"Displease" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... your Reasons do displease me; I offer'd her a Crown with her Philander, And she was once pleas'd to accept of it. She lov'd me too, yes, and repaid my flame, As kindly as I sacrific'd to her: The first salute we gave were harmless Love, Our Souls then met, and so grew up together, Like sympathizing Twins. And must ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. III • Aphra Behn
... her, "I know no more inventions for entering your house; I am refused at the door every day." Mme. de La Fayette declares herself offended, and cites this as a proof of her attachment, saying, "There are very few people who could displease me by not wishing to see me." But the friends of the Marquise are disposed to treat her caprices very leniently. As the years went by and the interests of life receded, Mme. de Sable became reconciled to the thought that had inspired her with so much dread. When she died at the advanced age of seventy-nine, ...
— The Women of the French Salons • Amelia Gere Mason
... to decide, and I have decided. If you will forgive Miss Aylmer whatever she happened to do to displease you, if you will make her joint heiress with me in your estates, then we will both serve you and love you most faithfully and most truly; but if you will not give her back her true position I at least will offer her all that a man can offer—his heart, his worship, and all the talent he possesses. ...
— The Time of Roses • L. T. Meade
... see," says Pellisson; "but the most judicious amongst that body testified a great deal of repugnance to this design. They said that the Academy, which was only in its cradle, ought not to incur odium by a judgment which might perhaps displease both parties, and which could not fail to cause umbrage to one at least, that is to say, to a great part of France; that they were scarcely tolerated, from the mere fancy which prevailed that they pretended to some authority over the French ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... long name, who, thinking I was only an Englishwoman, told me to "get up," and said he "didn't care for consuls, nor English, nor dawwasses." A poor woman standing by begged me to go out again into the sun, and not shade myself under the figs, and thus displease this great man. You see, when I was sitting down, he thought that by my voice and face I was a woman, and as long as my servants only addressed me in coarse Arabic he bounced accordingly. But when I arose in my outraged dignity, and he saw my riding-habit tucked into my boots, he ...
— The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton Volume II • Isabel Lady Burton & W. H. Wilkins
... Reunion open the tale of oppression and ill-usage. "Our Captain oblidges us to Wash our Linnen twice a week in Salt Water and to put 2 Shirts on every Week, and if they do not look as Clean as if they were washed in Fresh Water, he stops the person's Grog which has the misfortune to displease him; and if our Hair is not Tyd to please him, he orders it to be Cutt Off." On the Amphitrite "flogging is their portion." The men of the Winchelsea "wold sooner be Shot at like a Targaite than to Remain." The treatment systematically meted out to the Shannon's ...
— The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore • John R. Hutchinson
... he admits in consultation will be ministers of his own appointment, who, if they displease by their advice, must expect to be dismissed. The authority also is too great, and the business too complicated, to be intrusted to the ambition or the judgment of an individual; and besides these cases, the sudden change of measures that might follow by the ...
— The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete - With Index to Volumes I - IV • Thomas Paine
... Lute strikes one String for another, because he judges by his Sense, and that Sense is the Rule; in such occasions, we may therefore very well say, that all that pleases is good, because that which is Good doth please, or that which is Evil never fails to displease; for neither the Passions, nor Ignorance dull the Senses, on the contrary they sharpen them. 'Tis not so in Things which spring from Reason; Passion and Ignorance act very strongly on it, and oftentimes choak it, this is the Reason, why we ordinarily judge so ill, and differently concerning ...
— The Preface to Aristotle's Art of Poetry • Andre Dacier
... legislative and judicial functions. Should a judgment displease it, it arrogates to itself the right to annul it. Nor is there any more respect shown by the Volksraad for contracts, and, on one occasion, it solemnly accorded to the Government the right to annul clauses which had ceased to be satisfactory. It is ...
— Boer Politics • Yves Guyot
... Napoleon acts, and it seemed to me best to seize the favorable moment. I have the most profound conviction of having been of service to my sovereign on this occasion; and if by any possibility I have had the misfortune to displease him by the course that I took in perfect sincerity, His Majesty can disavow it, but in that case I shall instantly demand ...
— The Happy Days of the Empress Marie Louise • Imbert De Saint-Amand
... prevails with regard to these two societies at present, that it will be difficult to present a view of them which will be perfectly satisfactory to all. I shall say what appears to me to be candid and true, without any anxiety as to whom it may please, and whom it may displease. I need not say that I have a decided predilection, because it has been sufficiently betrayed in the preceding pages; and I allude to it for the sake of perfect sincerity, rather than from any idea that ...
— An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans • Lydia Maria Child
... everything I have ever done to displease you,' she began again; 'and I only hope you will not be so unhappy, as I am ...
— Gladys, the Reaper • Anne Beale
... in health, or in increase or decrease of population. These taboos always contain a greater element of philosophy than the positive rules, because the taboos contain reference to a reason, as, for instance, that the act would displease the ghosts. The primitive taboos correspond to the fact that the life of man is environed by perils. His food quest must be limited by shunning poisonous plants. His appetite must be restrained from excess. His physical strength and health must be guarded from dangers. The taboos carry on ...
— Folkways - A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals • William Graham Sumner
... she murmured as she passed him, "I will never forgive you;" but as she confessed many years afterwards, this act of gallantly did not displease her.' ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... your portfolio under your arm. I am not fit to be a poor man's wife. I cannot take any kind of trouble, or do any one thing that is of any use. Many decent families roast a bit of mutton on a string; but if I displease my father I shall not have as much as will buy the string, to say nothing of the meat; and the bare idea of such cookery gives ...
— Crotchet Castle • Thomas Love Peacock
... transmit to you such an anthology as would gladden your very heart. As for The Songs of Scandinavia, all the ballads would be ready before departure, and as I should take books, I would in a few months send you translations of the modern lyric poetry. I hope this letter will not displease you. I do not write it from flightiness, but from thoughtfulness. I am uneasy to find myself at four and twenty drifting on the sea of the world, and likely to continue so.—Yours ...
— George Borrow and His Circle - Wherein May Be Found Many Hitherto Unpublished Letters Of - Borrow And His Friends • Clement King Shorter
... tell me how it was that Paris did harm to Moore? Mentally, was it, and morally, or in the matter of the body? I have not seen the biography yet. Italy keeps us behind in new books. But the extracts given in newspapers displease me through the ignoble tone of 'doing honour to the lord,' which is anything but religious. Also, the letters seem somewhat less brilliant than I expected from Moore; but it must be, after all, a most entertaining book. Tell me if you have read Mrs. Gaskell's 'Ruth.' That's a novel ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II • Elizabeth Barrett Browning
... would, mother, and it would make me stronger. I'm so glad. I didn't want to displease you. I wanted you to feel that I was doing right. It will be lighter now; I sha'n't mind what anybody says if you're with me, mother. Now everything will come out right; I know it will. And if it does, if father gets strong, ...
— Thoroughbreds • W. A. Fraser
... these negroes, remarkable among the others for his age and his pretended learning, fell ill. I went to see him thinking that my visit would not displease him. There were a number of blacks round his bed, who were singing hymns and praying. They offered me a chair. I seated myself near the sick man and commenced to speak to him of death, of judgment and ...
— Memoir • Fr. Vincent de Paul
... discussion, and was very dissatisfactory to many general officers, who, by this arbitrary decision, found themselves in danger of forfeiting the privilege of being tried by their natural judges whenever they happened to displease the First Consul. For my own part, I must say that this decree against Latour-Foissac was one which I saw issued with considerable regret. I was alarmed for the consequences. After the lapse of a few days I ventured to ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton
... beames indifferently (and my frutes are in an open orchyard, indifferent to all) doth soften wax, and harden clay; (my frutes will please the gentler, but offend the clayish or clownish sort, whom good things scarcely please, and I care not to displease). I know I have them not all, and you with readie (if I should say so) with Bate me an ace quoth Bolton, or Wide quoth Bolton when his bolt flew backward. Indeed here are not all, for tell me who can tell them; but here are the chiefs, and ...
— Shakespeare's Lost Years in London, 1586-1592 • Arthur Acheson
... man answered, speaking, to my astonishment, in good native-sounding English, "I'm sorry to displease, and I try to ...
— In Direst Peril • David Christie Murray
... chevalier been inconsiderate enough to displease your majesty?" cried he, darting a furious ...
— The Man in the Iron Mask • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... proverb, qui omnibus placere studet. We regret that any one policy must of necessity displease a few members, yet do not see how any improvement could be effected by making a change which would merely shift the displeasure to another and even more continuously industrious group. It is significant that the Gothic party have no editorial candidate of their own to offer, so that ...
— Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 • Howard Phillips Lovecraft
... is by inducing them to displease their Maker, and then they will be banished to the same place and become the slaves of Satan and his ...
— Anglo-Saxon Literature • John Earle
... felt happier than I did that evening; and yet I was more silent than usual. Mr. Hamilton talked more to his sisters than to me, but his manner was strangely gentle when he addressed me. I was conscious all that evening that he was watching me, and that my reserve did not displease him. Once, when he had been called away on business, and Lady Betty had tripped after him, Gladys said, with ...
— Uncle Max • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... Fole he is and voyde of reason Whiche with one hounde tendyth to take Two harys in one instant and season; Rightso is he that wolde undertake Hym to two lordes a servaunt to make; For whether that he be lefe or lothe, The one he shall displease, or els bothe. ...
— The World's Best Poetry Volume IV. • Bliss Carman
... to try, begin each day with Alfred's prayer,—fiat voluntas tua; resolving that you will stand to it, and that nothing that happens in the course of the day shall displease you. Then set to any work you have in hand with the sifted and purified resolution that ambition shall not mix with it, nor love of gain, nor desire of pleasure more than is appointed for you; and that no anxiety shall touch you as to its issue, nor any ...
— The Pleasures of England - Lectures given in Oxford • John Ruskin
... an exalted personage? If the Judge's son came out again, he would see that his joke had miscarried, and then he would be displeased. And to the butcher-boy it did not seem right in the nature of things that anything should displease the Judge's son. Three times he went hesitatingly backward and forward, trying to make up his mind, and then he made it up. The king could do no wrong. Of course he himself was doing wrong in not putting the baskets ...
— Short Stories for English Courses • Various (Rosa M. R. Mikels ed.)
... behave well, the King will accord what you want: but it is absolutely necessary to begin by that.—PRINCE: I do nothing that can displease the King.—SCHULENBURG: It would be a little soon yet! But I speak of the future. Your Highness, the grand thing I recommend is to fear God! Everybody says, you have the sentiments of an honest man; excellent, that, for a beginning; but without the fear of God, ...
— History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. VIII. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... that shall look like the excitement of joy. A first impression is often a final one, and this is especially true with regard to Cambyses. If, which I doubt not, you are pleasing in his eyes at first, then you have won his love for ever; but if you should displease him to-day he will never look kindly on you again, for he is rough and harsh. But take courage, my daughter, and above all, do not forget the advice I have given you." Nitetis dried her tears as she answered: ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... beautiful song, very sweet, very tender, and sung with the feeling of an artist; yet something about it seemed to displease Drusilla, for she turned and went into the house. Perhaps, hearing the song, she was reminded of the singers, stepping forward in a blare of trumpets to meet the applause of vast audiences; or perhaps again she felt the difference between her efforts ...
— Silver and Gold - A Story of Luck and Love in a Western Mining Camp • Dane Coolidge
... Ibarra respectfully, while Nor Juan made voluble explanations. "Here is the piping that I have taken the liberty to add," he said. "These subterranean conduits lead to a sort of cesspool, thirty yards away. It will help fertilize the garden. There was nothing of that in the plan. Does it displease you?" ...
— The Social Cancer - A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere • Jose Rizal
... her head aside for a moment in her long gloves. "You are country!" she said again, but it seemed not to displease her. "I don't care so much for her voice, do you?" She turned on the singer. They discussed the entertainment and the dinner. They were a long time about it. The orchestra played a waltz at last, and Ethel—she had told ...
— The Lovely Lady • Mary Austin
... then forbore to speak, for he saw that it was useless, and he feared to displease his Chief, whose favor was the highest object of his ambition. Since the untimely death of his son, Coubitant had been constantly his companion and attendant, until he had been left near the English settlement to carry out his schemes ...
— The Pilgrims of New England - A Tale Of The Early American Settlers • Mrs. J. B. Webb
... God and for thy good. Be subject and obedient till death, and do not contradict the will of Catarina and Giovanna, who I know will never counsel thee or tell thee anything that is not for the honour of God and the salvation of thy soul and body. If thou dost not behave so, thou wilt displease me very much, and do thyself little good. I hope in the goodness of God that thou wilt so act that He will be honoured, and thou shalt have thy reward and give me ...
— Letters of Catherine Benincasa • Catherine Benincasa
... united. Bulwer's mother opposed the match strenuously from the first. Her pride, her prudence, her forebodings, and her motherly susceptibilities all rose up against it. And she never gave her consent to it, or became really reconciled to it after it had taken place. Although very unwilling to displease his mother in so vital a matter, Bulwer seems to have gone steadily on to such a consummation; not borne away certainly by strong passion, but rather influenced, it would seem, by a tender regard for the feelings of Miss Wheeler, who had grown much attached ...
— Home Life of Great Authors • Hattie Tyng Griswold
... been so unfortunate, dearest father, as to displease you, and I dare not hope that you will consent to receive me. What it is my painful duty to tell you, must be told ...
— The Legacy of Cain • Wilkie Collins
... say with another great man, "What must God be if He is pleased by things which simply displease His educated creatures?" In a country where the churches were once far more crowded than in Belgium, I was told by a discerning man, Prince Alexis Obolensky, a former Procurator of the Holy Synod, that all such devotion is simply superstition. ...
— Painted Windows - Studies in Religious Personality • Harold Begbie
... more thing. Do not permit Mr. Percivail to address your indignation meeting tonight, for if you do, and he smiles zat nice, good-humoured smile and tells the ladies zat he is sorry to have displease them, and zat he is to blame entirely for the blunder,—poof! Zat will be ...
— West Wind Drift • George Barr McCutcheon
... woman had always been irritable, egoistic, and sensitive. As a girl if anything happened to "shock her nerves", i.e. to displease her, she fainted, vomited, or went into "hysterics." As a result her family treated her with great caution and probably were well pleased when she married off their hands ...
— The Nervous Housewife • Abraham Myerson
... and genuine lady. I am not well versed in society's ways, but I assure you I would make every effort in my power to act as she would think a young man ought to act. I'd rather fight a dragon than displease her." ...
— Without a Home • E. P. Roe
... all this is true, nevertheless it will not be possible for me to maintain you in this country, for if I keep you here I shall greatly displease not only the Queen and her kin, but many of those lords and knights who were kin to Sir Marhaus or who were united to him in pledges of friendship. So you must even save yourself as you can and leave here straightway, for I may not help or aid ...
— The Story of the Champions of the Round Table • Howard Pyle
... there is no crime; with man there is. Crime does not displease God, but it does man. God is in the darkest crime, as in the highest possible holiness. He is equally pleased in either case. Both harmonize equally with his attributes—they are only different sides ...
— Modern Spiritualism • Uriah Smith
... refusal. Being but a prince elector, he said, he might not aspire to so high an honour as to be favoured with the presence of an English ambassador. It was not the custom in Germany, and he feared that if he consented he should displease the emperor.[171] The meaning of such a reply delivered in a few hours was not to be mistaken, however disguised in courteous language. The English emissary saw that he was an unwelcome visitor, and that he must depart with the ...
— History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. II. • James Anthony Froude
... Strefford. He had gone down to Altringham, he told her, to think quietly over their last talk, and try to understand what she had been driving at. He had to own that he couldn't; but that, he supposed, was the very head and front of his offending. Whatever he had done to displease her, he was sorry for; but he asked, in view of his invincible ignorance, to be allowed not to regard his offence as a cause for a final break. The possibility of that, he found, would make him even ...
— The Glimpses of the Moon • Edith Wharton
... generous and kind as mine is," sighed Lulu. "It is a very great shame that I ever do anything to displease him." ...
— Elsie's Vacation and After Events • Martha Finley
... brother Obadiah, it is with the heartiest regrets in the world that I find myself obliged to confess that I cannot offer you a home with myself and my family. It is not alone that your manners displease me—though, as an elder to a younger, I may say to you that we of these more northern latitudes do not entertain the same tastes in such particulars as doubtless obtain in the West Indies—but the habits of my ...
— Stolen Treasure • Howard Pyle
... have flung me down through space into the sea where I should never have been heard of any more, had not Night who cows both men and gods protected me. I fled to her and Jove left off looking for me in spite of his being so angry, for he did not dare do anything to displease Night. And now you are again asking me to do something on ...
— The Iliad • Homer
... shilly-shallyings of casuistry, her doctrine was like a bar of iron, her faith never wavered, her conscience knew no scruples. She considered Abraham's sacrifice a very simple affair, for she herself would have instantly killed father or mother at an order from above, and nothing, she averred, could displease the Lord if the intention were commendable. The Countess, taking advantage of the sacred authority of her unexpected ally, drew her on to make an edifying paraphrase, as it were, on the well-known moral maxim: "The end justifies ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 1 (of 8) - Boule de Suif and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant
... is to say, they are moved sometimes in an agreeable, and at other times in a disagreeable way. These effects are necessary; they result from causes that act according to their inherent tendencies., These effects necessarily please or displease me, according to my own nature. This same nature compels me to avoid, to remove, and to combat the one, and to seek, to desire, and to procure the other. In a world where everything is from necessity, a God who remedies ...
— Superstition In All Ages (1732) - Common Sense • Jean Meslier
... Mr. Brand! I don't pity Mr. Brand at all. But I pity your father a little, and I don't want to displease him. Therefore, you see, I want you to plead for me. You don't think ...
— The Europeans • Henry James
... examine Charles at their leisure without fearing to displease the master of the house. Grandet was absorbed in the long letter which he held in his hand; and to read it he had taken the only candle upon the card-table, paying no heed to his guests or their pleasure. Eugenie, to whom such a type of perfection, whether of dress or of ...
— Eugenie Grandet • Honore de Balzac
... to displease him, but I said, "I can't let you have it. There must be three members. ...
— No Pets Allowed • M. A. Cummings
... became more and more suspicious. He saw another reason why the white man must be kept away from Zalu Zako. To refuse to purify him would give a valid excuse that he may not look upon the Son-of-the-Snake. But he did not wish to displease him; also Marufa ...
— Witch-Doctors • Charles Beadle
... sons were giving her much trouble by stealing her goods, and through witchcraft, but had a strong support in Hallstein the Priest. Thord took this matter up swiftly, and said he should have the right of these thieves no matter how it might displease Hallstein. He got speedily ready for the journey with ten men, and Ingun went west with him. [Sidenote: The drowning of Thord] He got a ferry-boat out of Tjaldness. Then they went to Skalmness. Thord had put on board ship all the ...
— Laxdaela Saga - Translated from the Icelandic • Anonymous
... to Miss Heath and said a few words to her in a low voice. Her words were not heard by the anxiously listening girls, but they seemed to displease Miss Heath, who shook her head; but Miss Eccleston held very firmly to her own opinion. After a pause of a few minutes, Miss Heath came forward and addressed the young girls who were ...
— A Sweet Girl Graduate • Mrs. L.T. Meade
... "Now had the second month connubial joys "Beheld; when chasing dusky darkness far, "Aurora ruddy, saw me on the heights "Hymettus flowery rears, as there my toils "For antler'd stags I spread: and there by force "She clasp'd me. Truth I wish to guide my tongue "Nor yet displease the goddess, when I swear "Though bright her roseate cheeks; though wide she sways "Of night and day the confines; though she quaffs "Nectarean liquid, still I Procris lov'd: "Still in my bosom Procris reign'd, and still "Procris, my tongue repeated. Oft I urg'd "The sacred couch, the new-felt joys, ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid
... and her life as the American girl's chaperon was an easy one. The thought that Virginia Beverly might make up her mind to become the Marchesa Loria was disagreeable to Kate Gardiner, and she was glad that the Italian should displease the ...
— The Castle Of The Shadows • Alice Muriel Williamson
... ill Heart to be inclined to Defamation. They who are harmless and innocent, can have no Gratification that way; but it ever arises from a Neglect of what is laudable in a Man's self, and an Impatience of seeing it in another. Else why should Virtue provoke? Why should Beauty displease in such a Degree, that a Man given to Scandal never lets the Mention of either pass by him without offering something to the Diminution of it? A Lady the other Day at a Visit being attacked somewhat rudely by one, whose ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... live. I was looking at the houses in Essex. I would go to Essex, or anywhere you might wish; that need not separate us at all. And why are you so cold and distant, Gerty? Has anything happened here to displease you? Have we frightened you by too much of the boats and of the sea? Would you rather live in an English county away from the sea? But I would do that for you, Gerty—if I was never to ...
— Macleod of Dare • William Black
... looks and manner seemed especially to displease him. He moved directly into the middle of the sidewalk, and squared himself as if ...
— The Errand Boy • Horatio Alger
... meet the wishes of the noble knight your husband. The fondness which you have lavished on the unfortunate, and, I own, most lovely child, has met something like a reproof in the bearing of your household dog.—Displease not your noble husband. Men, as well as animals, are jealous of the affections of ...
— The Abbot • Sir Walter Scott
... region, aware of my feebleness and hearing an inward call to greater heights, it will always be cheering to hear those about me say, "Well done!" Of course in saying this they will inevitably hint that I have not yet reached an end, and their praises will displease unless I too am ready to acknowledge my incompleteness. But when this is acknowledged, praise is welcome and invigorating. I suspect we deal in it too little. If imagination were more active, and we ...
— The Nature of Goodness • George Herbert Palmer
... upon the great wish of my heart, tell her so, but she will know what can be done in time, for she cannot leave England till April or May, at any time before August to be here in good season. I have written to Vermont upon the subject of Moore Town and hear nothing to displease me, as yet, if no mischief has been done to our interests in that country, there will be peace, I believe; but of this more when I have their Governor's answer to my letters. They already ask favours and ...
— Picturesque Quebec • James MacPherson Le Moine
... Forsoth it displease me that my dyner is ended, for I have taken great Certes il me desplaist que mon disner est ...
— An Introductorie for to Lerne to Read, To Pronounce, and to Speke French Trewly • Anonymous
... new resources, if it had not been for the examples, which literary history only too copiously affords, of the risk that attends any attempt to alter the form, or considerably increase the bulk, of a work which, in its original shape, has had the good fortune not to displease the public. I have, however, ventured, by a very sparing selection from sufficiently abundant material, slightly to enlarge, and, I trust, somewhat ...
— Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay • George Otto Trevelyan
... loving you if you will be kind and friendly. If you are not loved, it is a good proof that you do not deserve to be loved. It is true that a sense of duty may, at times, render it necessary for you to do that which will displease your companions. ...
— McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey
... disobedience are very wrong," said a boy to Perez, "because they displease mother." Everything he was accustomed to was ...
— Criminal Man - According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso • Gina Lombroso-Ferrero
... that worries you, we could arrange something. There's no reason we should be near people who displease us or whom we displease, thanks to our money. We might even go ...
— Howards End • E. M. Forster
... must have presented, it quickly decided Carley that Spillbeans was a horse that was not to be opposed. Whenever he wanted a mouthful of grass he stopped to get it. Therefore Carley was always in the rear, a fact which in itself did not displease her. Despite his contrariness, however, Spillbeans had apparently no intention of allowing the other horses to get ...
— The Call of the Canyon • Zane Grey
... so ungracious. You both abuse him and disparage us. His courtiers led the ladies they did choose. Do not displease him, girl. I pray you, go! Dance out your galliard. God's dear holy-bread, Y'are too forgetful. Dance, or by my troth, You'll move my patience. I say you ...
— Collected Poems - Volume Two (of 2) • Alfred Noyes
... knows that a hundred years will hardly suffice to repair the mischief done by this detestable French painting, this mechanical drawing and modelling, built up systematically, and into which nothing of the artist's sensibility may enter. Sir Frederick hinted the truth, and I do not think it will displease him that I should say boldly what he was minded but did not dare to say. The high position he occupies did not allow him to go further than he did; the society of which he is president is now irreparably committed to Anglo-French ...
— Modern Painting • George Moore
... stamping; "the sun has risen on the dishonour of England, and it is not yet avenged.—Ladies and priest, withdraw, if you would not hear orders which would displease you; for, by St. George, ...
— The Talisman • Sir Walter Scott
... everything. They motored up, taking Michael Mont, who, being in his seventh heaven, was found by Winifred "very amusing." "The Beggar's Opera" puzzled Soames. The people were very unpleasant, the whole thing very cynical. Winifred was "intrigued"—by the dresses. The music, too, did not displease her. At the Opera, the night before, she had arrived too early for the Russian Ballet, and found the stage occupied by singers, for a whole hour pale or apoplectic from terror lest by some dreadful inadvertence they might drop into a tune. Michael Mont was enraptured with the whole thing. And ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... he looked the uncertainty he felt. He was between two stools, for he had no mind to displease Flavia or thwart her brother. At length, "No," he said, "I'll not be doing anything in The McMurrough's absence—no, I don't see that I ...
— The Wild Geese • Stanley John Weyman
... of yours will raise suspicions in his mind which may induce him to make disagreeable inquiries," he said, in an angry tone. "I know his disposition, and fully believe that, should he discover anything to displease him, he is capable of breaking off the match altogether. Should he do so, remember, Hilda, you will ...
— Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships - A Story of the Last Naval War • W.H.G. Kingston
... The question of punishment, however, was difficult from the fact that a clerk named Beauchesne, who had been invested with extensive civil power by Champlain, was in the habit of receiving gifts from the Indians. It was consequently considered dangerous to do anything that would displease the Indians, as they were known to be terrible in their vengeance. The Recollets had strongly protested against this method of receiving gifts, which placed the settlement in a false position towards the Indians. It was finally decided to release the prisoner and to ...
— The Makers of Canada: Champlain • N. E. Dionne
... sort of behavior do him? All men laugh at him as a Morychus,[E] shun him as a crackbrain,—get out of his way as a peevish fellow you can do nothing with. Nor can they think ill of him, of whom he says such spiteful things. And though he displeases all, himself alone he cannot displease. ...
— Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. • Erasmus
... it was made during your distant absence; wherefore it is my desire, and I require and command you expressly that you proceed without delay to enter on the duties to which you have received so legitimate a call. And so you will act in a manner very agreeable to me, while the contrary will displease me greatly. Praying God, M. de Montaigne, to have ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne
... that a Hungarian statesman has initiated European movement. If in Europe they are forced to displease Russia, so much the more will they wish to keep Russia in better humour by not thwarting her projects in Armenia, which projects I believe to be just, philanthropic, and necessary under the circumstances; since the inability of the Sultan to rescue the Armenians from ...
— Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman • Giberne Sieveking
... own taste she was considering that evening after dinner when, in walking up and down with Gerald on the gravelled terrace outside the drawing-room, she told him of Althea's standards. She felt responsible for Gerald, and that she owed it to Althea that he should not be allowed to displease her. It had struck her more than once, immersed in self-centred cogitations as she was, that Althea was altogether too ...
— Franklin Kane • Anne Douglas Sedgwick
... historian but as a literary critic and journalist. His fame allowed him to sell his books and articles and make a comfortable living without cow-towing to any government or university. He wrote as he saw fit, truthfully, even though it might displease ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1 (of 6) - The Ancient Regime • Hippolyte A. Taine
... the caressing tone in his voice of which I have already spoken, "tell me wherein I displease you. It would be the effort of ...
— Nancy Stair - A Novel • Elinor Macartney Lane
... conscience no scruples. She looked on Abraham's sacrifice as natural enough, for she herself would not have hesitated to kill both father and mother if she had received a divine order to that effect; and nothing, in her opinion, could displease our Lord, provided the motive were praiseworthy. The countess, putting to good use the consecrated authority of her unexpected ally, led her on to make a lengthy and edifying paraphrase of that axiom enunciated ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant
... interval, "I am very much too good. Whatever you bid me do, that I do. Whatever you bid me not do, that I do not. And you do not thank me, or trust me, or treat me as a friend. Vous avez toujours peur de moi. When I approach you, you have always the air to expect that I will displease you. Have I deserved that? Have I behaved badly once? Did I kiss you when you knew nothing and I held you there in the mud—the night when I lose my umbrella? Mon Dieu, you are very drole, if you have known many men and do not ...
— A Woman's Will • Anne Warner
... deference (Humanitas seu modestia), is the desire of acting in a way that should please men, and refraining from that which should displease them. ...
— The Ethics • Benedict de Spinoza
... victim stumbles, and to let him know that he has made a slip, to hold the student for the whole year under the salutary terror of an approaching examination, to remind him that he may need help and must by no means displease his professor—all this is very agreeable and makes up for many of the worries of the teaching profession. The examination mania proceeds partly from the terror of being oneself examined, and partly from the ...
— The Cult of Incompetence • Emile Faguet
... very fond of shopping, but this pious errand did not displease him in Nancy's company. A few minutes later, when they went out into the cold street, he felt warm and cheerful, and carried under his arm the flat parcel which held a large-print copy of the Scriptures and the little boys' books. Seeing Nancy again seemed to carry his ...
— The Life of Nancy • Sarah Orne Jewett
... deuout asses they were, for all they were so dunstically set forth, & such as thought they knew as much of Gods minde as richer men, why inspiration was their ordinarie familiar, and buzde in theyr eares like a Bee in a boxe euerie houre what newes from heauen, hell, and the lands of whipperginnie, displease them who durst, hee shoulde have his mittimus to damnation ex tempore, they woulde vaunt there was not a pease difference twixt them and the Apostles, they were as poore as they, of as base trades as they, and ...
— The Vnfortunate Traveller, or The Life Of Jack Wilton - With An Essay On The Life And Writings Of Thomas Nash By Edmund Gosse • Thomas Nash
... said firmly; "and you must never let such a word as that pass your lips again. You will displease me very much if you do not treat Mrs. ...
— Hetty's Strange History • Anonymous
... or splendid, lofty or low; all these words are intelligible and common, but they convey no distinct or limited ideas; if he attempts, without the terms of architecture, to delineate the parts, or enumerate the ornaments, his narration at once becomes unintelligible. The terms, indeed, generally displease, because they are understood by few; but they are little understood, only because few that look upon an edifice examine its parts, or analyze its ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume IV: The Adventurer; The Idler • Samuel Johnson
... him?" said the artist. "May the foul fiend pay me if I do! Had it not been that I thought it might displease your worship, I would have had an ounce or two of gold out of him, in exchange of the same ...
— Kenilworth • Sir Walter Scott
... dislikes which I ever heard him express were directed against rudeness, violence, indifference to other people's feelings, and breaches of social decorum. If by such offences as these it was easy to displease him, it was no less easy to obtain his forgiveness, for he was as amiable as he was refined. In old age he wrote, with reference to the wish which some people express for sudden death: "It is a feeling I cannot understand, as I myself shall feel anxious before I ...
— Prime Ministers and Some Others - A Book of Reminiscences • George W. E. Russell
... the book to Wagner, and it makes me anxious to think that it might displease him; I wish I knew something definite. Wagner has given me infinitely great pleasure by sending me his "Nibelungen." I owe this to you; you ...
— Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1 • Francis Hueffer (translator)
... men please themselves so much in their own things, and therein cozen themselves, that very hardly can they escape this pestilence; and desiring to escape it, there is danger of falling into contempt; for there is no other way to be secure from flattery, but to let men know, that they displease thee not in telling thee truth: but when every one hath this leave, thou losest thy reverence. Therefore ought a wise Prince take a third course, making choyce of some understanding men in his ...
— Machiavelli, Volume I - The Art of War; and The Prince • Niccolo Machiavelli
... us, and what pleased our grandparents may at least tranquillise us. The "classic" comes to us out of the cool and quiet of other times; as the measure of what a long experience has shown will at least never displease us. And in the classical literature of Greece and Rome, as in the classics of the last century, the essentially classical element is that quality of order in beauty, which they possess, indeed, [246] in a pre-eminent degree, and which impresses some minds to the exclusion ...
— Appreciations, with an Essay on Style • Walter Horatio Pater
... deal of respect and awe, an honour my friend did not pay to many people. This I found was owing much to the liberal allowance of rope-end which the mate dealt out to his son whenever he neglected his duty, or did anything else to displease him; but of course Master Charley did not confide this fact to me, but allowed me to discover it for myself. In the evening I went back to my grandmother's. I wanted Charley to accompany me, but he said that he thought he had ...
— Will Weatherhelm - The Yarn of an Old Sailor • W.H.G. Kingston
... loaf you mocked this morning, Mistress Deborah; and not the printer. Yet in truth, why should eating in the street displease you, since 'twas a matter of necessity. Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse, and my purse was not over full. But— diligence is the mother of luck, and heaven gives all things to industry. [Footnote: ...
— Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People • Constance D'Arcy Mackay
... he should come before them, and changed the discourse; for, to own the truth, the manner in which he spoke began to displease me. Making my apologies, I retired to my own room, while John Wallingford went out, professedly with the intention of riding over the place of his ancestors, with a view to give it a more critical exanimation than it had hitherto been in ...
— Miles Wallingford - Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore" • James Fenimore Cooper
... right; between her mother's anger and her father's love, Daisy could not see what was just the plumb line of duty. Singing would gain a hundred dollars' worth of good; and not singing would disobey her mother and displease her father; but then came the words of one that Daisy honoured more than father and mother—"Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day;" and she could not tell ...
— Melbourne House, Volume 1 • Susan Warner
... to think that she'd run away and get married on the sly, at a word from that young man; but he doesn't know what a dear innocent soul she is, and how sorry she'd be to displease any one that's kind to her. I don't know anything about Miss Paget. She's more stand-offish than our own Miss, though she is little better than a genteel kind of servant; but she seems fair-spoken enough. As to our Miss, bless her dear heart! she want's no watching, I'll lay. But I daresay ...
— Charlotte's Inheritance • M. E. Braddon
... do something to displease him, he turns all his guns on us, though probably his foreman has to borrow paper from our office to get the Statesman out. The General regards us as his natural prey and his foreman regards our paper stock as his natural forage—but they use so little that we ...
— In Our Town • William Allen White
... am, sir; and if it's wrong I'm sorry to displease you, but I mean no disrespect. I laugh in my sleep—I laugh when I awake—I laugh when the sun shines—I always feel so happy; but though you do mast-head me, Mr. Markitall, I should not laugh, but be very sorry, if any misfortune happened ...
— The Pirate and The Three Cutters • Frederick Marryat
... to what the words meant or whither they tended. After many failures, unwilling to give myself up to idle brooding, I fortunately tried some of the mystical poetry of the seventeenth century. The difficulties of that I found rather stimulate than repel me; while, much as there was in the form to displease the taste, there was more in the matter to rouse the intellect. I found also some relief in resuming my mathematical studies: the abstraction of them acted as an anodyne. But ...
— Wilfrid Cumbermede • George MacDonald
... female line to a second cousin, who had married a cloth merchant in Galway city, to whom nor to her husband did Mr. Morris ever speak. There might be something absurd in this, but there was nothing injurious to his neighbours, and nothing that would be likely to displease the poorer ...
— The Landleaguers • Anthony Trollope
... went in and failed to come out. This was not Tim's fault, however, for the manager released his hold on his stomach long enough to get a grip on Tim's collar. The striker's defiance seemed to displease him, and, because he could not shake Danny, he shook Tim, and he said things to Tim that he would have preferred to say to Danny. Then his excited harangue was interrupted by the sound of a gong, which convinced him that he might ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume V. (of X.) • Various
... not displease your Reverences, and would also be very profitable to the Church of Christ, we found it easy to do what might seem troublesome; for we have also taken charge of the congregation at the General's Bouwery in the evening, as we have told you before. An exception to this ...
— Narrative of New Netherland • J. F. Jameson, Editor
... order. That shews you possessed of the old qualification of patience.—Your hands a little higher. My dear, I would not advise you to regulate your behaviour by anything in other people. Macintosh will make you a kind husband if you do not displease him; but he is one of those ...
— The Old Helmet, Volume I • Susan Warner
... loss[239] at first how to act with regard to the celebration of divine service. March 30, 1635, he wrote to his brother: "You have reason to ask how I must act in the affair of religion; it greatly embarrasses me. It would be an odious thing, and might displease the High Chancellor, to introduce, by my own authority, a new reformed Church: besides, those, to whom I might apply for a Minister, are of different sentiments from me. What you propose, that I should hear the Ministers of Charenton, ...
— The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius • Jean Levesque de Burigny
... to present myself at your doors. Yet it were surely a pity that my non- appearance should defeat your bountiful designs for the replenishing of my pockets. Wherefore I have bethought me, that it might not displease your worships to hear a few particulars about the person and habits of Father Time, with whom, as being one of his errand-boys, I have more acquaintance than most ...
— Time's Portraiture - (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches") • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... "The commissioners met, but did not think fit to do any business, or seal any writs, because of the King's death." Whitelocke says, "I went not to the House, but stayed all day at home in my study, and at my prayers, that this day's work might not so displease God as to bring prejudice to this poor afflicted nation."[8] Evelyn, in his Diary, writes, "I kept the day of this martyrdom as a fast, and would not be present at that execrable wickedness, receiving the sad account of it from ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 20, Issue 558, July 21, 1832 • Various
... work, had its compensations. Living off in suburbs as we did, you can have no idea of what a comfort it was to us not to be at the mercy of a cook who would threaten to leave us every time anything happened to displease her, such as an extra meal to be cooked in emergency cases, or the failure of the cooking-sherry to come up to the exalted standards of her taste as a connoisseur in wines, and hard as the housework ...
— The Autobiography of Methuselah • John Kendrick Bangs
... informed us that there were two very bad men among the Wah-clel-lahs who had been the principal actors in these seenes of outradge of which we complained, and that it was not the wish of the nation by any means to displease us. we told him that we hoped it might be the case, but we should certainly be as good as our words if they presisted in their insolence. I am convinced that no other consideration but our number at this moment protects ...
— The Journals of Lewis and Clark • Meriwether Lewis et al
... phrases of barren benignity with which public documents might be crammed? "The old tricks are again brought into service," said the Prince; "therefore 'tis necessary to ascertain your veritable friends, to tear off the painted masks from those who, under pretence-of not daring to displease the King, are seeking to swim between two waters. 'Tis necessary to have a touchstone; to sign a declaration in such wise that you may know whom to ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... Sir Pierre was holding Lourde stoutly in fief for the English prince, and was in considerable doubt about going, for he knew his man and had suspicions; however, "all thynges consydred, he sayd he wolde go, bycause in no wyse he wolde displease the erle." He left the castle with his brother Jean under strict injunctions, and proceeded to Orthez, where he was handsomely received by the count, "who with great ioye receyued hym, and made hym syt at his ...
— A Midsummer Drive Through The Pyrenees • Edwin Asa Dix
... over, and laid a hand upon Elsie's arm. "Mind what you are about," he said in her ear. "If you say anything to displease this lady, your good mother, it will be the worse for you. The less you say to anybody, the better; and look after the boy. ...
— Little Folks (Septemeber 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various
... the incident in my own young life. First, I want to say that from a child I loved the Lord and my parents taught me what sin was and I didn't want to displease the Lord. But I was not above temptations. So when I saw this little doll, I was tempted by the devil. I had an overmastering desire to have that doll and I was enticed by the hope of the reward of having it for my own and thought no one would know ...
— The Key To Peace • A. Marie Miles
... uncomfortable. Then she added quickly, "Would it displease you if I did not go? I ought to be at a ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 89, May, 1875 • Various
... new Member of the Institute arrived, but in his discourse, copies of which were circulated in Paris, he had ventured to allude to the death of Louis XVI., and to raise his voice against the regicides. This did not displease Napoleon; but M. de Chateaubriand also made a profession of faith in favour of liberty, which, he said, found refuge amongst men of letters when banished from the politic body. This was great boldness for the time; for though Bonaparte was secretly gratified ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton
... some prescribed rule." Burke then warned the house against making a new door into the church for such gentlemen, as ten times their number might be driven out of it, and as it would be inexpedient to displease the clergy of England as a body, for the chance of obliging a few who were, or wanted to be, beneficed clergymen, and who probably were not agreed among themselves as to what required alteration. He concluded ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... close its gates by day would be regarded as an insult to the community,—sickness affording no excuse. Only persons in very great authority have the right of making themselves inaccessible. And to displease the community in which one lives,—especially if the community be a rural one,—is a serious matter. When a community is displeased, if acts as an individual. It may consist of five hundred, a thousand, or several thousand persons; ...
— Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation • Lafcadio Hearn
... you have become; it can't be the same you who once called me 'Sweetheart' and held me so closely in your arms! Have I done anything to displease you, dearest? Aren't you glad that I am going to ...
— The Price of Things • Elinor Glyn
... they remained unpaid. Upon the whole we are warranted in supposing that Bourbon and Frundsberg would hardly have ventured on the course they took if they had not had reason to believe that it would not much displease their master. And Charles was exactly the sort of man who would like to have the profit of an evil deed without the loss of reputation arising from the commission of it, and who would consider himself best ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 9 • Various
... of self-praise. You can have very little skill in morality, that cannot see the justice of commending a man's self, as well as of anything else, in his own defence; and it was want of prudence in you to constrain him to a thing that would so much displease you. ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli
... answer to my last letter, I persuade myself there was nothing in it to displease you; otherwise your general politeness and your kind partiality to me would have led you to give me such instructions as might prevent me from falling into errors in the delicate business in which, under your countenance and with your approbation, I ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham
... "your words were clear enough, but then you were of course referring back to some event, or series of events, in which I had the singular ill fortune to displease you. Maybe you don't know yourself, and spoke only from the emotion generated by the event, or series of events, in which, as I have said, I had the singular ill ...
— The Third Violet • Stephen Crane
... have happened in the case of "Pearson's Magazine." (Consult the article on Free Speech, "The Masses," July, 1917.)—It is hardly necessary to refer to the masterly manner in which all independent persons who displease the authorities are implicated in ...
— The Forerunners • Romain Rolland
... burnt up.... Win for thyself property by right-dealing. Speak truth with the rulers and be obedient. Be modest with friends, clever, and well wishing. Be not cruel, be not covetous.... Combat adversaries with right. Before an assembly speak only pure words. In no wise displease thy mother. Keep thine own body pure ...
— The God-Idea of the Ancients - or Sex in Religion • Eliza Burt Gamble
... the greatest event in Pan's rapidly developing career, though he did not know it then, was when his mother took him over to see his baby, Lucy Blake. It appeared that the parents in both homesteads playfully called her "Pan's baby." That did not displease Pan, but it made him singularly shy. So it was long before his mother could get him to make ...
— Valley of Wild Horses • Zane Grey
... up in these rooms and foully abused, sparing absolutely no one in his greed for such victims, meeting with no resistance from some [who wished to avoid showing any displeasure] but seizing others quite against their will? [Yet these proceedings did not displease the mob very much, but they rather delighted with him in his licentiousness and in the fact that] he also would throw himself on the heap of gold and silver collected from these persons and roll in it. [When, however, after enacting severe laws in regard to the taxes he inscribed them ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio
... are many Spaniards, and even ministers, who are melancholy and crabbed, and so ill-conditioned and moody, that everything wounds them, and they are contented with nothing. All the actions of the Indians displease them, and they even believe that the Indians do them purposely to make them impatient and to jest with them. From such ill-conditioned people the Indians suffer much, and tolerate and endure much, because of their respect for them. Consequently what the reverend ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55 • Francisco Colin
... In the meanwhile supper had been prepared, and the pirate officers, six or seven in number, invited us politely to partake of it; we accepted, as we did not wish to displease them. The meal consisted of onion soup with bread, tolerable fish, and a very good ham, with plenty of excellent Cogniac and Bordeaux wine. During supper the schooner approached the Dolphin, and lay alongside. It was now perfectly dark, and they ...
— Hair Breadth Escapes - Perilous incidents in the lives of sailors and travelers - in Japan, Cuba, East Indies, etc., etc. • T. S. Arthur
... "It would displease Mr. Guy very much if I were to give them back," she said: "but it hardly is right for me to accept them, ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes
... first for to displease; For, full confirm'd that we shall surely die, We wait our ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) • Various
... this morning at eight o'clock, and came along leisurely, arriving at Chokinumu at half-past ten. The chief and his wife who accompanied us pressed us to stay a night in their village, and, seeing it would displease them if we went on, we consented. We had a thorough downpour of rain in the afternoon, after a very hot sun, the thunder rolling all round us. The chief Lohiamalaka and his wife are exceedingly kind and attentive; they have kept close by ...
— Adventures in New Guinea • James Chalmers
... there were very few people, the Queen having left to discuss affairs of state with Cardinal de Lorraine, the Princess de Montpensier arrived. He decided to take this opportunity to speak to her, and going up to her he said, "Although it may surprise and displease you, I want you to know that I have always felt for you that emotion which you once knew so well, and that its power has been so greatly increased by seeing you again that neither your disapproval, the ...
— The Princess of Montpensier • Madame de La Fayette
... effect, though not in substance, the same kind of book? Paine was a coarse writer, without refinement of nature, and he used brutal expressions and hurled his vulgar words about in a manner certain to displease. Still, despite it all, the Age of Reason is a religious book, though a ...
— In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays • Augustine Birrell
... he very earnestly. "But if you will let me be your friend, I will promise to obey you, and I will not say anything that will displease you." ...
— Doctor Claudius, A True Story • F. Marion Crawford
... was now desirous to know what he might do that he might live in another world, and what to avoid, that he might not die for ever. And, being instructed by his parents, he soon laboured to avoid whatsoever might displease God. Now the apprehensions of God, death and eternity, laid such a restraint upon him, that he would not, for a world, have told a lie. He was much taken with reading the book of martyrs, and would willingly leave his dinner ...
— Stories of Boys and Girls Who Loved the Saviour - A Token for Children • John Wesley
... disposition, makes itself felt between one man and another as soon as they begin to talk: every little trifle shows it. When two people of totally different natures are conversing, almost everything said by the one will, in a greater or less degree, displease the other, and in many cases produce positive annoyance; even though the conversation turn upon the most out-of-the-way subject, or one in which neither of the parties has any real interest. People of similar ...
— Counsels and Maxims - From The Essays Of Arthur Schopenhauer • Arthur Schopenhauer
... pressed the matter no further; but more unwilling to displease him than herself she presently went on, with some difficulty; wording what she had to say with as much care as ...
— Queechy • Susan Warner
... I dressed, or what became of me generally,' said Hazel. 'O I suppose Mr. Falkirk cared, but he never shewed it in any way to do me a bit of good. There was no one I could please, and no one I could displease; and so while people thought I had everything, I used to feel all alone, and thought ...
— The Gold of Chickaree • Susan Warner
... will bandy accusations with me, why did you accept me when I told you that I could not love you? But, indeed, indeed, I would not say a word to displease you, if you would only spare me. We were both wrong; but the wrong must now be put right. You would not wish to take me for your wife when I tell you that my heart is full of affection for another man. Then, when I yielded, I was struggling to cure that ...
— The Vicar of Bullhampton • Anthony Trollope
... leaving. Her carriage had not yet come. She could wait a few minutes longer. He promised to be quiet, not to talk to her, as long as it seemed to displease her. ...
— Woman Triumphant - (La Maja Desnuda) • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... came Thor seemed to be in no great haste to leave the basin. Until the sun was well up he continued to wander about the meadow and the edge of the lake, digging up occasional roots, and eating tender grass. This did not displease Muskwa, who made his breakfast of the dog-tooth violet bulbs. The one matter that puzzled him was why Thor did not go into the lake and throw out trout, for he yet had to learn that all water did not contain ...
— The Grizzly King • James Oliver Curwood
... mention of Mark Lemon, of whom our recent play, and his dramatic adaptation of the Chimes, had given him pleasant experiences, if I felt less strongly not only that its publication would have been gladly sanctioned by the subject of it, but that it will not now displease another to whom also it refers, herself the member of a family in various ways distinguished on the stage, and to whom, since her husband's death, well-merited sympathy and respect have been paid. "After turning Mrs. Lemon's portrait ...
— The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete • John Forster
... and torn, And the Infanta only holds a thorn. Frightened, perplexed, she follows with her eyes Into the basin where her ruin lies, Looks up to heaven, and questions of the breeze That had not feared her highness to displease; But all the pond is changed; anon so clear, Now back it swells, as though with rage and fear; A mimic sea its small waves rise and fall, And the poor rose is broken by them all. Its hundred leaves tossed wildly round and round Beneath a thousand ...
— Poems • Victor Hugo
... and adulterate beauty will give pleasure to minds imbued with deformed opinions whom a true and solid beauty often cannot affect. It follows there is nothing so ugly that it will not please someone or other, and nothing on the other hand so absolutely beautiful that it will not displease someone. Farmers will be found to dance to absurd songs, and whole theaters time and again roar at the tasteless jokes of the actors. Similarly, there are a good many who find little or no delight in Vergil or Terence, though there ...
— An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams • Pierre Nicole
... companions to the market: and among the rest, he called aloud to one Salonius, who had been a clerk under him, and asked him whether he had married his daughter? He answered, no, nor would he, till he had consulted him. Said Cato, "Then I have found out a fit son-in-law for you, if he should not displease by reason of his age; for in all other points there is no fault to be found in him; but he is indeed, as I said, extremely old." However, Salonius desired him to undertake the business, and to give the young girl to whom he pleased, she being a humble servant of his, ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough |
