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Idea   /aɪdˈiə/   Listen
Idea

noun
(pl. ideas)
1.
The content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about.  Synonym: thought.  "The thought never entered my mind"
2.
Your intention; what you intend to do.  Synonym: mind.  "The idea of the game is to capture all the pieces"
3.
A personal view.
4.
An approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth.  Synonyms: approximation, estimate, estimation.  "A rough idea how long it would take"
5.
(music) melodic subject of a musical composition.  Synonyms: melodic theme, musical theme, theme.  "The accompanist picked up the idea and elaborated it"



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"Idea" Quotes from Famous Books



... a place; it is an idea—the most powerful idea in the history of nations, and all of us in this chamber, we are now the bearers of that idea, leading a great ...
— State of the Union Addresses of William J. Clinton • William J. Clinton

... no happiness in an idle woman. It may be with hand, it may be with brain, it may be with foot; but work she must, or be wretched forever. The little girls of our families must be started with that idea. The curse of our American society is that our young women are taught that the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth, fiftieth, thousandth thing in their life is to get somebody to take care of them. Instead ...
— The Abominations of Modern Society • Rev. T. De Witt Talmage

... he made love to you and proposed to you through a phonograph? You know I had some sort of idea that love that was all wool, and a yard wide, and meant business, usually got ...
— Hepsey Burke • Frank Noyes Westcott

... never have to do that," I replied. "She will go, never fear. Leave her to herself, her mood will have changed by morning. There is only one thing to be relied upon in women, and that is their inconstancy, not alone to men but to any fixed idea." ...
— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney

... of 'contamination', i.e. the combination, through confusion of thought, of two constructions, either of which would be correct. The idea in the robber's mind here could be expressed equally well by 'nisi quod nos quam pecuniosissimi essemus', the subjunctive indicating not a fact but only his opinion; or by 'nisi quod nos quam pecuniosissimos ...
— Selections from Erasmus - Principally from his Epistles • Erasmus Roterodamus

... the minister, looking much bewildered at the twisted story. "Just say that again, please, and say it straight. I haven't the faintest idea yet how you got hold of that little reptile or what Thad's hair had to ...
— The Lilac Lady • Ruth Alberta Brown

... try again, and find a more pliant Grand-Jury, easier to intimidate. Let me suggest to the Court that the next time it should pack its Jury from the Marshal's 'Guard.' Then there will be Unity of Idea; of action too,—the Court a ...
— The Trial of Theodore Parker • Theodore Parker

... to the corner of the house, leant against a post, and something white showed in his hand. It was a letter. His letter to the woman of violet eyes, written a week ago, in the half-formed idea of sending it some day. He read it through, and then paused and looked at Nalia. She raised her head and smiled. Slowly, piece by piece, he tore it into tiny little squares, and, with a dreamy hand-wave, threw them away. The wind held them in mid-air for a moment, and then ...
— By Reef and Palm • Louis Becke

... Bible, and one which was as old as the very hills when the disciples of Christ preached in its streets. It dates back to the shadowy ages of tradition, and was the birthplace of gods renowned in Grecian mythology. The idea of a locomotive tearing through such a place as this, and waking the phantoms of its old days of romance out of their dreams of dead and gone centuries, ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... losing, or had lost, whatever good opinion she might ever have had of Feemy: and when Louey ill-naturedly added, "Oh laws!—not he—the man never thought of her," Father John felt sure that there was a slight feeling of triumph among the female McKeons at the idea of Feemy's losing the lover of whom, perhaps, she ...
— The Macdermots of Ballycloran • Anthony Trollope

... cinders dumped here and there in an outside city lot; imagine some of them magnified into mountains, and the vacant lot the sea; and you will have a fit idea of the general aspect of the Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles. A group rather of extinct volcanoes than of isles; looking much as the world at large might, after ...
— The Piazza Tales • Herman Melville

... vertues drawne by the bloud in its iterated courses, by its circular motion, through all the severall partes of the parents body."[6] Digby rejects an internal agent, entelechy, or the Aristotelian formal and efficient causes. Similarly, he disposes of the idea that the embryonic parts derive from some part of each part of the parent's body or an assemblage of parts. This possibility is eliminated, he contends, by the occurrence of spontaneous generation. If a collection of parts was necessary, he asks, "how could vermine breed out ...
— Medical Investigation in Seventeenth Century England - Papers Read at a Clark Library Seminar, October 14, 1967 • Charles W. Bodemer

... magnificent rooms and stately halls, excited universal admiration; they impressed the beholder with a dominant idea of the spacious luxury which marked the interior appointments of Fenwick Hall. In the center of the main hall, thirty feet from the front entrance, began the flight of the grand stairway. The general design of this ...
— Solaris Farm - A Story of the Twentieth Century • Milan C. Edson

... it was thought we could easily spend a month in the Mediterranean, previously to extending our voyage across the Atlantic; besides I was anxious to see the promised roses restored to my little son's face, and, without being foolhardy or presumptuous, I could not entertain the least idea of danger. Our first mate, Mr. Skead, was not only extremely skilful, but the nicest merriest person on board, being quite as ready to be the boys' play-fellow as they could be to have him. Mr. Austin was the second ...
— Yr Ynys Unyg - The Lonely Island • Julia de Winton

... Long since, as in 1918, I had given up expectations of bagging a bear or a buck. For R.C., however, my hopes still held good. At least I did not give up for him. But he shared somewhat the feelings of the men. Still he worked harder than ever, abandoning the idea of waiting on one of the high stands, and took to the slopes under the rim where he toiled down and up all day long. It pleased me to learn, presently, that this activity, strenuous as it was, became a source of delight to him. How different ...
— Tales of lonely trails • Zane Grey

... the French in the Revolution were understood to have treated them. Lincoln did not go thus far, but it was probably with his authority that before Buell was removed Halleck, with reluctance on his own part, wrote a letter referring to this prevalent idea and calculated to put about among the Western commanders an expectation that whichever of them first did something notable would be put over his less successful colleagues. Later on, and, as we can hardly doubt, ...
— Abraham Lincoln • Lord Charnwood

... alighting like a bird in his heart, singing: 'Elle est ton reve! Elle est ton reve! Sometimes this seemed natural, sometimes ludicrous—a bad case of elderly rapture. Having once been ostracised by Society, he had never since had any real regard for conventional morality; but the idea of a love which she could never return—and how could she at his age?—hardly mounted beyond his subconscious mind. He was full, too, of resentment, at the waste and loneliness of her life. Aware of being some comfort to her, ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... change, and then it went to the other extreme. It never quite got over the fact that he did not "ring me in" on President McKinley and the Government, or at least make me his private secretary and deputy boss of the Empire State while he was Governor. The Mulberry Street idea of friendship includes the loaves and fishes first and last, and "pull" is the Joss it worships. In fact I had several times to explain that Mr. Roosevelt had not "gone back on me" to save his political reputation. ...
— The Making of an American • Jacob A. Riis

... "A very capital idea!" assented the skipper. "We will act upon it at once. There, now," pointing to a perfect forest giant only a few yards distant, "is a tree admirably suited to our purpose. Come, Mr Hawkesley, you are the youngest, and ought therefore to be the most active of the trio; give ...
— The Congo Rovers - A Story of the Slave Squadron • Harry Collingwood

... us just before we reached Trevillian—men, women, and children with bundles of all sorts containing their few worldly goods, and the number increased from day to day until they arrived at West Point. Probably not one of the poor things had the remotest idea, when he set out, as to where he would finally land, but to a man they followed the Yankees in full faith that they would lead to freedom, no matter what ...
— The Memoirs of General P. H. Sheridan, Complete • General Philip Henry Sheridan

... result of our coalition, who is to gain five or six hundred thousand francs out of it? Do you expect me to, all alone? No, my inside is not strong enough to split up two millions, with three children to establish, and a wife who hasn't the first idea about the value of money; no, I must have associates. Here's the gendarme, he has plenty of funds all ready. I know he doesn't hold a single mortgage that isn't ready to mature; he only lends now on notes ...
— Sons of the Soil • Honore de Balzac

... thought, and Jack recoiled as if again on the edge of the brink. But he was quick to see the absurdity of the idea. ...
— Two Boys in Wyoming - A Tale of Adventure (Northwest Series, No. 3) • Edward S. Ellis

... nation which was the beginning and foundation of the British Museum, perhaps the most celebrated institution of its kind in the world. Sloane's collection, it should be added, contained an immense number of valuable books and manuscripts, as well as of objects more usually associated with the idea of a museum. ...
— The Glories of Ireland • Edited by Joseph Dunn and P.J. Lennox

... months spent in ineffectual attempts to carry his point, and in idle complaints, he obtained an audience of the Queen, who had with her the young Princess, her daughter; her Majesty did not know for what purpose Boehmer sought this audience, and had not the slightest idea that it was to speak to her again about an article twice refused by herself ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... notes of the musical scale to numbers, whereby harmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from the reverse, led Pythagoras to apply the word "harmony" to the visible creation, meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to each other. This is the idea which Dryden expresses in the beginning of his ...
— TITLE • AUTHOR

... mistake for some clear word of God (Which were my ample warrant for it all) His puff of hazy instinct, idle talk, "The State, that's I," quack-nonsense about crowns, And (when one beats the man to his last hold) A vague idea of setting things to rights, Policing people efficaciously, More to their profit, most of all to his own; 470 The whole to end that dismallest of ends By an Austrian marriage, cant to us the Church, And resurrection of the old regime? Would I, who hope to live a dozen years, ...
— Men and Women • Robert Browning

... we take, doctor, there is one point common to most of these cases: the word presents an idea which does not belong to the subject, critically considered. Palestine soup is not more remote from the true Jerusalem, than many an honourable friend from public honesty and honour. However, doctor, what say you to a glass of old Madeira, which I really believe is what ...
— Gryll Grange • Thomas Love Peacock

... down the long corridor, stopping in the telegraph room to leave the message which was destined to be responsible for his part in a series of strange events. He had little idea, as he left the Leader office that morning, that his assignment to get the story of the wreck was the beginning of ...
— Larry Dexter's Great Search - or, The Hunt for the Missing Millionaire • Howard R. Garis

... ceremony or reserve, entering the parlour as an old friend. The claims of misfortune appeared to have softened down all the ruggedness and prejudices of his heart. St. Aubert unhappy, seemed to be the sole idea that occupied his mind. It was in manners, more than in words, that he appeared to sympathize with his friends: he spoke little on the subject of their grief; but the minute attention he gave them, and the modulated voice, ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe

... recovery will be hopeless. I take nobody's disease—am too repellant; but you will catch contagion very readily. Keep away from fever cases and rest; you are in imminent peril." She hurried away, laughing at the idea of one in her perfect health being injured by hard work; but my heart was full of evil omen. I had talked with Mrs. Senator Pomeroy, on her way from her last visit to the Contraband camp, where she gave her life in labor for the friendless ...
— Half a Century • Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm

... not relish the idea of disturbing the girl so soon after her arrival, and I was about to say as much. But just then appeared Madame Ragoul with a request that my companion would accord an interview to Miss Hatherton. He departed with alacrity, ...
— The Cryptogram - A Story of Northwest Canada • William Murray Graydon

... the idea for an experiment, and he started whistling as loud as he could, gradually raising his tones until he was at the top of his range. He saw with interest and excitement that the last one or two shrillest notes seemed to attract their attention. Their silly-looking little triangular ears ...
— Man of Many Minds • E. Everett Evans

... he doesn't know at all how things are at home; he hasn't an idea of it and he will not have. Well, good-bye, dear aunt Miriam I must run home to ...
— Queechy, Volume I • Elizabeth Wetherell

... dismiss Madame Brunnen," said Camilla, gayly. "Oh, mamma, you have no idea how she tortures and martyrs me with her Argus-eyes, and watches me day and night. Will you not dismiss her, mamma, and ...
— Frederick The Great and His Family • L. Muhlbach

... against the description of people I had to deal with; as the apparent satisfaction which they often expressed at being on this island in preference to Port Jackson, added to the great indulgences they had frequently received from me, lulled any suspicion of their having the most distant idea of the kind. ...
— An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island • John Hunter

... excessive enthusiasm. Christophe was of the people,—the people who devote themselves, who fight for their devotions, who let themselves be inveigled and betrayed; intelligent enough to comprehend and serve an idea, too upright to turn it to his own account, too ...
— Catherine de' Medici • Honore de Balzac

... daily battle; it has robbed war of all its ancient panoply, its cavalry, its uniforms brilliant as the sun, and has turned it into the national business. I dislike to use the word "business," with its usual atmosphere of orderly bargaining; I intend rather to call up an idea more familiar to American minds—the idea of a great intricate organization with a corporate volition. The war of to-day is a business, the people are the stockholders, and the object of the organization is the wisest application ...
— A Volunteer Poilu • Henry Sheahan

... remark, "Why, I never think of kissing my parents except, perhaps, when they or I go away." In too many homes the only mention that is made of love is that made in a bantering manner. A child has the right idea of love. She loves everyone and is free in the expression of this love. As she grows older she obtains wrong ideas of love and she too often obtains these wrong ideas in her own home and from her own ...
— Herself - Talks with Women Concerning Themselves • E. B. Lowry

... or silk (often mixed with gold), the "cingulae" or "blode-bendes" so often mentioned, supposed to be gifts between friends for binding the arm, when blood-letting was so much in fashion that the operation was allowed to assume a certain air of coquetry. But the idea suggests itself that this was oftener the gift of the fair weaver to her favoured lover, to fold round his arm as a scarf in battle or tourney, to be ready in case it was needed for binding up a wound, and had ...
— Needlework As Art • Marian Alford

... idea how long I sat in that chair, whether it was five minutes or half an hour, for I was deep in thought," continued Goddard. "Without any warning my nose started bleeding—a way it has since I was wounded in the face by the explosion of a pistol. The ...
— The Lost Despatch • Natalie Sumner Lincoln

... weird, fascinating about the very idea. I sit up here safely in this room, turning switches, pressing buttons, depressing levers. Ten miles away a vehicle, a ship, an aeroplane, a submarine obeys me. It may carry enough of the latest and most powerful explosive that modern science can invent, enough, if exploded, to rival the worst of ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve

... insist on the French occupying the city. Again and again repulsed, he again and again returns to the charge on this point. And here I shall translate the letter addressed to him by the Triumvirate, both because of its perfect candor of statement, and to give an idea of the sweet and noble temper in which these treacherous aggressions have ...
— At Home And Abroad - Or, Things And Thoughts In America and Europe • Margaret Fuller Ossoli

... serve a little to describe the dreadful condition of that day, though it is impossible to say anything that is able to give a true idea of it to those who did not see it, other than this: that it was indeed very, very, very dreadful, and such as ...
— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe

... can the physiognomy of the Celestial Josh be consistent with a moral and temperate god? The low brow would not indicate a pronounced omniscience, and the Jumbo ears and the copious neck would not impress me with the idea ...
— Remarks • Bill Nye

... were wide and deep, and were so arranged that in case of invasion they could be filled with water from a natural lake high up on the brae lands. For that matter they might have been filled at any time, or kept filled, but Moncrieff had an idea—and probably he was right—that too much stagnant, or even semi-stagnant water near ...
— Our Home in the Silver West - A Story of Struggle and Adventure • Gordon Stables

... again. And he related in a few biting phrases the recent history of the R.R. "I wouldn't have minded so much," he went on. "If your particular friend, Mr. Softly Bishop, wasn't at the bottom of my purchase. His name only appears for some of the shares, but I've got a pretty good idea that it's he who's selling all of them to yours truly. He must have known something, and a rare fine thing he'd have made of the deal if I wasn't going bust, because I'm sure now he was selling to me ...
— Mr. Prohack • E. Arnold Bennett

... Re-introduction of the true idea of 'Line tactics,' limitation of the word 'Echelon' to troops overlapping the first line, of 'Reserve' for ...
— Cavalry in Future Wars • Frederick von Bernhardi

... The idea of this class of women being large enough to pay the interest on our public debt, in the shape of duties on the imported goods which they consume, will of course excite a smile in all to whom it is suggested. It will be a wonder, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 • Various

... person, who has previously obtained a general idea of the nature of the Objects about to be submitted to his inspection, a group of living animalcules, seen under a powerful microscope for the first time, presents a scene of extraordinary interest, and never fails ...
— The Illustrated London Reading Book • Various

... idea there were such pleasant things about cats," said Ida, laughing at her cousin's enthusiasm. "Fidelle has risen wonderfully in my estimation. But don't let me detain ...
— Minnie's Pet Cat • Madeline Leslie

... would be safe to trust them," said Morton, "at any rate I don't like the idea of risking it. There are but five or six of them; the rest are far ...
— The Island Home • Richard Archer

... "Eh, what an idea! I don't know what you'll be like soon, if you aren't stopped! Upon my word, I think you must be ill, you're getting so tiresome!" And Lasse went on crossly for a little while, but then stopped and bent down over ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo

... knew what an effort it cost Eddie to give in; still, in spite of his pride and vanity, he was a right-hearted, independent lad at heart, and the idea of being a burden to Aunt Amy was simply intolerable. When Mr. Murray heard of his resolution, he puckered up his eyebrows, and talked to himself for fully five minutes, then he patted Eddie on the shoulder, and said he was glad he had ...
— Little Folks (December 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... adapted to very young children, not only because it satisfies so well the needs which lead to mental development, but also for another reason. As with the people of olden times bravery was considered the greatest virtue, so with boys of this age and all ages. No other ethical idea has such predominance as that of prowess. Strength of body and a firm will characterize those whom boys choose as their leaders. Hence the pleasure they derive from the accounts of celebrated heroes of yore whose bravery, courage, and ...
— Odysseus, the Hero of Ithaca - Adapted from the Third Book of the Primary Schools of Athens, Greece • Homer

... not pleasant to be a criminal; it hurts. David knew he was one, and although he did not know what crime he had committed, he imagined that he was now being punished for it. The idea came to him on account of the way the Doctor was acting. The man had gently replaced the miniature upon the top of the desk, and afterward he stood motionless, sunk deep in revery. The little boy ...
— A Melody in Silver • Keene Abbott

... brotherhood existing among us out of church. And we can hardly read a few sentences on any political subject without running a chance of crossing the phrase "paternal government," though we should be utterly horror-struck at the idea of governments claiming anything like a father's authority over us. Now, I believe those two formal phrases are in both instances perfectly binding and accurate, and that the image of the farm and its servants ...
— A Joy For Ever - (And Its Price in the Market) • John Ruskin

... our infatuated hearts cling to the empty honour of remaining near them, contented with the false idea, which every one holds, that we are happy. In vain reason bids us retire; in vain our spite sometimes consents to this; to be near them is too powerful an influence on our zeal, and the least favour of a caressing glance immediately re-engages us. But at last, I see our house through ...
— Amphitryon • Moliere

... a man's head rose stealthily above the slide of the companionway. He fastened a steady gaze on the sloop. The distance was now too great for the boys to distinguish his features, but a sudden idea struck Jim. He slapped ...
— Jim Spurling, Fisherman - or Making Good • Albert Walter Tolman

... land bridge. Apparently the local lizards had been living in the swamps when the beacon was built, but the builders didn't think much of them. They were a low type and confined to a distant continent. The idea that the race would develop and might reach this continent never occurred to the beacon mechanics. Which is, ...
— The Repairman • Harry Harrison

... noble idea was maintained in it, anyway. It was said afterwards that the continuation was hurriedly forbidden and even that the progressive review had to suffer for having printed the first part. That may very well have been so, for what was not possible in those days? Though, ...
— The Possessed - or, The Devils • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... bunch of letters, but little interesting. Mr. Barry Cornwall[293] writes to condole with me. I think our acquaintance scarce warranted this; but it is well meant and modestly done. I cannot conceive the idea of forcing myself on strangers in distress, and I have half a mind to turn sharp round on some of my consolers. Came home from Court. R.P. Gillies called; he is writing a satire. He has a singular talent of aping the measure and tone of Byron, and this poem goes to the tune of Don Juan, ...
— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott

... of such cases, where guilty women have been acquitted through maudlin sentiment or in response to popular clamor, nothing could be more erroneous than the idea that few women who are brought to the bar of justice are made to suffer for their offences. Thus, although no woman has suffered the death penalty in New York County in twenty years, the average number of convictions for crime is practically the same for women ...
— Courts and Criminals • Arthur Train

... the Sabbath Fire-woman who forced clearly upon the child's understanding—what was long but a dim idea in the background of his mind—that the world was not all Jews. For while the people who lived inside the gates had been chosen and consecrated to the service of the God of Israel, who had brought them out of Egyptian ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... early dinner; Lady Cumnor having hers in the quiet of her own room, to which she was still a prisoner. Once or twice during the meal, the idea crossed Molly's mind that her father disliked his position as a middle-aged lover being made so evident to the men in waiting as it was by Mrs. Kirkpatrick's affectionate speeches and innuendos. He tried to banish every tint of pink sentimentalism from the conversation, ...
— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... untiring in his endeavors to get a bill through parliament against "compulsory vaccination." Mrs. Taylor is called the mother of the suffrage movement. The engraving of her sweet face which adorns the English chapter will give the reader a good idea of her character. The reform has not been carried on in all respects to her taste, nor on what she considers the basis of high principle. Neither she nor Mrs. Jacob Bright has ever been satisfied with the bill asking the right of suffrage for "widows and spinsters" only. To have asked this right ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... mi puntualidad, tengo crdito en la Compaa Minera. La falta de pago me hundira, me hara perder en un instante 370 la reputacin mercantil adquirida con mprobo trabajo y privaciones de que usted no puede tener idea. ...
— Heath's Modern Language Series: Mariucha • Benito Perez Galdos

... really feel that I am leaving Boston with regret: I never was more pleased with any town, both in a business and social point of view. I have many kind and intelligent friends that I shall leave with regret. The Bostonians are more English in idea, smart to a degree, and well situated for commerce. The town and suburbs abound with charitable institutions of every description; and every article of living is half the price it is in England. I visited Famenil Hall, ...
— Journal of a Voyage across the Atlantic • George Moore

... ferment arose what is called the Protestant Reformation. The Teutonic nations generally broke off from the Church of Rome, and renounced their allegiance to the Pope. The Latin or Romanic nations, for the most part, still adhered to him. As the common idea was that there should be uniformity of belief and worship in a state, civil wars arose on the question which form of belief should dominate. Germany was desolated for thirty years by a terrible struggle. Yet, in all the ...
— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher

... brought us the spirited and patriotick Resolves of your County ofSuffolk.2 We laid them before the Congress. They were read with great applause, and the Enclosed Resolutions were unanimously passed, which give you a faint idea of the spirit of the Congress. I think I may assure you that America will make a point of supporting Boston to the utmost. I have not time to enlarge, and must therefore conclude with assuring you that I am, with great] regard, your affectionate and ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, vol. III. • Samuel Adams

... another native entered, with a basket of delicious fruits, answering our hero's "How much?" by pointing to a pair of worn-out shoes, and saying, "Can do." Before Austin could recover from his amazement at the idea of a country where men preferred old shoes to hard dollars, the fruit merchant had made his "salam" (bow), and departed ...
— Harper's Young People, May 18, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... The idea of Hannah Ann in any such state of loving frenzy was irresistible, and they all pealed out their appreciation of Judith's picture of the grim elderly ...
— Miss Pat at School • Pemberton Ginther

... father, held communications with the representative of the Stuarts. It is a common tradition in Kintail to this day that he and Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat were school companions of the Prince in France, and were among those who first imbued his mind with the idea of attempting to regain possession of his ancient Kingdom of Scotland, promising him that they would use their influence with the other northern chiefs to rise in his favour, although when the time for action came ...
— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie

... The idea that the price of the treason of Judas is still extant and current in these every-day, commonplace times is at first sight utterly incongruous and incredible, perhaps a little sacrilegious. Yet ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 1 • Various

... head but said no more. This was not his idea of the way the Kingdom would come. The disciples felt sure Jesus could not mean all he said. But two days later they realized they were wrong. Jesus had ...
— Men Called Him Master • Elwyn Allen Smith

... feeds the grosser tissues. This vital fluid is momentarily imparting and receiving elements from all the bodily organs, and these, in turn, must influence the process of thought, and, in a degree, determine its quality. The delicate outline, yea, even the substance of an idea, may depend upon the condition of the animal organs. Thought is subject to the laws of biology, and, therefore, is a symbol of health. Morbid conditions of the system hang out their signs in words and utterances. Words which ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce

... Azores or somewhat more; for when we were just 100 leagues there were only a few scattered weeds to be seen, the Dutch needles varying a point while those of Genoa pointed due north; and when we got somewhat farther E.N.E. they altered again." This idea was verified on the twenty-second of May, when by exact reckoning the admiral found that he was 100 leagues to the west of the Azores. He was much astonished at this singular difference between the two kinds of compasses, which he was disposed to attribute to their having been made ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr

... To the ordinary understanding these events seem to indicate that the Master would once more occupy His physical body, and that His reappearance was to be so understood. And the Gospel narrative certainly seems to verify this idea, and was undoubtedly so stated that it might be more readily understood by ...
— Mystic Christianity • Yogi Ramacharaka

... think about," with the discreet addition, "Not a book for little girls, though." If we find in our circle of poets a certain stateliness of style scarcely to be looked for in a somewhat new republic that might be expected to rush pell-mell after an idea and capture it by the sudden impact of a lusty blow, after the manner of the minute-men catching a red-coat at Lexington; if we observe in their writing old world expressions that woo us subtly, like the odor of lavender from a long-closed ...
— Literary Hearthstones of Dixie • La Salle Corbell Pickett

... was a great tonic. Mr. Keith could hardly believe the story that Mary and Tom jointly told him. But at length he grasped the idea that he was a wealthy ...
— Tom Swift and his Undersea Search - or, The Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic • Victor Appleton

... expostulations of the farmer and his wife could not induce them to spend the night at the house. Paul was too fearful in regard to the safety of the Fawn to leave her, and John was too deeply smitten with the romantic idea of sleeping on board, to think of spending the night in any other manner. Mr. Drake, therefore, reluctantly put them on ...
— Little By Little - or, The Cruise of the Flyaway • William Taylor Adams

... having its Self in Brahman is self-established, not to be accomplished by endeavour. This doctrine of the individual soul having its Self in Brahman, if once accepted as the doctrine of the Veda, does away with the independent existence of the individual soul, just as the idea of the rope does away with the idea of the snake (for which the rope had been mistaken). And if the doctrine of the independent existence of the individual soul has to be set aside, then the opinion of the entire phenomenal ...
— The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya - Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1 • George Thibaut

... augmented by the development of the arts of writing and printing. Originally thought could only be communicated by word of mouth and transmitted by the aid of the memory. Now it can be recorded and kept indefinitely, so that no useful thought of able thinkers need be lost, but every valuable idea can be retained as an educative ...
— Man And His Ancestor - A Study In Evolution • Charles Morris

... to your lordship, by any words of mine, an idea of this terrible explosion; the blazing splinters were hurled into the air, and fell in fiery masses on every side from the park to King William; Ivey the bell-ringer, was precipitated from the scaffold beside the bell, and fell headlong into ...
— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2) • Charles Lever

... To Messrs. Morrow & Hope. Dear Sirs,—I hate—no, that's a little too strong, perhaps—I much dislike—that's better—I much dislike to bother you at a time when I know you must be overworked in every direction—you see the idea, don't you? What we've got to do is to get on their soft side. It's no use bullyragging them; understanding their difficulties is much better. You see that, don't you? Of course; I knew you would. Now then. Where was I? Oh yes—overworked in every direction; but if, as you promised yesterday, ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, February 14, 1917 • Various

... them must have one great crystal of it for the centre; but Philosophy pines and dies unless she drinks limpid water. When Pherecydes and Pythagoras felt in themselves the majesty of contemplation, they spurned the idea that flesh and bones and arteries should confer it: and that what comprehends the past and the future should sink in a moment and be annihilated for ever. 'No,' cried they, 'the power of thinking is no more in the brain than in the hair, although the brain may be the instrument ...
— Imaginary Conversations and Poems - A Selection • Walter Savage Landor

... 1: Although liberality does not consider the legal due that justice considers, it considers a certain moral due. This due is based on a certain fittingness and not on an obligation: so that it answers to the idea of ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... The idea was that it would be about as big as a straw cutter, or a job press, and people were ...
— Peck's Compendium of Fun • George W. Peck

... "No" be spoken in two or more tones, with increased stress at the end, your prospect certainly means his rejection to be final. His mind is fully made up for the time being. It would be poor salesmanship to butt your head against his fixed idea, just as it would be foolish to tackle a strong opponent when he stands most formidably braced to resist attack. But the two or three toned negative does not mean that the idea behind it is fixed in the prospect's mind forever. Any one is prone to change ...
— Certain Success • Norval A. Hawkins

... we hear be true, a society to circulate Bibles is a most irrational and wasteful expenditure of energy and money. We cannot ignore the extent and severity of the opposition to the very idea of revelation, even if we would; we should not if we could. We are told with some exaggeration—the wish being father to the thought—that the educated mind of the country has broken with Christianity, a statement which is equally remarkable for its accuracy ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... we have praised him as the man who has done away with miracles. Both mean the same thing.[47] Design is the miracle-worker in nature, which has put the world upside down; or as Spinoza says, has placed the last first, the effect for the cause, and thus destroyed the very idea of nature. Design in nature, especially in the department of living organisms, has ever been appealed to by those who desire to prove that the world is not self-evolved, but the work of an intelligent Creator." ...
— What is Darwinism? • Charles Hodge

... To make our idea of morality centre on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto. If a thing is wrong for us, we should not dwell upon the thought of it; or we shall soon dwell ...
— The Pocket R.L.S. - Being Favourite Passages from the Works of Stevenson • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Of her gratitude in the first blush of the thing I felt no doubt, for not only had she thanked me very prettily, though with reserve, on the evening of my arrival, but the warmth of M. de Rosny's kindness left me no choice, save to believe that she had given him an exaggerated idea of my merits and services. I asked no more than this. Such good offices left me nothing to expect or desire; my age and ill-fortune placing me at so great a disadvantage that, far from dreaming ...
— A Gentleman of France • Stanley Weyman

... a very misty idea of what bush-life was, I own, till I found myself in it,' quoth Robert, after a long silence, broken only by the ring ...
— Cedar Creek - From the Shanty to the Settlement • Elizabeth Hely Walshe

... at the idea of giving them up that I said she might keep them. I shall certainly not 'sack' her, as you call it. Now I've come to know her better, I find she is a good, faithful old soul who is much too useful to part with, and you must be very careful to be civil to her in ...
— In Brief Authority • F. Anstey

... on Monday the 7th instant, I mentioned to Lord Moira, or to Adam, that the Address of the two Houses would come very quickly upon the Prince, and that he should be prepared with his Answer, without entertaining the least idea of meddling with the subject myself, having received no authority from His Royal Highness to do so. Either Lord Moira or Adam informed me, before I left Carlton-House, that His Royal Highness had directed Lord Moira ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2 • Thomas Moore

... as thought of establishing a home of his own. Harris sometimes wondered at this, for Allan was popular in the neighbourhood, where his good appearance, strength, and sincere honesty made him something of a favourite. The idea of homesteading together assured further years of close relationship between father and son, and the younger man fell in whole-heartedly ...
— The Homesteaders - A Novel of the Canadian West • Robert J. C. Stead

... listen with much interest to what Mr. Dawson said, while he was examining Mr. Dawson's patient. I began to suspect, from what I observed in this way, that the Count had been right about the illness all the way through, and I was naturally confirmed in that idea when Mr. Dawson, after some little delay, asked the one important question which the London doctor had been sent for to set ...
— The Woman in White • Wilkie Collins

... spot, where Science holds her reign, How joyous, once, I join'd thy youthful train! Bright, in idea, gleams thy lofty spire, Again, I mingle with thy playful quire; Our tricks of mischief, [4] every childish game, Unchang'd by time or distance, seem the same; Through winding paths, along the glade I trace The social smile of every welcome face; 50 My wonted ...
— Byron's Poetical Works, Vol. 1 • Byron

... you, Alexander! get away!' she cried. 'What a tiresome creature he is! The idea of his perching himself on me—— You are too rough, sir, and you scratch me with your claws. Do you hear me? I don't want you to go away, but you must be good, and mustn't peck ...
— Abbe Mouret's Transgression - La Faute De L'abbe Mouret • Emile Zola

... not return till M. Linders was nearly well again, and thinking of departure. Madelon was in despair at the idea of leaving Florence; it had been more like home to her than any place she had yet known, and it almost broke her heart to think of parting with her old German friend; but M. Linders was impatient to be gone. He ...
— My Little Lady • Eleanor Frances Poynter

... out That what we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost, Why, then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours. So will it fare with Claudio: When he shall hear she died upon his words, The idea of her life shall sweetly creep Into his study of imagination, And every lovely organ of her life Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit, More moving-delicate, and full of life Into the eye and prospect of his soul, Than ...
— Much Ado About Nothing • William Shakespeare [Craig, Oxford edition]

... it again and again, from good authority, that children, placed at the Unions, are corrupted, on account of the children of vagrants, and other very bad young people, who are in such places; so that many poor relatives of orphans, though unable to provide for them, cannot bear the idea of their going there, lest they should be corrupted. I therefore judge that, even for the sake of keeping orphans of poor yet respectable people from being obliged to mix with the children of vagabonds, ...
— The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord's Dealings With George Mueller • George Mueller

... "They had the idea somehow that the women thought more of their own man and their children and the washing and what-not; and that the deep woods and the great hills beyond, and the plowing and the harvest and snaring rabbits in winter and the sports in the village in summer, and the hundred things that pass the time ...
— Tales of War • Lord Dunsany

... overlooked, and he brought news of the contretemps to this country; he had, as it happened, only joined the party at the very last moment as an afterthought, and the Boche agents at Stockholm and Bergen had evidently overlooked him on the way through. An idea prevailed over here that the Swedes in general were decidedly hostile to the Entente; Stockholm, a cold spot in winter—almost as cold as, but without the blistering rawness of, Petrograd—was undoubtedly full of Germans, and the red, white and black colours were freely displayed. But ...
— Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918 • Charles Edward Callwell

... idea of escape frequently presented itself. It is true that our guards outnumbered us, and always used the cautions I have described above; but the very fear this argued would have been our best help. We often ...
— Daring and Suffering: - A History of the Great Railroad Adventure • William Pittenger

... a vague feeling that the well-meant kindness of my poor benefactress, in bestowing upon me the blessings of education, would in reality prove a serious impediment in the life-struggle which I was about to begin again. I thought of what I suffered with the laundress; and, at the idea of the tortures which the future still held in store for me, I desired death. The Seine was near: why not put an end at once to the miserable existence which ...
— Other People's Money • Emile Gaboriau

... secret work for Uncle Sam, I guess," hazarded Jack, "but what it is I've no idea. Anyhow ...
— The Ocean Wireless Boys And The Naval Code • John Henry Goldfrap, AKA Captain Wilbur Lawton

... "I'm thinking that idea of yours, Harry, about Yankee reinforcements, must have occurred to Colonel Talbot also," said Langdon. "It seems that we have nothing else to fear. The Yankees that we drove out are not strong enough to come back and drive us out. So they ...
— The Guns of Bull Run - A Story of the Civil War's Eve • Joseph A. Altsheler

... rapid fingers, Bannon found opportunity to talk to her in a low voice, during the times when Pete was whistling, or was chaffing with the waiters. He told her, a few words at a time, of the new work Mr. MacBride had assigned to him, and in his enthusiasm he gave her a little idea of what it would mean to him, this opportunity to build an elevator the like of which had never been seen in the country before, and which would be watched by engineers from New York to San Francisco. He told her, too, something about the work, how it had been discovered ...
— Calumet "K" • Samuel Merwin and Henry Kitchell Webster



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