"Unpleasant" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... by a single lamp. The filament breaks; the room becomes dark. The bell push is not always within reach of the arm, and it is by haphazard that one has to wander around in the dark. This is certainly an unpleasant situation. The comfort we seek for in our houses is ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 595, May 28, 1887 • Various
... impression which his mother, as her friend, apparently, was making with her children's acquaintances in the hotel. If they would think everybody in Tuskingum was like her, it would certainly be very unpleasant, but she would not quite own this to herself, still less to a fourteen-year-old boy. "I think what your father and I decide to be right will be sufficient excuse for you ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... nothing for themselves; but as there had been great doubt as to the proportions in which the property would be divided between the nephew and adopted niece, there was aroused a considerable excitement as to the omission of the name of Miss Amedroz an excitement which was not altogether unpleasant. When people complain of some cruel shame, which does not affect themselves personally, the complaint is generally accompanied by an unexpressed and unconscious feeling ...
— The Belton Estate • Anthony Trollope
... Whatever is done in England is wrongly done. The English are hypocrites, the English are sordid and materialistic, the English are everlastingly compromising, the English are this, that and the other that is unpleasant and objectionable!... I tell you, Mac, there's nobody makes me feel so sick as the Englishman ...
— The Foolish Lovers • St. John G. Ervine
... gave me an unpleasant shock. Miss Howard's evidence, unimportant as it was, had been given in such a downright straightforward manner that it had never occurred to me to doubt her sincerity. Still, I had a great respect for Poirot's sagacity—except ...
— The Mysterious Affair at Styles • Agatha Christie
... He had never shrunk from peril when he could serve his fatherland; for against all calumnies and all accidents he had worn the armour of a quiet conscience. But he now saw that the truce, in itself an unpleasant affair, was made still more odious by the hatred felt towards him. He begged the provinces, therefore, to select another servant less hated than himself to provide for the ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... the Chamois goat, when he is about to make a spring, and lowering the hinder part of the body in a position, half sitting half standing, they slide down the smooth declivity. At first this sliding movement creates a very unpleasant feeling of apprehension, which is not altogether removed by frequent repetitions. Accidents frequently occur, in which both mule and rider are ...
— Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests • J. J. von Tschudi
... to tell Clarissa this, however. It would be time enough when the thing was done, or just about to be done. All his life he had been in the habit of shirking unpleasant subjects, and he meant to shirk this as long as he could. He might have borrowed money of George Fairfax, no doubt; but unfortunately he was already in that gentleman's debt, for money borrowed during the previous winter; so he scarcely cared to make any new ...
— The Lovels of Arden • M. E. Braddon
... of pure glycerine; or, the iodine and glycerine may be used every third day, and the glycerine alone on the two intervening days. As the iodine will color the finger somewhat, it is well to know that this unpleasant effect may be almost or entirely avoided by coating that member with lard, sweet oil, or vaseline. The stain may be readily removed with a solution of iodide of potassium. The use of Dr. Pierce's Antiseptic and Healing Suppositories as advised on an other ...
— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce
... and Chevreuse were intrusted with this unpleasant commission, as well as with the king's assurance of his affection and esteem for Chamillard, and with the announcement of the marks thereof he intended to bestow upon him. They entered Chamillard's presence with such an air of ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume V. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... And in the future do not thou appear before the Athenians with any such proposals as these, nor think that thou art rendering them good service in advising them to do that which is not lawful; for we do not desire that thou shouldest suffer anything unpleasant at the hands of the Athenians, who art their public guest ...
— The History Of Herodotus - Volume 2 (of 2) • Herodotus
... Halifax on the morning of July 30th and, despite unpleasant weather, the entire city turned out to welcome the Queen's son. The streets were lined by the regular soldiers and volunteers and were beautifully decorated with arches, transparencies and evergreens. The ...
— The Life of King Edward VII - with a sketch of the career of King George V • J. Castell Hopkins
... knocking against the various ropes on my way, was then gently hoisted up to what seemed at first a giddy height; but when once I got accustomed to the smallness of the seat, the airiness of my perch, and the increased roll of the vessel, I found my position by no means an unpleasant one. Tom climbed up the rigging and joined me shortly afterwards. From our elevated post we could see plainly the formation of the island, and the lagoon in the centre, encircled by a band of coral, in some places white, bare, ...
— A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam' • Annie Allnut Brassey
... a little laugh, unpleasant to the ear—the laugh of a man who has been right down to the bottom of life and comes up again ...
— The Grey Lady • Henry Seton Merriman
... It was unpleasant to be played with in this manner, yet there was no remedy. I was still wondering what to do, when suddenly there came a sound of footsteps in the corridor, and some one knocked at the door. The dwarf grinned with delight, but, pointing ...
— My Sword's My Fortune - A Story of Old France • Herbert Hayens
... grizzly bear. There are other creatures, the puma and wild cat, for instance, which are dangerous when cornered or wounded, but they are not given to open and deliberate attack upon human beings. The grizzly, however, or "Ephraim," as he is commonly termed by trappers, often displays a most unpleasant readiness to attack and pursue a man, even in the face of fire arms. In many localities, however, where hunting has been pursued to considerable extent, these animals have learned from experience a wholesome fear of man, and are not so ready to assume the offensive, but a "wounded" ...
— Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making • William Hamilton Gibson
... brother in law the simple choice, apostasy or dismissal: but, three days after the conference, Barillon waited on the Treasurer, and, with much circumlocution and many expressions of friendly concern, broke the unpleasant truth. "Do you mean," said Rochester, bewildered by the involved and ceremonious phrases in which the intimation was made, "that, if I do not turn Catholic, the consequence will be that I shall lose my place?" ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... would not now have been the poor slave of circumstances he was—at the call and beck of the weather—such, in fact, as the weather willed. When men face a duty, not merely will that duty become at once less unpleasant to them, but life itself will immediately begin to gather interest; for in duty, and in duty only, does the individual begin to come into real contact with life; therein only can he see what life is, and ...
— Weighed and Wanting • George MacDonald
... direction the conversation had drifted into other channels by the time Mr. Wayland returned. Now, all at once, Boyd beheld the magnate in a new guise. Until to-night he had seen in him nothing more than a prospective father-in-law, a stubborn, dominant old fellow whose half-contemptuous toleration, unpleasant enough at times, never really amounted to active enmity. Now, however, he recognized in Wayne Wayland a commercial foe, and his knowledge of the man's character gave sufficient assurance that he might expect no mercy or consideration from him ...
— The Silver Horde • Rex Beach
... through all those years you might have been hoarding it for this great need. But you did not save your wages, probably, or if you did you are an exceptional young man. You now need money. You should work about fifteen months before you marry. It will be a long, tedious, unpleasant pull, trying to the affections, and it is generally very trying to the health; but it is necessary, and if you have not the persistence to save money for fifteen months, in the meantime quarreling and making up, ...
— The Golden Censer - The duties of to-day, the hopes of the future • John McGovern
... Boffin, gently, 'it won't do. I don't wish to say a single word that might be afterwards remembered as unpleasant; but ...
— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens
... unpleasant air of masculine authority which Jeanne resented in her inmost soul. So she exclaimed ...
— A Little Girl in Old Detroit • Amanda Minnie Douglas
... gloomy grandeur. He tried to make a little affable conversation with her, and to relate his interview with the doctor and Goody Kertarkut; but she was morose and sullen, and only pecked at him now and then in a very sharp, unpleasant way. So after a few more efforts to make himself agreeable he left her, and went out promenading with the captivating Mrs. Red Comb, a charming young Spanish widow, who had just been imported into the ...
— Queer Little Folks • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... roystering blade, of the name of Abraham, or, according to the Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb he had received the nickname of BROM BONES, by which he was universally known. He was famed ...
— The Legend of Sleepy Hollow • Washington Irving
... le Jura. Par Lequinio. Paris, 1801. 8vo.—Much information in agriculture, natural history, &c. is given by this author, in an unpleasant style, and with ...
— Robert Kerr's General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 18 • William Stevenson
... the rear may be entirely empty in dry seasons; and after heavy rains may contain a depth of 2 feet. This water now has a greasy looking scum and a sour, unpleasant odor. ...
— Archeological Investigations - Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 76 • Gerard Fowke
... that killing an Indian was no harm, he had not liked to recall the pleading anguish in Alessandro's tone and in his face as he fell. He had not liked to recall this, even before he heard of this rich Mexican brother-in-law who had appeared on the scene; and now, he found the memories still more unpleasant. Fear is a wonderful goad to remorse. There was another thing, too, which to his great wonder had been apparently overlooked by everybody; at least, nothing had been said about it; but the bearing of it on his case, if the case were brought up a second ...
— Ramona • Helen Hunt Jackson
... an unpleasant, morbid girl, but "that is no affair of mine," he said shrugging his shoulders, and he gave her the bottle to deliver. Before taking it to Ballingall's, however, she committed a little crime. She bought an empty bottle at the 'Sosh, and poured into it some of the contents ...
— Sentimental Tommy - The Story of His Boyhood • J. M. Barrie
... an unpleasant idea had been flitting elusively through his consciousness—a something that marred the full measure of his achievement. Time and again he almost grasped it, only to have it slip from him. What was ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1908. • Various
... that, madam," he commented; "it wouldn't look well. Unpleasant story to get about in connection with the establishment. Pupil bundled ...
— A Little Princess • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... into a pond. Then follows an interminable dialogue, paradoxical, thoroughly Shavian, while the only two men in England to whom God literally is a matter of life and death find that they begin to regard the slaughter of one by the other as an unpleasant duty. Again they fight and are separated. They are motored by a lady to the Hampshire coast, and there they fight on the sands until the rising tide cuts them off. An empty boat turns up to rescue them from drowning; ...
— G. K. Chesterton, A Critical Study • Julius West
... short neck, his red face, his big nose, his shaggy black eyebrows and grey whiskers, his stout puffy figure and his hoarse military bass, this Samoylenko made on every newcomer the unpleasant impression of a gruff bully; but two or three days after making his acquaintance, one began to think his face extraordinarily good-natured, kind, and even handsome. In spite of his clumsiness and rough ...
— The Duel and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov
... bitterly, but not so loud that his father could hear. Maggie within the kitchen heard, however, but paid no heed; for her heart was hard against the boy, who of late, though he never addressed her, had made himself as unpleasant in a thousand little ways as only ...
— Bob, Son of Battle • Alfred Ollivant
... painting, making the figure as far as possible like the living man. After this they put about it a block of crystal hollowed out; for this they dig up in great quantity and it is very easy to work: and the dead body being in the middle of the block is visible through it, but produces no unpleasant smell nor any other effect which is unseemly, and it has all its parts visible like the dead body itself. For a year then they who are most nearly related to the man keep the block in their house, giving to the dead man the first ...
— The History Of Herodotus - Volume 1(of 2) • Herodotus
... the observer was so lean that he suggested the unpleasant appearance of a living skeleton. His narrow shoulders were so rounded, his form was so stooped, that the young man's first thought was to wonder how tall he would really be if he could stand erect. His long, thin face, seamed and lined, was striking ...
— The Eyes of the World • Harold Bell Wright
... it is a very unpleasant thing to have to say; but really, if you ask me, I should remark that Mr. Cranley's enemies are of his own making. I would not go to him for a girl's character, I'm sure. But I thought he had disappeared ...
— The Mark Of Cain • Andrew Lang
... observing, in his most unpleasant tones, that a fellow could hardly help treading on some bit of George's foot, if he had to move about at all within ten yards of where George was sitting, suggesting that George never ought to come into an ordinary sized boat with feet that length, ...
— Three Men in a Boa • Jerome K. Jerome
... and unpleasant illustration of social differences. Could such a thing happen in any country but England? I doubt it. The sufferer was of decent appearance, and, with ordinary self-command, might have taken his meal in the restaurant like any one else, quite unnoticed. But he belonged to a class ...
— The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft • George Gissing
... acts that have caused displeasure will appear to have been due to necessity. In conducting so great a city from democracy into monarchy it is impossible to make the transfer without bloodshed. But if you follow your old policy, you will be thought to have done these unpleasant things intentionally." ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio
... this interview, meeting imaginary objections, arguing points which might have to be argued, a servant came out to him with an ochre envelope on a little silver tray—that unpleasant-looking envelope which seems always a presage of ...
— Phantom Fortune, A Novel • M. E. Braddon
... with Broghill, Pierpoint, Whitelock, Wolseley, and Thurloe.[2] At length it was whispered at court that the protector had resolved to accept the title; and immediately Lambert, Fleetwood, and Desborough made[b] to him, in their own names and those of several others, the unpleasant declaration, that they must resign their commissions, and sever themselves from his councils and service for ever. His irresolution returned: he had promised the house to give a final answer the next morning;[c] in the ...
— The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans - to the Accession of King George the Fifth - Volume 8 • John Lingard and Hilaire Belloc
... the thought of leaving you, even for a time; but no doubt, when the Mahdi is settled with, you will be able to join me at Khartoum; which, I believe, is by no means an unpleasant place to live in. Of course, I shall come down and take you up. It is a splendid chance, and will really be my reinstatement. Once holding a commission in the Egyptian army, I should resume my own name, and have the future to look forward to. Entering the service as the army is being reorganized, ...
— With Kitchener in the Soudan - A Story of Atbara and Omdurman • G. A. Henty
... recalled all this with great distinctness, and, immediately dismissing it from his mind, ate the legs and arms of the fig woman with enjoyment. Which—not the eating of the legs and arms, of course, but to be able to dismiss what is unpleasant—is another ...
— Long Live the King • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... to whose sighs Harry had listened was Mrs. Russell, who awaked on the following morning burdened with the memories of unpleasant dreams. Dolores was bright and cheerful. Katie was as gay and as sunny as ever—perhaps a ...
— A Castle in Spain - A Novel • James De Mille
... not kept in seclusion and go about with uncovered faces, which exposes them to constant and unpleasant insult from the Mahommedans. They dress differently from Persian women, with a long skirt of either black, blue, or coloured cotton. The head is framed in a white kerchief, leaving exposed the jet black hair parted in the middle and covering ...
— Across Coveted Lands - or a Journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta Overland • Arnold Henry Savage Landor
... voice—is a target which has been hit hard many times, and very justly. A ladies' luncheon can often be truly and aptly compared to a poultry-yard, the shrill cackle being even more unpleasant than that of a large concourse of hens. If we had once become truly appreciative of the natural mellow tones possible to every woman, these shrill voices would no more be tolerated than a fashionable luncheon would be ...
— Power Through Repose • Annie Payson Call
... you are to forget all about the gypsies. I have almost done so—that is, I have forgotten all the unpleasant part. Of course, I occasionally hear from Helka. Do you ...
— The Motor Girls On Cedar Lake - The Hermit of Fern Island • Margaret Penrose
... considered as warlike. On my complying, it pleased the Emperor and his ministers so much, that the whole of the British shipping were given up." There is nothing like the point of view; but it must be admitted that Nelson extricated himself from an unpleasant position with great good temper ...
— The Life of Nelson, Vol. II. (of 2) - The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain • A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan
... nearing the foot of the hill when he stumbled and almost fell, but recovered himself with the agility of a mountaineer, and the unpleasant knowledge that the sole of one of his shoes was all but off. Never had he left home for college that his father had not made personal inspection of his shoes to see that they were fit for the journey, but on this departure they had been forgotten. ...
— Donal Grant • George MacDonald
... have been another unpleasant quarrel between Aunt Em and Billina had not the men returned just then with their pails filled with clear, sparkling water. The Wizard told Dorothy that she was a good cook and he believed ...
— The Emerald City of Oz • L. Frank Baum
... about $1,600. He was owned by a farmer named James Pittman, a "crabid kind of a man," grey-headed, with a broken leg; drank very hard, at which times he would swear that he would "sell them all to Georgia;" this threat was always unpleasant to the ears of James, but it seemed to be a satisfaction to the master. Fearing that it would be put into execution, James thought he had better let no time be lost in getting on towards Canada, though he was entitled to his Freedom at the age of twenty-five. ...
— The Underground Railroad • William Still
... died suddenly, she thought, for she was not changed in the least, and lay as if calmly asleep. There was nothing ghastly or unpleasant about her. A look of peace and rest was on the sweet face. Her hair had been dressed just as she was in the habit of wearing it, and a mass of soft lace had been filled into the front of her dress, while some one had placed a few sprays of mignonette and lilies of the valley ...
— His Heart's Queen • Mrs. Georgie Sheldon
... delight of the considerably older Crown Prince. Ready as I am to believe that the Crown Prince Rudolf enjoyed the jokes—and little do I doubt that there were men there who would act in such fashion so as to curry favour with the Crown Prince—I still think that these unpleasant incidents in his youth weighed less in the balance with Franz Ferdinand than the ...
— In the World War • Count Ottokar Czernin
... these things?" she said. "Excuse me, monsieur, but why do you always tell unpleasant things about yourself? People think ill of you, and otherwise ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... the vengeance of Heaven; and he argued, that our soldiers, acting with them, would become as ferocious as the Indians, and ready to commit any atrocity, or to make any attack on the liberties of the country that ministers might command! The unpleasant task of defending the employment of wild Indians fell upon Lord Suffolk, one of the secretaries of state, and he contended that the measure was allowable on principle; inasmuch as it was justifiable to use all the means that God and nature had put into our hands. This was an unfortunate argument; ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... friendly wise. He came in for his share, and was so stormily applauded, and his musical performance was hailed with such ear-splitting cries of approval, that his only thought at last was, "Oh, when will this have an end!" for nothing was so very unpleasant ...
— Rico And Wiseli - Rico And Stineli, And How Wiseli Was Provided For • Johanna Spyri
... the most dangerous, and to me, by far the most unpleasant we have had.... To-day the scene is truly delightful. We are sailing up the river Hoogly, a branch of the Ganges, and so near the land that we can distinctly discover objects. On one side of us are the Sunderbunds, (islands at the mouth ...
— Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons • Arabella W. Stuart
... almost done with the comedy, called the "Beggar's Opera,"[3] for this season, it may be no unpleasant speculation, to reflect a little upon this dramatic piece, so singular in the subject, and the manner, so much an original, and which hath frequently given ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IX; • Jonathan Swift
... Books I have read. It seems to me a quiet, but very agreeable place; with wide clean streets, and a look of stability and comfort; and I admire the Cathedral and its appendages more, the more I see them. The leaning of the Tower is to my eye decidedly unpleasant; but it is a beautiful building nevertheless, and the view from the top is, under a bright sky, remarkably lively and satisfactory. The Lucchese Hills form a fine mass, and the sea must in clear weather be very distinct. There was some haze over it when I was up, ...
— The Life of John Sterling • Thomas Carlyle
... veins, and swollen eyelids half-closed over the tired eyes!—he must have been a sculptor of truth,—truth downright and relentless,—truth divested of all graceful coverings, and nude as the "Dying One" thus realistically portrayed. Ugly truth too,— unpleasant to the sight of the worldly and pleasure-loving tribe who do not care to be reminded of the common fact that they all, and we all, must die. Yet the late sunshine flowed very softly on and over the ghastly ...
— The Master-Christian • Marie Corelli
... seriously how you are preparing for it in these wild days? Look at society around you, and ask yourselves: Whither is our "PROGRESS" tending—Forward or Backward—Upward or Downward? Which way? Fight the problem out. Do not glance at it casually, or put it away as an unpleasant thought, or a consideration involving too much trouble—struggle with it bravely till you resolve it, and whatever the answer may be, ABIDE BY IT. If it leads you to deny God and the immortal destinies of your own souls, and you find hereafter, when it is too late, ...
— A Romance of Two Worlds • Marie Corelli
... purchase the water-proof articles. The captain made the advance and reminded him that he relied on it being spent for the purpose for which it was intended. He was assured that Ralph's suffering for want of proper clothing had left an unpleasant recollection on his mind and he did not intend to suffer in the same way in future. On landing, he was prevailed upon to go to a grog shop and dance house before making his purchase. The captain, suspecting that there was ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman
... and soon fell into a fitful slumber, which lasted until an hour before midnight. I arose, dressed, and sat down by the smouldering camp-fire, a prey to unpleasant reflections. ...
— Captured by the Navajos • Charles A. Curtis
... would mean bankruptcy, and he had also an unpleasant conviction that she meant what she said ...
— Cleo The Magnificent - The Muse of the Real • Louis Zangwill
... and more exasperating and strained under these pressures. The window was boarded up, and an unpleasant altercation about their delay in repairing it with the new landlord, a Bun Hill butcher—and a loud, bellowing, unreasonable person at that—served to remind them of their unsettled troubles with the ...
— The War in the Air • Herbert George Wells
... at the same time pale, a thing which always displeased me and which is, in fact, unpleasant; it impresses one as a sort of diseased healthfulness. Moreover, he had the slow yet jerky way of speaking that characterizes the pedant. Even his manner of walking, which was not that of youth and health, repelled me; as for his glance, it might be said that he had none. I do not know ...
— The Confession of a Child of The Century • Alfred de Musset
... I beg your pardon, I thought I did well to come and tell you that heaven has given you Sostratus for a husband; but, since it is unpleasant to you, I will pocket my news, and go back just ...
— The Magnificent Lovers (Les Amants magnifiques) • Moliere
... exactly encourage them, from a military standpoint. Moreover the United States are so weak that they have never even been able to impose their will on Mexico or to do anything to the still more unpleasant Japanese than to clench their ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 3, June, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various
... unpleasant brusqueness, a military manner tempered with gallantry, and he looked at Rand with quick black eyes. "Yes, they must meet," said Rand simply. He spoke composedly, but he had nevertheless a moment's vision of Jacqueline, away from the snow and the storm, walking in beauty through ...
— Lewis Rand • Mary Johnston
... would be hardly at her ease at a breakfast-table conversation. Incidentally I was not altogether sure of myself, although I was much refreshed by an excellent night's sleep which comes to every philosopher with courage and strength to rise above the unpleasant things of life. If Phyllis had yielded to an emotion of grief, there was little trace of it when we met at evening. I fancied that she was somewhat paler, and her manner at times seemed a little listless, but otherwise there ...
— The Romance of an Old Fool • Roswell Field
... over my bad habit of disobeying you. I'm sorry. Don't interfere with me now. And don't follow me. You might see something unpleasant." ...
— Desert Gold • Zane Grey
... airs are unpleasant, Regard you with arrogant scorn— With arrogant, uneasy scorn— True, they have the pull, for the present, But fear you, the fair youngest born. They know that your glory is crescent, And, though each uplifteth her horn, Each feels that her ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, April 2, 1892 • Various
... was, bluffing but he did not propose to be the one to call it; the result was quite too uncertain. He had never looked into the muzzle of a revolver, and he found the experience distinctly unpleasant—she held the barrel so steady and pointed straight at his heart. Diplomatic secrets were wanted of course, but they were not to be purchased by the life of the Secretary of State, nor even by an uncertain chance ...
— The Cab of the Sleeping Horse • John Reed Scott
... all our days are bright, Nor time has dimmed their bloomy light, Let us the festal hours beguile With mantling cup and cordial smile; And shed from every bowl of wine The richest drop on Bacchus's shrine! For Death may come, with brow unpleasant, May come when least we wish him present, And beckon to the sable shore, And ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 2 • Charles Dudley Warner
... mobile. It quivered when he had finished speaking. She reflected that if she had seen him in a train reading, and not speaking to anyone, she would have thought him very nice to look at. Only his nervousness and his mannerisms made him unpleasant. ...
— Captivity • M. Leonora Eyles
... full and pure white, and is extremely thick, covering even the soles of the feet. Captain Lyon has given very interesting accounts of the habits of this animal, and describes it as being cleanly and free from any unpleasant smell: it inhabits the most ...
— The Illustrated London Reading Book • Various
... History of the North American Indians! These were the more exciting items of the set. The most exciting of all was a green volume of Tennyson's containing Maud. She knew Maud by heart. By simple unpleasant obstinacy she had forced her mother to give her this volume for a birthday present, having seen a quotation from it in a ladies' magazine. At that date in Turnhill, as in many other towns of England, the poem had not yet lived down a reputation ...
— Hilda Lessways • Arnold Bennett
... private room soon afterwards without knocking, as all the others did, and with all the careless assurance of a son. He sat down astride on his father's writing-desk, quite unmindful of the fact that his light trousers came into unpleasant contact with the ink-stand. The air out of doors was clear and the sun shone brightly; he brought a large quantity of both with him into the room that was always kept dark, ...
— The Son of His Mother • Clara Viebig
... recently been among us. Notwithstanding, there was so much frankness in my kinsman's manner, he appeared to sympathize so sincerely in my loss, and his opinions were so similar to my own, that these unpleasant twinges lasted but for brief intervals. On the whole, my opinion was very favourable to John Wallingford, and, as will be seen in the sequel, he soon ...
— Miles Wallingford - Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore" • James Fenimore Cooper
... course. From a mercenary point of view the time was not well chosen for the disposal of her property, values always diminishing in time of war. But the island was associated for her now with so many unpleasant incidents that she was glad to sever the last tie that bound her to it and return to her happy life with ...
— Humphrey Bold - A Story of the Times of Benbow • Herbert Strang
... sorry that anything unpleasant has happened. I dropped in to tell you of a little surprise, but I ...
— Five Little Peppers Midway • Margaret Sidney
... celebration of the national anniversary by the citizens of Alexandria. He was prevented from spending more time at Mount Vernon by the pressure of public business, which was now assuming a new and very unpleasant aspect. ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing
... intended to continue his architectural business, he decided to give up his county surveyorship and other minor matters, which, he said, "give a great deal of very unpleasant labour for very little profit; in short they are like the calls of a country surgeon." One part of his former business which he did not give up was what related to the affairs of Mr. Pulteney and ...
— The Life of Thomas Telford by Smiles • Samuel Smiles
... is a stake for which a man might well play a desperate game. And one more question, Dr. Mortimer. Supposing that anything happened to our young friend here—you will forgive the unpleasant hypothesis!—who ...
— The Hound of the Baskervilles • A. Conan Doyle
... Only one unpleasant incident had happened and that occurred at Franklin, Indiana. Phil and Teddy, while on their way to their car after the performance late at night, had been set upon by two men and quite severely beaten, though both lads had given a good account of ...
— The Circus Boys Across The Continent • Edgar B. P. Darlington
... and profit. The new premises are an ornament to an ornamental part of the town, and are very conveniently arranged; but to people with weak eyes, the light from the windows, glaring in the face as one stands at the counter, is most unpleasant, and some steps to modify its ...
— Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham Men • E. Edwards
... mistaken, for that same girl, after a glance around which revealed to her that she and her companions were the center of all eyes, tossed her head as though getting rid of some unpleasant thoughts, and turning to her escort, with a reckless laugh, asked him why he kept the best for himself. "I don't think it fair, girls," she declared in a loud voice. "We have as good a right to that nice wine as the ...
— That Printer of Udell's • Harold Bell Wright
... thinking over that change of date, and I see one objection which had not occurred to me when I suggested it. August the 1st is Bank holiday, and travelling is not very pleasant about that time. My idea now is that we should bring it off before that date. Fancy, for example, how unpleasant it would be for your Uncle Joseph if he had to travel all the way from Edinburgh with a Bank-holiday crowd. It would be selfish of us if we did not fit in our plans so as to save our relatives from inconvenience. I think therefore, taking everything into consideration, that the 20th ...
— A Duet • A. Conan Doyle
... on the bridge of Blackfriars. "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished," said he: "—devoutly!—devoutly! And when they take me up,—up to her, would it be loving, or would it be loathing?—A nasty, cold, moist, unpleasant body!" he went on. "Ah me! it would be loathing! He hadn't a father; he hadn't a mother; he hadn't a sister; he hadn't a brother;—but he had a dearer one still, and a nearer one yet, than all other.—'To be or not to be; that is the question.'—He must in ground unsanctified ...
— The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson - By One of the Firm • Anthony Trollope
... the rheumatism too, or had seen the unpleasant effects of it in others, and shook his ...
— Bred in the Bone • James Payn
... believed that only the unpleasant, the gloomy, and repellent could be right or religious. There is a type of conscience that determines action by the rule that if a thing is pleasant or beautiful it must be sinful and wrong. To such souls it is a sin to be sunny in disposition, to delight in the Father's fair world, ...
— Levels of Living - Essays on Everyday Ideals • Henry Frederick Cope
... few pieces of literary portraiture in the world more unpleasant than the portrait drawn of Byron in 1822 by Leigh Hunt. It gave great offence to Byron's friends, who insisted upon his noble and generous qualities, and maintained that Leigh Hunt was taking a spiteful revenge for what he conceived to be the indignity and injustice with which ...
— The Silent Isle • Arthur Christopher Benson
... myself placed in a very unpleasant position," said the commander, after he had deliberated a few minutes. "I have stated the facts to you; and the deduction I have to draw from them is, that I have two persons by the name of ...
— Stand By The Union - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray—Afloat • Oliver Optic
... readiness to be absolved from your engagement; pardon me a moment, my lord—as I said before, I still deemed it incumbent on me, and on my ward, that I, as her guardian, should give you an absolute and written explanation of her feelings:—that would have been done yesterday, and this most unpleasant meeting would have been spared to both of us, but for the unexpected—Did you hear of the occurrence which has happened in ...
— The Kellys and the O'Kellys • Anthony Trollope
... Barrier Treaty while acting as ambassador to the States-General; under George I. rose to high favour, became acknowledged leader of the Whigs, passed the Septennial Act, but after 1721 was eclipsed in the party by the greater abilities of Walpole, and after unpleasant rivalries was forced to withdraw from the ministry (1730); gave himself then to agricultural ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood
... analysed to their utmost, consist of shock effects on different chords. An extremely feeble stimulus is below the limit of perception, a moderate stimulus transmits excitation, which is perceived as sensation of not an unpleasant character, but the tone of sensation becomes painful when the excitation is very intense. Our sensation is thus coloured by the intensity of the nervous excitation that reaches the central organ. We are subject to human limitations, through the imperfection of our senses on the one ...
— Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose - His Life and Speeches • Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose
... why I should be severely consistent," she said. "Let me be a mixture—not a foul mixture, but one of those which eventually result in something agreeable, after going through a period of fermentation, during which they throw up an unpleasant scum that has ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand
... the Asturias, now King Ferdinand VII., made an unpleasant impression on all, with his heavy step and careworn ...
— The Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Constant
... week, according to the gravity of the offence. Yes, they had already begun. There she sat in her chair by the fire, sewing, sewing, her fat, roly-poly face carved into a parody of deep displeasure. Life would be very unpleasant now. No tops of eggs, no marmalade on toast, no skins of milk, no stories of "when I was a young girl," no sitting up five minutes "later," no stopping in the market-place for a talk with the banana woman—only stern insistence on every detail of daily life; swift judgment ...
— Jeremy • Hugh Walpole
... still following, when without any cause that one could see, the young man of the group looked back. He had an unpleasant face; it showed a small offensive energy that seemed to assert simply him and all his against you and all yours. His eyes were black, piercing, and hostile. They darted their glances straight into Claude's. ...
— Bonaventure - A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana • George Washington Cable
... had little time for reflection. My uncouth client was standing, as it were, with a pistol to my throat—with a pistol and four hundred francs! The police might perhaps give me half a louis for my pains, or they might possibly remember an unpleasant little incident in connexion with the forgery of some Treasury bonds which they have never succeeded in bringing home to me—one never knows! M. de Marsan might throw me a franc, and ...
— Castles in the Air • Baroness Emmuska Orczy
... he followed her to her room. And thus they resumed their former relations, he, as a not unpleasant duty, and she, merely ...
— Une Vie, A Piece of String and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant
... pleasure and instruction of the tourists, Captain Ringgold insisted that they must remain no longer. It was the middle of March, and the hot weather was coming on, and the company must return to the Guardian-Mother on the following morning. It was not an unpleasant announcement, as they had all become greatly attached to the steamer, for they had always been exceedingly happy ...
— Across India - Or, Live Boys in the Far East • Oliver Optic
... colour deepened in her cheeks, but her eyes met his without flinching. "I know it's been unpleasant for you, all these weeks," she went on deliberately. "I know you'd much rather be alone with Faith, so if you'll say the word ...
— The Beggar Man • Ruby Mildred Ayres
... respect to this worthy man, we shall pass over a scene the interest of which otherwise is not sufficient to warrant the unpleasant effect it would produce on all honest people. We shall equally pass over without record the conversation which took place the next day between the Marquise ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... Fred had other tasks given to him. His employer selected those which were hardest and most unpleasant, as he said, "to break the little fellow in." I'll tell you one thing he did. He sent him out to catch the old mare. Now the old mare had a knack of kicking those who came to catch her, when she was not perfectly satisfied with their mode ...
— Mike Marble - His Crotchets and Oddities. • Uncle Frank
... mounted upon a white horse, galloping over hedges and ditches in the dead of night, and had heard his 'terrible groans,' which, he concluded, proceeded from the weight of sin troubling the unhappy soul, which had to undergo these untimely and unpleasant antics. An old Welsh ballad entitled 'Ysbryd Dafydd Salbri,' professed to give the true account of the individual in question, but the careful search of many years has failed me in securing a copy ...
— Welsh Folk-Lore - a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales • Elias Owen
... oftener,' she continued apologetically, 'but I have such a great dislike to that companion of hers. I think Miss Yeo a most unpleasant person.' ...
— Love's Shadow • Ada Leverson
... called from the peculiarly unpleasant odor of the crushed foliage and young shoots,—a characteristic which readily distinguishes it from the P. nigra and ...
— Handbook of the Trees of New England • Lorin Low Dame
... Cormoran approached, the Lord of Pengerswick, who knew by means of magic all about his coming, and knowing his thieving ways, determined to punish the old thief for all the mischief he had done during his absence. So he began at once to work his spells, meaning to give the giant a very unpleasant time. ...
— Cornwall's Wonderland • Mabel Quiller-Couch
... the Radicals, in order to compel the King to dismiss the Ministers, and that coalition is of itself a sufficient reason for a firm resistance to their admission into power; for they will be compelled to make very unpleasant concessions to their new allies, at the ...
— Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1) - From the Original Family Documents • Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
... Knowing that everything one enjoys or endures at present is the result of the acts of past lives, the soul urges the understanding on different directions (so that it may act in such a way as to avoid all unpleasant fruits). Relying on earnest endeavour, and equipped with proper aids, he who sets himself to accomplish his tasks never meets with failure. As the rays of light never abandon the Sun, even so prosperity never abandons one who is endued with undoubting faith. That act which ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown
... sensing the fact that the soft pressure of her fingers was not altogether unpleasant. She hesitated, and when she spoke again, only her finger-tips touched his arm. She was looking shoreward, so that for a moment he could see only the lustrous richness of her smooth hair. Then she was meeting his eyes ...
— The Alaskan • James Oliver Curwood
... compose what the French call 'l'aimable'; and which, now that you are entering into the world, you ought to make it your particular study to acquire. Without them, your learning will be pedantry, your conversation often improper, always unpleasant, and your figure, however good in itself, awkward and unengaging. A diamond, while rough, has indeed its intrinsic value; but, till polished, is of no use, and would neither be sought for nor worn. Its great lustre, it is true, proceeds from its ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield
... deception, or else he is an arch and dissembling rogue. But there are some expressions about his eyes that I cannot like; and I think there is a little blarney about them both. I may be wrong; I hope I am, and if I am, that I may be forgiven. It is unpleasant to be haunted by these suspicions. But there, I ...
— Summerfield - or, Life on a Farm • Day Kellogg Lee
... property was unknown to his young relatives, who deemed his treasures, like those of the celebrated Abulcasem, inexhaustible. Godfrey, it is true, had latterly received some hints from Johnstone how matters stood, but his mind was so wholly occupied with his pursuit of Juliet Whitmore, and the unpleasant predicament in which he was placed by his unfortunate connexion with Mary Mathews, that he had banished the ...
— Mark Hurdlestone - Or, The Two Brothers • Susanna Moodie
... your lordship," said the Dog, his words interrupted now and then as he dodged a snap of the Wolf's teeth, "how unpleasant it would be to eat me now. Look at my ribs. I am nothing but skin and bone. But let me tell you something in private. In a few days my master will give a wedding feast for his only daughter. You can guess how fine and fat I will grow on the scraps from ...
— The AEsop for Children - With pictures by Milo Winter • AEsop
... played in every city and town throughout the North. Topsy, Little Eva, Uncle Tom, the fleeing slave, Eliza Harris, and the cruel slave driver, Simon Legree, with his baying blood hounds, became living specters in many a home that sought to bar the door to the "unpleasant and irritating business of ...
— History of the United States • Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard
... me about her, next; and I did not know just how to answer. I would have to admit knowing her; that would only whet their curiosity and bring further questions. To tell the whole story was absurd—and, yet, only a little of it would leave a rather unpleasant inference against me. At any rate, on Dehra's account, I did ...
— The Colonel of the Red Huzzars • John Reed Scott
... less green. Every minute, as the train sped on, the colors of things became dingier; the fields were grown parched and yellow, the landscape hideous and bare. And along with the thickening smoke they began to notice another circumstance, a strange, pungent odor. They were not sure that it was unpleasant, this odor; some might have called it sickening, but their taste in odors was not developed, and they were only sure that it was curious. Now, sitting in the trolley car, they realized that they were ...
— The Jungle • Upton Sinclair
... Ormond—Harry Ormond, my niece, Lady Norton, who will make this house as pleasant to you, and to me, and to all my friends, as it has been unpleasant ever since—in short, ever since you ...
— Tales & Novels, Vol. IX - [Contents: Harrington; Thoughts on Bores; Ormond] • Maria Edgeworth
... properly "manufactured", that is, roasted, or "cooked". Only in this way can all the stimulating, flavoring, and aromatic principles concealed in the minute cells of the bean be extracted at one time. An infusion from green coffee has a decidedly unpleasant taste and hardly any color. Likewise, an underdone roast has a disagreeable "grassy" flavor; while an overdone roast gives a charred taste that is unpalatable to the average citizen of ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers
... to be repeated, he settled down again with his head upon my breast till some fresh sound arose—a distant cry in the forest, or a voice talking in some neighbouring hut, when he would start up again, and once uttered a low menacing growl, which made me think what an unpleasant enemy he would be to a ...
— Bunyip Land - A Story of Adventure in New Guinea • George Manville Fenn
... his father's kindness in giving him a companion of his own age, and so pleased to show Holt little Harry, and the leads, and the river, and his shelf of books, and Covent Garden Market, and other wonders of London, that any unpleasant feelings that the boys had ever entertained towards each other were quite forgotten, and they grew more intimate every day. It touched Hugh's heart to see how sorry Holt was for every little trial that befel him, on coming home, altered as he ...
— The Crofton Boys • Harriet Martineau
... two rival inns. At one of these we ordered a seadinner—crabs, cuttlefishes, soles, and turbots—which we ate at a table in the open air. Nothing divided us from the street except a row of Japanese privet-bushes in hooped tubs. Our banquet soon assumed a somewhat unpleasant similitude to that of Dives; for the Chioggoti, in all stages of decrepitude and squalor, crowded round to beg for scraps—indescribable old women, enveloped in their own petticoats thrown over their ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete - Series I, II, and III • John Symonds
... were precipitate in laying down "iron laws" and proclaiming inexorable necessity, they were perfectly right in pointing out that there are certain "laws of human nature," and conditions of social welfare, which will not be altered by simply declaring them to be unpleasant. They did an inestimable service in emphatically protesting against the system of forcibly suppressing, or trying to suppress, deep-seated evils, without an accurate preliminary diagnosis of the causes. And—not to go into remote questions—the ...
— Social Rights and Duties, Volume I (of 2) - Addresses to Ethical Societies • Sir Leslie Stephen |
