"Compliment" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... curious to see how differently the sisters took this compliment—the proud Caliste's lip slightly curled in scorn at it, as a mere kind commonplace; Lisette blushed, and took the praise as all her own; Victorine smiled good-humouredly, and little Mimi archly took up her uncle's words, and inquired "if he had come to Salency, to ...
— The Young Lord and Other Tales - to which is added Victorine Durocher • Camilla Toulmin
... my meaning," he was saying rather loudly: "this is the difference in our outlook on life. If you say 'she dresses well,' you intend a compliment, but to me it is just the reverse. The idea is repellent to me that a woman wastes time, thought, money on her ...
— Ladies Must Live • Alice Duer Miller
... woman was beside him, dark eyes flashing through her mask, red lips wreathed into a smile. The next moment reserve had broken down and he was dancing with her, acquitting himself with sufficient grace to pass muster, and almost as ready with his compliment as she was ...
— The Light That Lures • Percy Brebner
... not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I think all these Notions and Representations of Hell and of the Devil, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, ...
— The History of the Devil - As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts • Daniel Defoe
... been a compliment," she chuckled, as she followed Connie with a second plate of biscuits, "for they always seem to ...
— Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island - The Mystery of the Wreck • Janet D. Wheeler
... other fellow had his eyes open? Will you tell me that? Where, I say? What's more, where would I be now if I hadn't looked ahead and seen what a marriage with the daughter of Judge Morton would mean to me in the long run?" He felt that he had uttered a very pretty and convincing compliment." I never made a bad bargain in my life, Lou, and it wasn't guess-work when I married you. You, my dear old girl, you were the ...
— The Prince of Graustark • George Barr McCutcheon
... the good Maritomes remained confounded on hearing the words of the knight-errant, which they understood as well as if he had spoken in Greek, but yet they believed they were words of compliment, and so they thanked him for his courtesy and departed, leaving Sancho and ...
— The Junior Classics, V4 • Willam Patten (Editor)
... fair share of training, of encouragement, of remuneration, and then talk fine nonsense about her instincts and her intuitions,—say sentimentally, with the Oriental proverbialist, "Every book of knowledge is implanted by nature in the heart of woman," and make the compliment a substitute for ...
— Atlantic Monthly Vol. 3, No. 16, February, 1859 • Various
... amongst the two great religious parties in the land—the Protestants and the Catholics,—for when one side got into power they slaughtered their opponents, and when the other became paramount the compliment was returned. The church we have here to describe is dedicated to those English Catholics who, in the stormy days of persecution, were martyred. It is situated on the northern side of the town, in a new and rapidly increasing ...
— Our Churches and Chapels • Atticus
... sano," said the Italian, jingling the four napoleons in his pocket, which had been six on yesterday morning. Then they sauntered up to the Englishman, and both of them touched their hats to him. The Englishman just acknowledged the compliment, and walked off with his companion, who was still ...
— Mr. Scarborough's Family • Anthony Trollope
... flight. Thus he won back to France, no whit the better for his expedition, and the only mark of his passage which he left behind him was an obscene ailment, which, with the coming of the French into Italy, first manifested itself in Europe, and which the Italians paid them the questionable compliment of calling "the French disease"—morbo ...
— The Life of Cesare Borgia • Raphael Sabatini
... compliment, and hastened to change the subject. She was glad to behold, in the distance, the lights gleaming from the Brier cottage, and hurried forward, the sooner to be rid of her not altogether welcome company. Mrs. Brier chanced to be standing in the front door, as they ...
— Clemence - The Schoolmistress of Waveland • Retta Babcock
... the young woman's reserve ungracious, or was it only natural that in her particular situation she should not have a flow of compliment at her command? I noticed that Mrs. Nettlepoint looked at her often, and certainly though she was undemonstrative Miss Mavis was interesting. The candle-light enabled me to see that if she was not in the very first flower of her youth she was still a handsome ...
— A London Life; The Patagonia; The Liar; Mrs. Temperly • Henry James
... nothing to say, Mr. Meyer, except that I do not love you or any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you have paid me, ...
— Benita, An African Romance • H. Rider Haggard
... bildin. I writ him not to mention it. The Col. says it is fortnit we live in a intellectooal age which wouldn't countenance such infamus things as occurd in this Tower. I'm aware that it is fashin'ble to compliment this age, but I ain't so clear that the Col. is altogether right. This is a very respectable age, but it's pretty easily riled; and considerin upon how slight a provycation we who live in it go to cuttin each other's throats, it may perhaps be doubted whether our intellecks is so ...
— The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, Part 5 • Charles Farrar Browne
... toward their sex, and he has regularly insisted upon carrying his researches beyond that period of green girlhood which appears to be all of a woman's life that can interest the popular fiction-mongers. He knows, without anywhere putting it precisely into words, that the elaborate language of compliment used by Americans toward women, though deriving perhaps from a time when women were less numerous on the frontier than men and were therefore specially prized and praised, has become for the most part a hollow language. The pioneer ...
— Contemporary American Novelists (1900-1920) • Carl Van Doren
... Christian, that I may return the Compliment, seem to have been Scholar to Epicurus, or brought up in the Catian School. For what's more delicate or nice than ...
— Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. • Erasmus
... language better than he could speak it, returned a laughing bow at Ben's compliment but made no further reply. Possibly he was scant of breath at ...
— Hans Brinker - or The Silver Skates • Mary Mapes Dodge
... "I shall be happy to show you over it." Then he turned to Mary. "I am afraid it would be no compliment to you. Ladies are not interested ...
— A Perilous Secret • Charles Reade
... don't you know, what I mean is, that's what I wanted to say, you know,' I turned round and soothed him. I said I didn't love him. He said, 'No, no, of course not.' I said he had paid me a great compliment. He said, 'Not at all,' looking very anxious, poor darling, as if even then he was afraid of what might come next. But I reassured him, and he cheered up, and we walked back to the house together, ...
— The Intrusion of Jimmy • P. G. Wodehouse
... are now almost wholly dispensed with. Persons who meet at a friend's house are ostensibly upon an equality, and pay a bad compliment to the host by appearing suspicious and formal. Some old-fashioned country hosts yet persevere in introducing each new comer to all the assembled guests. It is a custom that cannot be too soon abolished, and one that places the last unfortunate visitor in ...
— Routledge's Manual of Etiquette • George Routledge
... tar was not slow to return the compliment with a grasp that was still less childlike—at the same time he ...
— The Pirate City - An Algerine Tale • R.M. Ballantyne
... Dickinson afforded the ladies an opportunity to attest their admiration for her as a representative woman, which they did, giving her a public breakfast, September 14. Their honored guest appreciated the compliment; and in an earnest and eloquent speech referred to it, saying that although she had received many demonstrations of the kind, this was the first ever given her ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various
... explorer, and a historian; and who shone unsurpassed for knightly graces and accomplishments amid the stars of the court. Such instances were not rare and prodigious. Raleigh was not the Crichton of his age; if the compliment belongs to anyone peculiarly, it is Sidney; but as we read over the list of distinguished persons to whom Spenser addressed dedicatory stanzas to be "sent with the Faerie Queene," we become more and more at a loss to distinguish the greatest among them; and we could ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1-20 • Various
... would have thy consent, But faith I never could compliment; I can say nought but 'hoy, gee ho,' Words that belong to the cart and ...
— Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England • Robert Bell
... well that a man should be agreeable. Pleasantness is always a pleasing thing. And a sensible man, seeking by honest means to make himself agreeable, will generally succeed in making himself agreeable to sensible men. But although there is an implied compliment, to your power, if not to your personality, in the fact of a man's taking pains to make himself agreeable to you, it is certain that he may try to make himself so by means of which the upshot will be to make him intensely disagreeable. You know the fawning, sneaking manner which an occasional ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 58, August, 1862 • Various
... their fine cider. The best cider in Massachusetts—that which brought the highest price—was known as the Arminian cider, because the minister who furnished it to the market was suspected of having Arminian tendencies. A very telling compliment to the cider of one of the first New England ministers is thus recorded: "Mr. Whiting had a score of appill-trees from which he made delicious cyder. And it hath been said yt an Indyan once coming to hys house and Mistress Whiting giving ...
— Sabbath in Puritan New England • Alice Morse Earle
... He urged a compliment upon her only once more that day; but she gratefully took it to bed with her: "You're just like this glade—make a fellow feel kinda calm and want to be good," he said. "I'm going to cut out—all this boozing and stuff— Course you understand I ...
— The Job - An American Novel • Sinclair Lewis
... rector's great amazement, and inward indignation, the object of his sermon seemed to take it as a personal compliment. Mr. Mordacks not only failed to wince, but finding himself particularly fixed by the gaze of the eloquent divine, concluded that it was from his superior intelligence, and visible gifts of appreciation. Delighted with this—for he was not free from vanity—what did he do ...
— Mary Anerley • R. D. Blackmore
... Would it not imply almost that Christ himself could not righteously sacrifice himself, especially when we consider that the Romanists would have a right to say, that Christ himself had commanded it? But Bellarmine's conceit [9] is so absurd that it scarce deserves the compliment of a serious confutation. For if sacramental being be opposed to natural or material, as 'noumenon' to 'phaenomenon', place is no attribute or possible accident of it 'in se'; consequently, no alteration of place relatively to ...
— The Literary Remains Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge • Edited By Henry Nelson Coleridge
... the governor with our arrival, and to request the necessary stores and refreshments; which were readily granted. As soon as the officer came back, we saluted the garrison with thirteen guns, which compliment was immediately returned with an ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) • Robert Kerr
... his blarney, sorr," put in the mate eagerly, bursting into a roar of merriment, although blushing purple with delight the while at the skipper's compliment. "Why, sorr, whin I go to slape sometimes, the ...
— The Wreck of the Nancy Bell - Cast Away on Kerguelen Land • J. C. Hutcheson
... excessively commonplace person, and had invited him to her social gatherings out of courtesy to Overtop; but her artist eye saw in him a fitness for the fat man. Matthew was delighted with the implied compliment to those talents for the stage which every man supposes himself to possess in some degree, and cheerfully undertook ...
— Round the Block • John Bell Bouton
... Spartan brevity (compare Thucydid.), acknowledging at the same time that there may be occasions when long discourses are necessary. The family of Megillus is the proxenus of Athens at Sparta; and he pays a beautiful compliment to the Athenian, significant of the character of the work, which, though borrowing many elements from Sparta, is also pervaded by an Athenian spirit. A good Athenian, he says, is more than ordinarily good, because he is inspired by nature and not manufactured by law. The love ...
— Laws • Plato
... Mademoiselle Pearl was the better of the two, a hundred times better, daintier, prouder, more noble. I was surprised at my observation. They were pouring out champagne. I held my glass up to the queen and, with a well-turned compliment, I drank to her health. I could see that she felt inclined to hide her head in her napkin. Then, as she was dipping her lips in the clear wine, everybody cried: "The queen drinks! the queen drinks!" She almost turned purple ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant
... critical a navigation, the further examination was given up, and we bore up to coast along the eastern shore; but, from the shoalness of the water, we were obliged to sail at so great a distance that its continuity was by no means distinctly traced. The inlet was named Exmouth Gulf, in compliment to ...
— Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia - Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 • Phillip Parker King
... imitation of her old friend and school-fellow; but that having some compunctions of conscience on the subject, inasmuch as I had always been rather kindly disposed to both of them, they had thought it better in the first instance to pay me the compliment of asking whether I would have any objection to their being married in the usual matter-of-fact manner. There now, Mr. Pickwick, if you can make it convenient to reduce your eyes to their usual size again, and to let me hear what you think we ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens
... which occupied a whole column of a newspaper, and needed three men to read, with a boy for the "envoy." But this ditty was not thought to have seriously affected the voting classes in any direction. LEGION was now usually spoken of as "the versatile Mr. LEGION," a compliment which never failed to annoy him hugely. Sated with popular applause, he turned into a vein of new poetry, and produced The Song of the Spud, which, his admirers averred was "racy of the soil." A grand English Opera, on the Pilgrimage of Grace, was performed, at immense ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 103, November 12, 1892 • Various
... be very affectionate. Perhaps it marks out a better disposition of heart than all the studied phrases which are in use among us, and which politeness almost always makes use of at the expense of sincerity. After this first compliment, many other friendly questions are asked about the health of the family, mentioning each of the children distinctly, whose names they know," ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I • Francis Augustus Cox
... fine as could be imagined, and it was spent with a more cheerful feeling than we had experienced since we quitted the depot on the Lachlan. The river running through the valley was named Bell's River, in compliment to Brevet Major Bell, of the 48th Regiment; the valley Wellington Valley; and the stream on which we ...
— Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales • John Oxley
... but the chief whom they wish to punish is my uncle.(480) He is the more to be pitied, because nobody will pity him. They are not fond of a formal message which the States General have sent to Sir Robert, "to compliment him on his new honour, and to condole with him on being out of the ministry, which will be ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 • Horace Walpole
... mantles his face whenever he recalls the circumstance of one of Custer's staff coming to his quarters after the parade, to convey with the general's compliments the pleasant information that General Sheridan had personally requested him to compliment the officers and men of the regiment, on its excellent appearance and soldierly bearing on the review. Only a short time before, General Kilpatrick had sent a similar message after seeing the regiment at brigade drill. How cheering these messages were; ...
— Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman - With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War • J. H. (James Harvey) Kidd
... to return this bitter, but unintentional mockery of compliment. He bowed his head, and remained a moment silent; then, motioning to his train, four of his officers approached, and kneeling beside Ferdinand, proffered to him, upon a silver buckler, the keys of ...
— Leila, Complete - The Siege of Granada • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... heretofore published." The author was, moreover, permitted to present his book in person to the sovereign. For this purpose he repaired to Versailles, and after having well delivered himself of his compliment to royalty, perceived that he had forgotten to bring the book which he was to present; he was, nevertheless, favourably received, and loaded with presents. But it is added, that, on his return, he also lost, by his absence of mind, the purse full of gold which ...
— The Fables of La Fontaine - A New Edition, With Notes • Jean de La Fontaine
... to represent a camp of the Alemanni, surprised and seized by Roman warriors. In this there was a covert compliment to Caesar, who, after a doubtful victory over that valiant people, had assumed the name of Alemannicus. Part of the gladiators, clothed in skins, represented the barbarians, and wore long flowing wigs of red or yellow hair; others played the ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... know how you contrive, mother, always to say the most disagreeable things; the marvellous way in which you pitch on what will, at the moment, wound me most, is truly wonderful. I compliment you on your skill, but I confess I am at a loss to understand why you should, as if by right, expect me to remain here to serve as a target for the arrows of ...
— Celibates • George Moore
... noticing the delicate compliment that the Judge had paid her. In her heart she was really concerned for fear she might not be able to get on friendly terms ...
— The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure • Lizette M. Edholm
... carefully avoiding every advance, which could indicate the slightest partiality in favor of either of the belligerent powers to the prejudice of the others," cannot be too much admired. But it would be paying an ill compliment to that penetration, for which her Majesty is so justly celebrated, to suppose, that she did not also from that very moment clearly discover the importance of the American revolution, at least to all the maritime powers of Europe, and that it was the only basis, upon which ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. VIII • Various
... young, the timid, the half-informed—to her alone he did not disdain to exhibit all the stores of his knowledge, all the best and brightest colours of his mind. She modestly wondered at so strange a preference. Perhaps a sudden and blunt compliment which Maltravers once addressed to her may explain it. One day, when she had conversed more freely and more fully than usual, he broke in upon her with this ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... were as well served abroad as the King of Spain is here," she said aloud, that the retreating ambassador might hear the dubious compliment; and for my lord's ear alone she added under her breath: "The spy! Philip of ...
— The Historical Nights Entertainment, Second Series • Rafael Sabatini
... exclaimed King, proudly, strutting about the room, elated with the compliment. "It's worth while having an uncle who says things like that to you," and the others willingly ...
— Marjorie's Maytime • Carolyn Wells
... glass of wine and a dinner like this an insult," he said, "'pon my word I don't know what you'd call a compliment." ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson
... officers were cordially received by Governor Plattenberg, who expressed the deepest regret to hear of the loss of Cook, and requested that he should be sent a portrait of the Captain to place in a blank space he pointed out between two portraits of De Ruyter and Van Tromp—a gracious compliment. Sailing from Simon's Bay on 9th May, the trades were picked up on the 14th, and on 13th June the line was crossed in longitude 26 degrees 16 minutes West. The coast of Ireland was sighted on 12th August, and an attempt ...
— The Life of Captain James Cook • Arthur Kitson
... Tony for his kind feeling for me, and assured him that I considered it a compliment that he had called his dog ...
— On the Banks of the Amazon • W.H.G. Kingston
... first month of a news so far deriv'd, And that to hear and bear news brave folks liv'd, As being a carriage special hard to bear Occurrents, these occurrents being so dear, They did with grace protest, they were content T' accost their friends with all their compliment, For Hymen's good; but to incur their harm, There he must pardon them. This wit went warm To Adolesche's brain, a nymph born high, Made all of voice and fire, that upwards fly: Her heart and all her forces' nether train Climb'd to her tongue, and thither fell her brain, Since it could go no ...
— Hero and Leander and Other Poems • Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
... such things, I suppose they are useful in their way; but let nobody ever imagine that they are a form of pleasure. People smearing each other over with stupid flattery, and most of the company being in dread of receiving some compliment which should oblige ...
— Friends in Council (First Series) • Sir Arthur Helps
... more bewildered than ever. He was incapable of conceiving of such falsehood as the other's. It seemed to him now that Prudence might be mistaken, and have converted a mere compliment into an insult, so contrary appeared, the intimations which she had made to what was to be expected from the years and gravity of the Assistant. The freedom with which Spikeman spoke of kissing the girl confirmed the idea, and Philip fancied ...
— The Knight of the Golden Melice - A Historical Romance • John Turvill Adams
... over the same route as you avoid ambuscade and widen your field of reconnaissance. 2. Report any special features of military value that you have seen to your C.O. 3. Compliment ...
— Military Instructors Manual • James P. Cole and Oliver Schoonmaker
... an immense compliment. I've the greatest respect for nonsense, I owe it so much; and I really think if nonsense were banished, the earth would ...
— Uncle Silas - A Tale of Bartram-Haugh • J.S. Le Fanu
... and mementoes, various portraits of Pestalozzi and his wife, manuscripts and so forth. The simple-hearted woman who did the honours was quite overcome by our knowledge of and interest in her pedagogical hero, but she did not return the compliment. I asked her if the townspeople knew about Friedrich Froebel, but ...
— Penelope's Postscripts • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... of six tyrants instead of one. Your agent is to wheedle, and your bailiff to bully him; the one must promise, and the other threaten; but if both fail, you must try him yourself. Should he become intractable under all this, you must take purer measures.—Compliment him on his wife—praise and admire his children—play upon his affections, and corrupt him through his very virtues—for that will show that you love your country and her people better than your own interests. Place a promise of independence on one side of him, but a ruined cottage ...
— Valentine M'Clutchy, The Irish Agent - The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two • William Carleton
... expect the compliment of you?" asked Miss Incledon, looking at her in surprise; "I did not know that you were on such ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various
... that should resound For ever awful in Britannia's ear: "Religion crowns the statesman and the man, Sole source of public and of private peace." This truth all men must own, and therefore will, And praise and preach it too:—and when that's done, Their compliment is paid, and 'tis forgot. What highland pole-axe half so deep can wound? But how dare I, so mean, presume so far? Assume my seat in the dictator's chair? Pronounce, predict (as if indeed inspir'd), Promulge my censures, lay out all my throat, ...
— The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2 • Edward Young
... just in time to enter directly in the rear of a lady and gentleman, whom he saw coming up the street. "Miss Stanhope invited me to call again, without particularizing how soon, and I can turn my speedy acceptance into a compliment to their music, without even a white lie, for it does sound extremely attractive to a lonely, ...
— Elsie's Girlhood • Martha Finley
... been considerable disturbance among the crowd, between the partisans of Charles and Montgolfier; each party extolled its hero, and did everything possible to detract from the merits of the rival inventor. But whatever ill-feeling might have existed was swept away by Professor Charles with a compliment. When he was ready to ascend, he walked up to Montgolfier, and, with the true instinct of French politeness, presented him with a little balloon, ...
— Wonderful Balloon Ascents - or, the Conquest of the Skies • Fulgence Marion
... Butzbach as novice-master represented the humanities, and was called upon for a poem. Readiness was not his strong point; as a preacher he never could overcome his nervousness. He asked leave to retire to his cell, and there in solitude wrung out some verses of compliment; which found such favour that, to his regret, he was often ...
— The Age of Erasmus - Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London • P. S. Allen
... direct the current of legislation which flowed smoothly or turbidly before him. The resolution of thanks to the Speaker, moved by a member of the minority, and passed unanimously by the House, was no unmeaning compliment, but was an honor fairly ...
— History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States • Wiliam H. Barnes
... that was not enough for one day, to test her power over me, to-night she made me dance with her. And now I feel like a fool as I think of Etty playing a waltz for us, at Flora's request, and giving me a long, serious look as I approached the piano to compliment her playing. I could not utter a word. I answered her gaze with one as sober, and more sad, and came away to my room, to have some talk with my ...
— Autumn Leaves - Original Pieces in Prose and Verse • Various
... in your own party in the University. Our Society, in fact, considers you to be distinguished Confessors in that all-momentous occupation; and I have thought I could not pay yourself individually, whose name has lately honourably appeared in the papers, a better compliment than to get you elected a member of our Truth Society. And here is your diploma," he added, handing a sheet of paper to him. Charles glanced his eye over it; it was a paper, part engraving, part print, part manuscript. An emblem of truth was in the centre, represented, not by a radiating ...
— Loss and Gain - The Story of a Convert • John Henry Newman
... tried. "I wonder, sir, how much you'd take to go home?" I once heard a master ask of a red-coated stranger who was certainly more often among the hounds than he need have been. "Nothing on earth, sir, while you carry on as you are doing just at present," said the stranger. The master accepted the compliment, and the ...
— Hunting Sketches • Anthony Trollope
... stationed there was roused is not to be wondered at, the history given by the natives of Amine's escape appeared so miraculous. From the Commandant to the lowest servant, every one was waiting to receive her. The beauty of Amine, her perfect form, astonished them. The Commandant addressed a long compliment to her in Portuguese, and was astonished that she did not make a suitable reply; but as Amine did not understand a word that he said, it would have been more surprising if ...
— The Phantom Ship • Captain Frederick Marryat
... commodore, this matchless new boat"—he paused to let the compliment sink in, his eye wandering to Watson, who had sauntered down from the texas roof—"this Votaress, swept past everything that had backed out at New ...
— Gideon's Band - A Tale of the Mississippi • George W. Cable
... of the youthful author of the "Abuse of Satire" had transpired, Peter Pindar, faithful to the instinct of his nature, wrote a letter of congratulation and compliment to his assailant, and desired to make his acquaintance. The invitation was responded to, and until the death of Wolcot, they were intimate. My father always described Wolcot as a warm-hearted man; coarse in his ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli
... stationed to act as occasion might require. The dispositions were made in so masterly a manner, as to draw forth a hearty eulogium from old Carbajal, who exclaimed, "Surely the Devil or Valdivia must be among them!" and undeniable compliment to the latter, since the speaker was ignorant of that commander's presence in the ...
— The History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William H. Prescott
... keeping with his chivalric nature, Morgan, instead of picking up his fallen mask and covering his face immediately, so that Madame de Montrevel could only have retained a fleeting and confused impression of it—Morgan replied to her compliment by a low bow, leaving his features uncovered long enough to produce their impression; then, placing d'Assas' flask in Madame de Montrevel's hand—and then only—he replaced his mask. Madame de Montrevel understood the young ...
— The Companions of Jehu • Alexandre Dumas
... The question pierced to the very marrow of his soul, but it was put with the utmost suavity and courtesy, and honeyed with a compliment to the young lady, too, so that there was no avoiding a direct and ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 117, July, 1867. • Various
... consists of a relation of how the gentleman prowled by moonlight in a garden, while the lady, in an agitated disorder, peeped out of her lattice in "a most charming Dishabillee." Alas! there was a lock to the door of a garden staircase, and while the lady "was paying a Compliment to the Recluse, he was dextrous enough to slip the Key out of the Door unperceived." Ann Lang!—"a sudden cry of Murder, and the noise of clashing Swords," come none too soon to save those blushes which, we hope, you ...
— Gossip in a Library • Edmund Gosse
... after marriage, took the name Matilda in compliment to Henry's mother), daughter to Malcolm King of Scotland by Margaret, granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, had been brought up by her aunt Christina, and placed in Romsey Abbey for security against ...
— The Visions of England - Lyrics on leading men and events in English History • Francis T. Palgrave
... silence followed. Tom, the irrepressible, broke it with a slap on the shoulder and the grateful compliment,—"Old Trib, ...
— The Universal Reciter - 81 Choice Pieces of Rare Poetical Gems • Various
... were a kind of wandering Medusa's heads, and their look caused an instant horror which was immediately followed by death. In Shakspeare's play of "Richard the Third," Lady Anne, in answer to Richard's compliment on her eyes, says, "Would they were basilisk's, to strike ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch
... from the compliment and the honor of it, I feel added gratification and added pleasure that I should be invited to write a foreword for the first American edition of Miss Daisy Ashford's second book. You see, I claim the distinction of having been the first person in America ...
— Daisy Ashford: Her Book • Daisy Ashford
... basing his objections on the ground that the bill violated the provisions of the fundamental railroad law of the state. He was opposed by Tammany Hall, led by John Kelley, who declared that the labor element disliked him. Kelley's reputation, however, was such that his hostility seemed like a compliment and gave force to General Bragg's assertion, in seconding the nomination of Cleveland, that his friends "love him most for the enemies he has made." The first ballot proved that the Governor was stronger than his competitors, Senator Bayard, Allen G. Thurman, Samuel J. Randall ...
— The United States Since The Civil War • Charles Ramsdell Lingley
... subject, master and servant, and the rest which I have already repeated, he makes no exception, but sums up the whole with commanding "all to be subject one to another." Whence we may conclude that this subjection due from all men to all men is something more than the compliment of course, when our betters are pleased to tell us they are our humble servants, but understand us ...
— Three Sermons, Three Prayer • Jonathan Swift
... would not insist on his declaration of love, that she knew to be untrue, as if the compliment of it must be a balm to a spirit ...
— Nobody • Louis Joseph Vance
... more manner, and your clothes were fashionably made, you would far excel the city girls," he said, a compliment which ...
— Cousin Maude • Mary J. Holmes
... accepted his compliment graciously and walked across the grass to the drive, where her car panted almost noiselessly, as is the way of good cars, and he put her in with the manner of a jeweller putting a precious diamond pendant into a case. He watched the car disappear, and considered that some men are undeservedly ...
— The Pointing Man - A Burmese Mystery • Marjorie Douie
... opinions he himself then entertained. He speaks in one place, in his assumed character of an Englishman, of the solidity and purity of our ethics as giving a superior tone to our moral feelings as contrasted with the French. He goes out of his way to compliment George III. One of the personages in the novel was tempted to admit something to his credit that he did not deserve. The love of truth, however, finally prevailed. But it was not because the man himself had any innate love of truth, but because ...
— James Fenimore Cooper - American Men of Letters • Thomas R. Lounsbury
... as great a defect as the lack of the word compliment would be in these smooth-spoken times, but still the want is felt, and the feeling is shown by such awkward expedients as the expression 'a left-handed compliment.' Then, besides, they might give the seal of legitimacy to a fine lot of words and phrases, the need of which is shown by their being spontaneously invented, and universally adopted by the vulgar; but ...
— The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... Englishman, to be sure! When people, driven by dire necessity, had their heart in their mouth at the very notion of encountering that rough sea, here was a person who thought of crossing and returning for no reason on earth—a trifling compliment to his friends—a pleasure excursion—a break in the monotony of ...
— Sunrise • William Black
... except by reputation. Numbers of them asked me whether the General in front was Longstreet; and when I answered in the affirmative, many would run on a hundred yards in order to take a good look at him. This I take to be an immense compliment from any ...
— Three Months in the Southern States, April-June 1863 • Arthur J. L. (Lieut.-Col.) Fremantle
... of a father, as well as a most pleasing compliment to his wife, when, on being asked by a friend what he intended to do with his girls, he replied: "I intend to apprentice them to their mother, that they may learn the art of improving time, and be fitted to become wives, mothers, heads of families, and useful members of society." Equally just, ...
— Life and Literature - Over two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers, - and classified in alphabetical order • J. Purver Richardson
... will see that the commander of the guard is furnished with the parole and countersign before retreat in case they are to be used, and will inform him of the presence in post or camp of any person entitled to the compliment. (32) ...
— Manual of Military Training - Second, Revised Edition • James A. Moss
... "No. It is a compliment to you, gentlemen, for our government apparently places a higher value on you than on us, and is very chary of swelling Frederick's armies by the release of prisoners. Somehow your king seems to make double use of his soldiers. He fights a battle ...
— With Frederick the Great - A Story of the Seven Years' War • G. A. Henty
... The little compliment pleased John, and he answered, "You shall do just as you wish, darling! I would give up everything to see you look as you ...
— The Measure of a Man • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
... not really displeased by the compliment, which was evidently sincere. "I believe anyone would have done just what ...
— The Camp Fire Girls on the Farm - Or, Bessie King's New Chum • Jane L. Stewart
... has been slowly and painfully accomplished, the extremities in question are not less small but infinitely less graceful than the select and naturally-formed pair which this person sees before him." And at the ingeniously-devised compliment (which, not to become large-headed in self-imagination, it must be admitted was revealed to me as available for practically all occasions by the really ...
— The Mirror of Kong Ho • Ernest Bramah
... Lutchester suggested, "that he has done what certainly seems the most reasonable thing—gone straight off to the War Office with his formula and forgotten all about us. Let us return the compliment and forget all ...
— The Pawns Count • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... a proposal of marriage would be the greatest compliment that a man could pay a girl. But the proposal of the man in front of her did not seem in the least complimentary. She realized—with the only feeling of irony she had ever known, that this proposal was her very first. And she was looking upon it as an insult. With a tiny ...
— The Island of Faith • Margaret E. Sangster
... ambassador at Constantinople. Clever Lady Mary, however, entirely declined to be subjugated by the pathetic fallacy, and sent back a matter-of-fact epitaph for John Hewet and Sarah Drew, which, though it wound up with a compliment to her correspondent, can hardly have gratified him. But there is one letter of this time the sincerity of which is undoubted. It is Pope's announcement to Martha Blount of his father's death. "My poor Father dyed last night," ...
— Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 7 of 8 • Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne
... downcast eyes, softly sparkling through the veil of their long lashes, gave extra warmth to the ambrosial wine,—and he could not refrain from occasionally whispering a tender flattery or delicate compliment in the ear of one or other of his sylph-like servitors, though they all appeared curiously unmoved by his choicely worded adulation. Now and then a pale, flickering blush or sudden smile brightened their faces, but for the most part they maintained a demure and serious ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli
... as though he considered this a dubious compliment, since it seemed to imply that Toby must have at times doubted the truth of his assertion. But Jack, after examining the earth oven, declared that it was ...
— Jack Winters' Campmates • Mark Overton
... to see you again, Mr. Hendrickson." There was more than a parting compliment in her tones as she said these words. "I have never thought you stupid." What pleasure he derived from repeating these sentences over and over again! Early in the evening he called ...
— The Hand But Not the Heart - or, The Life-Trials of Jessie Loring • T. S. Arthur
... view from its summit. A range of peaks bore N. 57 degrees W.; another range, with undulating outline, was seen to the south-east; and another less prominent range bore N. 45 degrees W. The hill is in latitude 23 degrees 10 minutes, and bears the name of Mount Stewart, in compliment to Mr. Stewart, veterinary surgeon of Sydney, to whom I am indebted for great ...
— Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia • Ludwig Leichhardt
... epigram "Ad Gulielmum Shakespeare" (1599), in which "Romeo" and "Richard" share the praises with the narrative poems. From this time on, publishers of the plays recognize Shakespeare's reputation by generally placing his name on the title-page: a form of compliment which the author probably did not appreciate when it was extended, as in the case of The Passionate Pilgrim (1599), to pirated works, some of which were meant to be private, and others were ...
— The Facts About Shakespeare • William Allan Nielson
... But her attention was speedily diverted by the squabble going on in the corner; for Fanny, forgetful of her young-ladyism and her sixteen years, had boxed Tom's ears, and Tom, resenting the insult, had forcibly seated her in the coal-hod, where he held her with one hand while he returned the compliment with the other. Both were very angry, and kept twitting one another with every aggravation they could invent, as they scolded and scuffled, ...
— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott
... customary in Teheran even for foreign business houses to illuminate their premises lavishly, and the Atabeg Azam or Prime Minister and other high officials go during the evening to pay calls in order to show their appreciation of the compliment to their sovereign, and admire the decorations of the leading ...
— Across Coveted Lands - or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland • Arnold Henry Savage Landor
... so," I answered, blushing at the compliment, "for I love hunting, and when there are so many wild things it does not matter if we kill a few. I shot these for you and ...
— Marie - An Episode in The Life of the late Allan Quatermain • H. Rider Haggard
... Leigh (see her letter to Hodgson, Nov., 1816, Memoirs of Rev. F. Hodgson, 1878, ii. 41), Murray paid Lady Byron "the compliment" of showing her the transcription of the Third Canto, a day or two after it came into his possession. Most probably she did not know or recognize Claire's handwriting, but she could not fail to remember that ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 2 • George Gordon Byron
... not forget your friends, that's certain," he said, lowering his voice. "That was a delicate compliment, sending my portrait back to the Exhibition. I felt it ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, October, 1877, Vol. XX. No. 118 • Various
... to refer, under an Eastern guise, and with something of Eastern exaggeration of compliment too, to some such native sterilities in ...
— Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Vol. I • Margaret Fuller Ossoli
... seven we take up our line of march, pass out of the charming grounds of the Academy, and move through the quiet, rusty, picturesque old town. It has a romantic dulness—Annapolis—which deserves a parting compliment. ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 44, June, 1861 • Various
... silence followed. Tom, the irrepressible, broke it with a slap on the shoulder and the graceful compliment— ...
— Hospital Sketches • Louisa May Alcott
... gaiety of a watering-place, or the bustle of a crowded sea-port. But generally, its landscapes are more distinguished for beauty than sublimity, and hence the very appropriate designation of "THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND!" an emphatic compliment cheerfully paid by the thousands annually visiting its shores for pleasure or for health: and perhaps there is scarcely another spot in the kingdom, of the same narrow limits, which can concentrate more of those qualities that at ...
— Brannon's Picture of The Isle of Wight • George Brannon
... and sharp profile was bending over several symmetrical and shadowy curls. "I sez to Mariar, 'Mariar' sez I, 'praise to the face is open disgrace" I heard no more. Dreading some susceptibility to sincere expression on the subject of female loveliness, I walked away, checking the compliment that otherwise might have risen unbidden to my lips, and have brought shame and sorrow to ...
— The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales • Bret Harte
... cooks like you, Chris," said Charley soothingly, and the vain little darky grinned at the compliment. ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely
... recklessness and mockery; still, no base or wicked passion had yet stamped there its fatal impress. He was the perfect type of the Parisian, as the term is generally applied, whether in the army, in the provinces, on board a king's ship, or a merchantman. It is not a compliment, and yet it is far from being an insult; it is an epithet which partakes at once of blame, admiration, and fear; for if, in this sense, the Parisian is often idle and rebellious, he is also quick at his work, resolute in danger, and always terribly satirical ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue
... remarkable prophecy was fully borne out by the race, in fact, so close a description might almost have been written after the race—a great compliment to ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 103, July 9, 1892 • Various
... "Merci du compliment!" Her jangling laugh rang out as if a stick had been smartly rattled down the keys of a piano. But her eyes were wet. His own eyes reverted to his reflection in the toilet-glass. Now his sudden bellow made ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves
... him, when I was starting on my trip, at the very time when he was making his maiden effort at selling a bill to the man for whom he had been working. Of course this was a push-over for him because his old employer gave him an order as a compliment. ...
— Tales of the Road • Charles N. Crewdson
... be remembered that the "above" and "below" in the priest's house were only terms of compliment, and, as Denis McGovery was standing in the hall,—that is, at the open door of the very room in which Judy McCan had been announcing his attendance,—he, of course, had heard what had passed; therefore, when Father John said "let ...
— The Macdermots of Ballycloran • Anthony Trollope
... all the country—I speak of his followers only—for their leader, no doubt, scoured the land far and wide, seeking to swell his troop. These alone were ready to step between the oppressor and the oppressed. Surely they were the very best men you could select to be hung. That was the greatest compliment which this country could pay them. They were ripe for her gallows. She has tried a long time, she has hung a good many, but never found ...
— A Plea for Captain John Brown • Henry David Thoreau
... was a captain in the line and a major by brevet, with which rank he was assigned to the military command of the corps of Cadets at West Point. This appointment, ever conferred on men of talent, is the highest compliment an officer of the service of the United States can receive in time of peace. To Worth it was doubly grateful, because he was not an eleve of the institution. Ten years after the battle of Niagara, Major ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May 1848 • Various
... the day before his nomination for governor. He fell far, and if left alone will be not, what he might have been, George I. to William of Orange, lineal heir to Jackson, through Van Buren. The wiseacres in New York speak of him with compliment, 'this distinguished statesman;' yet they bring all their small artillery to bear upon him, and give notice that he is demolished. The praise they bestow is very ill concealed, but less injurious to us than their warfare, conducted in their mode."—Letter of W.H. Seward to Thurlow Weed, ...
— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander
... father of her interview with Mrs. Charmond, and the disclosure that had been whispered in her startled ear.) "Since Edgar is come," he continued, "he might have waited in till I got home, to ask me how she was, if only for a compliment. I saw him go ...
— The Woodlanders • Thomas Hardy
... a dull wife, for this last compliment is a reply, full of polite alacrity, to a letter from her asking for a little flattery. How assiduously, and with what a civilized absence of uncouthness, of shame-facedness, and of slang of the mind, ...
— Essays • Alice Meynell
... would the minute I looked at you," said the Signorina confidently, which was a compliment or not, the way one looked at it. "But, say; I've got a better scheme than that, one that will let you make a little money instead of contributing. I understand the Orpheum has next week dark, through yesterday's failure of The Married ...
— The Making of Bobby Burnit - Being a Record of the Adventures of a Live American Young Man • George Randolph Chester
... killing of a boy is the highest compliment which may be paid him, for it is proof that he has personal qualities which are the envy and admiration of others, and for general welfare should be shared by all. The boy who so dies is an unconscious patriot. This is proved sufficiently by the fact that only what are considered ...
— Tropic Days • E. J. Banfield
... countenance of the young Indian for a moment, as he listened to a compliment which gratified him much; but the grave expression which was natural to him instantly returned, as he said, "Arrowhead has hunted in the Rocky Mountains where the men are treacherous; he has learned to ...
— Away in the Wilderness • R.M. Ballantyne
... of us beasts to women when they appeal to us. Had the position been reversed and had I been speaking to Viola as she was to me, she would have been all sweetness, accepting my jealous anxiety as a compliment, recognising how sure a ...
— Five Nights • Victoria Cross
... who was perfectly well acquainted with the trim of his captain, did not choose to carry on the altercation any further; but taking up his can, drank to the health of the stranger, who very courteously returned the compliment, without, however, presuming to join in the conversation, which suffered a considerable pause. During this interruption, Mr. Hatchway's wit displayed itself in several practical jokes upon the commodore, with whom he knew ...
— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett
... for the goose is sauce for the gander," quoted the fun-loving Rover. "What's the good of living if you can't return a compliment now ...
— The Rover Boys at College • Edward Stratemeyer |
