master; yes, I will follow him to the stake, to the death, if need be.” “Did he turn away from sinners and the evils of the sinful world and say they wuz too vile for him to mix with?” “I–I–Sister Arvilly–I why–I don’t know what you mean.” “Yes, you do know what I mean!” sez the intrepid but agonized Arvilly. “By your criminal indifference and neglect, you encourage the evil power that rules and ruins.” Elder Minkley’s face began to look red–red as blood–and sez he, “You present the subject in a way I never thought on before, Sister Arvilly. I will think of it; I will pray over it.” “Will you vote as you pray?” sez Arvilly anxiously. “I will!” sez Elder Minkley, solemnly, “I will!”…

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