"Preferable" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... brought to the test let us explore that shell. To our eye, its external appearance is more pleasing than that of the building we just left. The one central and four terminal towers, with their open, kiosk-like tops, are really graceful, and the slender spires which surmount them are preferable to the sham of sheet-iron turrets. Thanks, too, to the necessity of projecting an annex for hydraulic engines from one side of the middle, the building is distinguished by the possession of a front. The main cornice is forty feet in height upon the ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, April, 1876. • Various
... persons who have been very unhappy, she loved a benumbed existence with a semblance of tranquillity, and ignorance seemed to her preferable to everything. As if life were not sad enough, good heavens! And then, after all, Sidonie had always been a good girl; why should she not ...
— Fromont and Risler, Complete • Alphonse Daudet
... with the agility of a deer, the chief followed her. Saturated with water, without a single extra garment, they were in a very uncomfortable condition, yet they laughed heartily over their mishaps; for, indeed, they thought anything preferable to being in the power of cannibals. Piling together the half decayed wood and wringing their clothes as dry as they could, they were in a fair way of recovering from the ducking, and as they apprehended no further danger from their enemies, ...
— The American Family Robinson - or, The Adventures of a Family lost in the Great Desert of the West • D. W. Belisle
... terms:—"Mourn not for him whom you cannot recall. If he be of God, instead of grieving that you have lost him, rejoice that he is gone to rest before you. Where there are two friends, I hold the death of the first preferable to that of the second, because the first leaves behind him one whose brotherly love will intercede for him daily, and whose tears will wash away the frailties of his life in this world. Be assured that your pious solicitude for the soul of ...
— Purgatory • Mary Anne Madden Sadlier
... duly built, with bamboo staircases, and little fenced-off bamboo platforms fitted with seats and tables, at different levels up the tree. The Swiss Family Robinson would have gone mad with jealousy at seeing such a desirable aerial abode, so immeasurably preferable to their own, and even Wendy might have felt a mild pang of envy. When the house was completed, one of the Aides-de-Camp inspected it and found a snake hanging by its tail from a branch right over one of the little ...
— The Days Before Yesterday • Lord Frederick Hamilton
... way before her seems interminable. If she carries her whip inside her—this counsel is not for those of us who are lazy—she does well to remember that there is a point beyond which fatigue should not be borne, that is, when it overdraws her capital of health and nervous energy. Raising pigs is preferable to a so-called high profession when pig-raising is happily joined with a reasonable amount of health and security. The pigs and health together can always pay mortgages and buy necessities for those dependent upon us and for ourselves. ...
— A Girl's Student Days and After • Jeannette Marks
... otherwise the desired firmness of the land will be lessened, and weed seeds will be brought to the surface, which will produce plants to the detriment of the clover. In preparing such lands for the seed, cultivation near the surface is preferable to plowing. ...
— Clovers and How to Grow Them • Thomas Shaw
... humiliation of diseased self-love—the conviction that, with all his brute power, he had been powerless in the very time and scene in which he had pictured to himself so complete a triumph. Even the quiet with which he had escaped was a mortifying recollection. Capture itself would have been preferable, if capture had been preceded by brawl and strife—the exhibition of his hardihood and prowess. Gloomily bending over his horse's neck, he cursed himself as fool and coward. What would he have had!—a new crime ...
— What Will He Do With It, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... potassium chlorate solution (one-quarter teaspoonful to the cup of water), or with Dobell's solution. In gargling, simply throw back the head and allow the fluid to flow back as far as possible into the throat without swallowing it. The frequent use of one of these fluids in an atomizer is even preferable to gargling. As an additional treatment, the employment of a soothing and pleasant substance, as peppermints, hoarhound or lemon drops, or marshmallows or gelatin lozenges, is efficacious, and will prove an agreeable remedy to the patient in sad contrast with many ...
— The Home Medical Library, Volume II (of VI) • Various
... to the fact that an animal in the South never took on tallow enough to assist materially in resisting a winter. The cattle of the North always had the flesh to withstand the rigors of the wintry season, dry, cold, zero weather being preferable to rain, sleet, and the northers that swept across the plains of Texas. The range of the new company was intermediate between the extremes of north and south, and as we handled all steer cattle, no one entertained ...
— Reed Anthony, Cowman • Andy Adams
... of William Boyd's "Pentecost," (with modulations in the tenor), creates a new accent for the familiar lines. Preferable in every sense are Bradbury's tender "Zephyr" ...
— The Story of the Hymns and Tunes • Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth
... carried by the current far away from their companions, who had no power of rendering them any assistance. Ada Garden shuddered as she witnessed their dreadful fate; and yet she felt that her own and that of those with her might not be preferable, but at the same time she and they had been as yet almost miraculously preserved, contrary to all expectation; and she could not help still indulging in the belief that, by some means or other, their deliverance ...
— The Pirate of the Mediterranean - A Tale of the Sea • W.H.G. Kingston
... (or till relief should come) or else undertake a five-mile tramp on the desperate hope of finding at the end of it the tide out and the sandbar a safe footway from shore to shore. Between the two he vacillated not at all; anything were preferable to a night in the dunes, beaten by the implacable storm, haunted by the thought of Quain; and even though he were to find the eastern causeway under water, at least the exercise would have served ...
— The Bronze Bell • Louis Joseph Vance
... agents and mechanical combinations could be employed to incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a change; when it was recognized that the application of a new principle, or the invention of a new machine, was better than the acquisition of an additional slave, peace became preferable to war. And not only so, but nations possessing great slave or serf populations, as was the care in America and Russia, found that considerations of humanity were supported by considerations of interest, and ...
— History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science • John William Draper
... up to the cavalcade like a burning prairie, sweat and dust crusted over the horses under saddle, without variation of pace or course. Only three herds were met, feeling their way through the mirages, or loitering along the waters. Traveling by night was preferable, and timing the route into camps and marches, the cottonwood on the Arkansas River was sighted in advance ...
— Wells Brothers • Andy Adams
... which his barbarity had forced from her. Wretched and hopeless, Antonia listened to him in silent grief: But when He announced her confinement in the Sepulchre, that dreadful doom to which even death seemed preferable roused her from her insensibility at once. To linger out a life of misery in a narrow loathsome Cell, known to exist by no human Being save her Ravisher, surrounded by mouldering Corses, breathing the pestilential air of corruption, never more to ...
— The Monk; a romance • M. G. Lewis
... "my time would have arrived, and I would have been discharged from the accursed hulks, but not by human hands. Death would have claimed me long before this; and death would have been preferable to the ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes
... alone give a man influence in the councils of his country. One historian has attempted to elevate Dr. Rolph at his expense, but a careful study of the career of those two actors will lead fair-minded readers to the conclusion that even the reckless course followed at the last by Mackenzie was preferable to the double-dealing of his more astute colleague. Dr. Rolph came again into prominence as one of the founders of the Clear Grits, who formed in 1849 an extreme branch of the Reform party. Dr. Rolph's qualities ensured him success in political intrigue, and he soon became a member of the ...
— Canada under British Rule 1760-1900 • John G. Bourinot
... but that they were immortal notwithstanding! that death was only the passage of another birth into a condition of enlarged capacity for such bliss as they enjoyed here, but more exalted in degree, perhaps in kind, and altogether preferable." ...
— Thomas Wingfold, Curate • George MacDonald
... importance on account of the possibilities of an interoceanic canal. A treaty for this canal, involving both Nicaragua and Great Britain, has already been signed by the powers interested. Many engineers regard the Nicaragua as preferable to that of the Panama canal. The shorter distance between New York and the Pacific ports of the United States, a saving of about four hundred miles, is in its favor. The longer distance of transit and the dangers of navigating ...
— Commercial Geography - A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges • Jacques W. Redway
... the possibility of getting your pocket picked, weigh little with you, the panorama along the shores of the memorable river, and the incidents and shows of passing life upon its bosom, render the trip far preferable to the brief yet tiresome shoot along the railway track. On one such voyage, a regatta of wherries raced past us, and at once involved every soul on board our steamer in the tremendous excitement of the struggle. The spectacle was but a moment within our view, and presented nothing more than a ...
— Our Old Home - A Series of English Sketches • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... hemlock makes an excellent hedge because it retains its lowest branches and will stand shearing. In this respect it is preferable to the spruce. It makes a fair tree for the lawn and is especially desirable for underplanting in woodlands, where the shade from the surrounding trees is heavy. In this respect ...
— Studies of Trees • Jacob Joshua Levison
... having despaired of getting them in calf; whereas, if he had had patience until September or October, when the cold weather sets in, in all likelihood they would have been got in calf. I had three cows out of four, that had run on the whole summer, got in calf in one day. An early spring calf is preferable to a late one, and most desirable; but my doctrine is, that a good calf never can come wrong. It is trying to the breeder to see his fine cows running on, but we must not despair; we must not lose a chance, for we ...
— Cattle and Cattle-breeders • William M'Combie
... sight of God. If a woman were to adorn herself with pure gold, precious stones and pearls, even to her feet, it would be exceedingly splendid. But you cannot attach so much to a woman that it shall be preferable to that superior ornament of the soul which is precious in God's sight. Gold and fine stones are precious in the world's esteem, but before God they are an ill-savor. But she is truly and nobly adorned in the sight of God, who goes forth ...
— The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude Preached and Explained • Martin Luther
... compact than the forces opposed, that all fractions of the army should have sure and easy means of concentrating, free from the intervention of the enemy. Thus, for forces nearly equal, all central or interior positions would be preferable to exterior ones, since the front in the latter case would necessarily be more extended and would lead to a dangerous division of force. Great mobility and activity on the part of the troops occupying these positions will be a strong element of security or of superiority ...
— The Art of War • Baron Henri de Jomini
... enough to feel such a proceeding dubious, and to dread her father's face when he heard of it. Besides, she did not believe that Jon would do it; he had an opinion of her such as she could not bear to diminish. No! Mary Lambe was preferable, and it was just the time of year to go to Scotland. More at ease now she packed, avoided her aunt, and took a bus to Chiswick. She was too early, and went on to Kew Gardens. She found no peace among its flower-beds, labelled trees, and broad green spaces, and having lunched off anchovy-paste ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... independence and power consequent upon earning large sums of money has very much destroyed my admiration for any other mode of support; and yet certainly my pecuniary position now would seem to most people very far preferable to my former one; but having earned money, and therefore most legitimately owned it, I never can conceive that I have any right to the money of another person.... I cannot help sometimes regretting that I did not reserve out of my former earnings ...
— Records of Later Life • Frances Anne Kemble
... field of mechanics electricity is decidedly preferable to any other agent. Heat may be transformed into motive power by a suitable engine, but there its adaptability is at an end. An electric current drives not only a motor, but every machine and tool attached ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various
... of a brave man to sell his life as dearly as possible, Johnson took a couple of guns from his pocket; but the next moment, as if coming to the conclusion that death without the Girl would be preferable, ...
— The Girl of the Golden West • David Belasco
... his time is not easy to determine; the reign of Elizabeth is commonly supposed to have been a time of stateliness, formality, and reserve; yet, perhaps, the relaxations of that severity were not very elegant[11]. There must, however, have been always some modes of gaiety preferable to others, and a writer ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson
... Form I, written exercises should be required and also sketches representing the objects studied. For this purpose a Nature Study note-book is necessary—a loose-leaf note-book being preferable because of necessary ...
— Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study • Ontario Ministry of Education
... infatuated this boy to such an extent that he would agree with you in anything. Of course he will say that the Reverend and respectable Mr. Hawkfield is better than the picturesque Monsieur le Maire, and that a wedding cake from Gunter's is preferable to the curdled cheese of Valdeauvau. He would perjure his little soul to atoms for ...
— The Beloved Vagabond • William J. Locke
... He was not satisfied in the sense that he thought he had accomplished a great work, but he was so far satisfied that he now felt that he had room to breathe. Wind in one's sails, even if it is a storm, is preferable to a dead calm. What emotions he must have stirred in many a careless soul! How many of his hearers might not now be struggling with the mighty thoughts which he had thrown amongst them? In the mean time ...
— Garman and Worse - A Norwegian Novel • Alexander Lange Kielland
... observed Steve dubiously. At last, "I wish I could believe that explanation, Edwards," he said. "As inexcusable as such—er—such an action would be, it would still be preferable to—to what I am forced to suspect. But the whole thing is beyond me." The instructor spread his hands in a gesture of despair. "I can't understand it, Edwards." After a minute, "It must have been an accident," continued Mr. ...
— Left End Edwards • Ralph Henry Barbour
... said, emphatically; "not a new Lady Hammerton; only a rather new Miss Flaxman; and that, I assure you, is something very preferable." ...
— The Invader - A Novel • Margaret L. Woods
... might be taken away, her love remained, and grew all the greater because he needed it. Yet she knew that no subterfuge or pretence would avail her to hide why she had come. She could not hide it. It must be spoken out now, though death was preferable. ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... reflection satisfied him that it would not. To have left him in the hands of the Spaniards would have been to leave him in slavery for the remainder of his life; and, judging by himself, Leicester felt that death itself would be preferable to such a fate. Then, again, there was the possibility—a slender one, it is true, but still a possibility—of their speedy rescue; in which case, with the care and nursing which he would be sure to receive, there was no reason why Walford should not recover ...
— The Voyage of the Aurora • Harry Collingwood
... mouth of the Clove is Palensville, a little manufacturing village, where town-wearied denizens find fresh air and pleasant walks and drives during the summer months. To our taste, however, the summer climate at the various sojourning places, about two thousand feet above the sea level, is far preferable to that at the base ...
— Continental Monthly , Vol V. Issue III. March, 1864 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... them, they must be irritated, or wetted with water. Boas are killed, and immersed in the streams, to obtain, by means of putrefaction, the tendinous parts of the dorsal muscles, of which excellent guitar-strings are made at Calabozo, preferable to those furnished by the intestines ...
— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt
... the resolution of the difficulty, given by one firm at least, that firm being "WALKER." They are handy, and conveniently pocketable, but to "The chiels amang ye taking notes," plain leaves, and no fruit, and no dates, we should say, would be preferable. They're reasonable prices, and you can't expect to get 'em for ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, December 12, 1891 • Various
... the donor, are to be found blended, in various proportions, in these several treatises, and rendered the task of decision the more embarrassing. The committee were thus unable to select any one, two, or three, as on the whole preferable to the remainder of these four. They therefore awarded the premium, which the benevolent donor has increased to $400, to be divided equally among these four manuscripts;" one of which is ...
— The Faithful Steward - Or, Systematic Beneficence an Essential of Christian Character • Sereno D. Clark
... protected; that to be recognized as a neutral between two such belligerent powers as England and France was a great point gained; that partial indemnity was better than total loss; and that the chance of a fairly profitable trade in the future was preferable to the ruin of all foreign commerce. It was universally agreed that peace was better than war; but there was this difference between the two parties: while one maintained that war was not a necessary consequence of the rejection of the treaty, the other declared it must be inevitable, where ...
— James Madison • Sydney Howard Gay
... ticking, awning, duck, or denim, and should be from 6 to 12 inches square when finished. They are stitched around the outer edge (except for a small length through which the beans are inserted). The bag should then be turned and stitched a second time. Hand sewing is preferable, as often better able to withstand the strain put upon it. The bag is filled with dried beans or peas. A bag 6 inches square should contain 1/2 pound of these. A larger bag may contain a few more, but the half-pound weight is good for any sized bag. For ...
— Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium • Jessie H. Bancroft
... will never fail of pleasing a very great majority; so great, that the dislikers, out of dullness or affectation will be silent, and forced to fall in with the herd; the point I mean, is what we call humour, which in its perfection is allowed to be much preferable to wit, if it be not rather the most useful, ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Volume IX; • Jonathan Swift
... or the medium voice is preferable, it being more noble and more ample, and not fatiguing. In these voices there is far less danger of hoarseness. The head and medium voices proceed more from the mouth, while the chest-voice has its vibrating point ...
— Delsarte System of Oratory • Various
... naked breast, and then twanging on the string with a small stick. About four notes can be extracted by a skilful player. The result is not cheerful, and to the civilised ear the strains of a Jew's harp are preferable. But the twanging eased the burthen of longing which Maliwe bore, and no lute-player in passionate Andalusia ever poured out his love in melody with more genuine feeling than did this savage ...
— Kafir Stories - Seven Short Stories • William Charles Scully
... to the ministry. In the commons, Fox urged that the cruel acts of the jacobin government should not prevent England from negotiating with it, to which Pitt replied that no dependence could be placed on the existing French government, and that "any alternative was preferable to making peace with France upon the system of its present rulers". The address was carried by 277 to 59. Votes were passed for 60,000 regular troops and a naval force of 85,000 men. Weak as the opposition was, it lost no opportunity. Some Hessian troops sent to join a British ...
— The Political History of England - Vol. X. • William Hunt
... conditions qu'a l'independance Serbe. Son Excellence ne se dissimule pas les difficultes locales qui existent en Roumanie, mais, apres avoir murement examine les arguments qu'on peut faire valoir dans un sens et dans l'autre, les Plenipotentiaires de France ont juge preferable de ne point se departir de la grande regle de l'egalite des droits et de la liberte des cultes. Il est difficile, d'ailleurs, que le Gouvernement Roumain repousse, sur son territoire, le principe admis en Turquie pour ses propres sujets. Son Excellence pense qu'il n'y a pas ...
— Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question • Lucien Wolf
... evidence, or a mark, of the presence of those of the predicate. For the purposes of reasoning, since propositions enter into that, not as ultimate results, but as means for establishing other propositions, the latter formula is preferable. ...
— Analysis of Mr. Mill's System of Logic • William Stebbing
... definition, rigidly observed, all repetition is a kind of delicate punning, bringing slight differences of application into clear relief. The practice has its dangers for the weak-minded lover of ornament, yet even so it may be preferable to the flat stupidity of one identical intention for a word or phrase in twenty several contexts. For the law of incessant change is not so much a counsel of perfection to be held up before the apprentice, as a fundamental condition of all writing whatsoever; if the change be not ...
— Style • Walter Raleigh
... vessels of earthen ware, manufactured by themselves, or into half gourd shells instead of dishes. They sleep in large net hammocks made of cotton, suspended at some height; and however extraordinary or disagreeable this custom may appear, I have found it exceedingly pleasant, and much preferable to the carpets which we use. Their bodies are very clean and sleek, owing to their frequent bathing. When about to ease nature they are at great pains to conceal themselves from observation, yet are very indecent in discharging their urine, which they would do at ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr
... board may conveniently be six inches wide, and should have a number of perforations about an inch in diameter, for the transmission of the current to the feet. 1 1/4" pine plank is the most suitable wood to use in the construction of the tub. This is preferable to any of the hard woods, because of the greater facility of fitting in the electrodes etc. It is also the ...
— The Electric Bath • George M. Schweig
... graceful fish, swift and weak, which trails its rose and silver tunic through the transparent waters. His destiny is to devour, to be strong, and, if he should find himself disarmed, his defenses broken, to give himself up to misfortune without protest and to perish. Death is preferable to abdicating one's primal rights, the noble fatality of birth. For the strong of the land or of the sea there is no satisfaction nor life outside one's own sphere; they are slaves of their own greatness; birth brings them misfortunes as well as honors, and it will ever ...
— The Dead Command - From the Spanish Los Muertos Mandan • Vicente Blasco Ibanez
... the work of his own hand, becomes attached to his place of residence, and is perhaps not only a better subject on that account, but a better neighbour—a better man. A taste for flowers is, at all events, infinitely preferable to a taste for the excitements of the pot-house or the tavern or the turf or the gaming table, or even the festal board, especially for people of feeble health—and above all, for the poor—who should endeavor to satisfy themselves with ...
— Flowers and Flower-Gardens • David Lester Richardson
... paving the way for his own ascent to sovereign power that he did not greatly care whether he injured his country or no. As the accomplishment of his designs depended mainly on his obtaining a powerful land-force, he regarded a Spartan as preferable to an Athenian alliance; and, having once made his choice, he lent his ally such effectual aid that in two years from the time of his coming down to the coast the war was terminated. Persian gold manned and partly built the fleet which conquered at AEgos-Potami; perhaps it contributed in a still ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 5. (of 7): Persia • George Rawlinson
... a Post-Office Money Order on Ottumwa, or Draft on a Bank or Banking House in Chicago or New York City, payable to the order of D. M. Fox, is preferable to Bank Notes. Single copies 5 cents; newsdealers 3 cents, payable in advance, monthly ...
— Buchanan's Journal of Man, April 1887 - Volume 1, Number 3 • Various
... former laws had invariably done their best to brand this race with infamy, and had marked out for its members, in the event of abandoning their Gypsy habits, a life to which death itself must have been preferable in every respect. They were not to speak to each other, nor to intermarry, though, as they were considered of an impure caste, it was scarcely to be expected that the other Spaniards would form with them relations of love or amity, and they were debarred the exercise of any trade or occupation ...
— The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain • George Borrow
... toward the east, where the water came tumbling and leaping down over stones and shale bed. When at last she arose she had learned one lesson, not in the History she carried. No matter what its disadvantages are, having a home of any kind is vastly preferable to having none. And the casualness of people so driven by the demands of living and money making that they do not take time even to be slightly courteous and kind, no matter how objectionable it may be, still that, even that, is better than their active ...
— A Daughter of the Land • Gene Stratton-Porter
... of foundation chain for working it is 529, reckoning the length, or 346 for the width, if that mode of working be preferred as less cumbersome. It will not, however, answer so well for a toilet cover, as the stitches would go the wrong way. For a counterpane, on the contrary, it would be preferable. ...
— The Ladies' Work-Book - Containing Instructions In Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, etc. • Unknown
... nursing baby and which may be continued till maturity or throughout life, consists in a rhythmic repetition of sucking contact with the mouth (the lips), wherein the purpose of taking nourishment is excluded. A part of the lip itself, the tongue, which is another preferable skin region within reach, and even the big toe—may be taken as objects for sucking. Simultaneously, there is also a desire to grasp things, which manifests itself in a rhythmical pulling of the ear ...
— Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex • Sigmund Freud
... breath a little, and shivered again as she groped her way up the dark stairs. But, then, she never would fall into Danglar's power. There was always an alternative. Yes, it was quite as bad as that—death at her own hands was preferable. Balked, outwitted, the plans of the criminal coterie, of which Danglar appeared to be the head, rendered again and again abortive, and believing it all due to the White Moll, all of Danglar's shrewd, unscrupulous cunning would be centered on the task of running her down; and if, ...
— The White Moll • Frank L. Packard
... appear to have enduring value. As early as 1894, the Court asserted: "The courts are not authorized to revise or change the body of rates imposed by a legislature or a commission; they do not determine whether one rate is preferable to another, or what under all circumstances would be fair and reasonable as between the carriers and the shippers; they do not engage in any mere administrative work; * * * [however, there can be no doubt] of their power and duty to inquire whether a body of rates * * * is unjust ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin
... of the khan being uninhabitable, I sent Paul with my letter of introduction to the Natchalnik, and sat down in the khan kitchen, which was a parlour at the same time; an apartment, with a brick floor, one side of which was fitted up with a broad wooden bench (the bare boards being in every respect preferable in such cases to cushions, as one has a ...
— Servia, Youngest Member of the European Family • Andrew Archibald Paton
... soul—or rather "to drink beer and dance with the girls"; in which, if defective in other things, Wenzel had an eminent talent. He was one of the worst kaisers and the least victorious on record. He would attend to nothing in the Reich; "the Prag white beer, and girls" of various complexion, being much preferable, as he was heard to say. He had to fling his poor Queen's Confessor into the river Moldau—Johann of Nepomuk, Saint so called, if he is not a fable altogether; whose Statue stands on Bridges ever since, in ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various
... court, that unites the old and new house, are more worth seeing than many fragments of ancient grandeur which our travellers visit under all the dangers attendant on long voyages. The garden is in the Italian taste, but divested of conceits, and far preferable to every style that reigned till our late improvements. The buildings are heavy, and not equal to the purity of the house. The lavish quantity of urns and sculpture behind the garden front should be retrenched." Such were the sentiments of Mr. Walpole on this celebrated villa, before ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, - Issue 269, August 18, 1827 • Various
... learning scroll-sawing, and thought it far preferable to any sort of needle-work; sometimes more enjoyable than playing ...
— Elsie's New Relations • Martha Finley
... much mutilated. Still, as it is simply decorative, and not necessary for the stability of the wall, it would be well to leave it untouched, as genuine old work, even though it may have suffered at the hand of time or of former generations, is, from a decorative point of view, infinitely preferable to any modern reproduction. There are two small windows in the west wall to light the wall passage to the clerestory, which is reached by a gallery running across the base of the north window. In the north wall, behind ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory • Thomas Perkins
... It is far preferable to hotel life," she said. "Molly, my child, you are the only one who has ...
— Elsie's children • Martha Finley
... for the particular kind of service to be performed. A delay of operations (besides being dictated by the measures which were pursuing toward a pacific termination of the war) has been in itself deemed preferable to immature efforts. A statement from the proper department with regard to the number of troops raised, and some other points which have been suggested, will afford more precise information as a guide to the legislative consultations, and among ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 1 (of 4) of Volume 1: George Washington • James D. Richardson
... way to preserve the pulpy mushroom is alcohol, or wrapping them in flax or cotton; but a note or sketch should be made of their colors, for only their form and structure are thus preserved. Young specimens of these plants are preferable. ...
— Movement of the International Literary Exchanges, between France and North America from January 1845 to May, 1846 • Various
... the single article that aristocracy, wealth and government should be in the same few hands, now also implies adhesion to the economic doctrine of protection, and the political doctrine that unitary government is preferable to federal. The liberal creed, based principally upon opposition to the conservative, and to a lesser degree upon disrespect for the Established Church, has been enlarged concurrently with the latter. The average liberal or conservative now feels himself in honour bound to ...
— G. K. Chesterton, A Critical Study • Julius West
... States to monopolize power and office, and to trample without remorse upon the rights and interests of commercial sections of the Union. Whenever it shall appear that the causes are radical and permanent, a separation by equitable arrangement will be preferable to an alliance by constraint among nominal friends, but ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis
... guards for the cattle herd were then assigned by the captain of the wagon, or perhaps by the round-up foreman, according to the needs of the case, the guards standing for two hours at a time from eight in the evening till four in the morning. The first and last watches were preferable, because sleep was not broken as in both of the other two. If things went well, the cattle would soon bed down and nothing further would occur until morning, when there was a repetition of the work, the wagon moving each day eight or ten miles to ...
— Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt
... by Mr. Johnson, to contain the greatest quantity of soda. For the purpose of cooling the body during warm weather, and quieting the stomach, which is generally in a state of increased irritation when the temperature of the air is equal or within a few degrees of that of the body, it is preferable to any of ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 14, Issue 383, August 1, 1829 • Various
... latest calculations, and make her presence in London a matter of serious importance to her own interests. Miss Minerva, again, was a new obstacle in the way. To take her to the Isle of Wight was not to be thought of for a moment. To dismiss her at once, by paying the month's salary, might be the preferable course to pursue—but for two objections. In the first place (if the friendly understanding between them really continued) Carmina might communicate with the discarded governess in secret. In the second place, to ...
— Heart and Science - A Story of the Present Time • Wilkie Collins
... which should seem to place the amusements of society, or the charms of conversation, in competition with those stern virtues which are the guardians of an English hearth! The austere fanaticism of the Puritans, tainted with hypocrisy as it was, was preferable a thousand times to the orgies of the Regent and the Parc-aux-Cerfs. If purity and refined society be, indeed, incompatible—if the love of freedom and active enterprise necessarily exclude the grace and softness which lessen, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 335, September 1843 • Various
... people returned, they had an order to bring the white woman, who had been cast on shore, to the Factory, and repay those who had taken charge of her. They made signs to Amine, who had now quite recovered her beauty, that she was to go with them. Any change was preferable to staying where she was, and Amine followed them down to a peroqua, on which she was securely fixed, and was soon darting through the water with her new companions; and, as they flew along the smooth seas, Amine thought of Philip's dream and ...
— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat
... differ from those previously described in that they are made of yarns that are dyed before being woven, or yarns spun from dyed wool. Wool may be dyed in the raw state (fleece), slubbing, or yarn. Fleece dyeing is preferable for goods intended to stand friction, and that in spite of wear and tear must preserve their color. It is preferred for dark colored goods where much friction is to be encountered, but is seldom used for light colors, since these would be soiled during subsequent processes of manufacture. ...
— Textiles • William H. Dooley
... the uniformity and elegance of this work reflect high credit on the taste and talent of every one concerned in its production; and it really deserves a place on every writing-table not already provided with an Atlas. For constant reference, too, it is well calculated, by its convenient size, and is preferable to the cumbrous folio, as well as the varnished, ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 17, Number 489, Saturday, May 14, 1831 • Various
... was now at a distance, Procopius, being wearied by his protracted sufferings, and thinking even a cruel death preferable to a longer endurance of them, precipitately plunged into danger; and not fearing the last extremities, but being wrought up almost to madness, he undertook a most audacious enterprise. His desire was to win over the legions known as the Divitenses and ...
— The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus • Ammianus Marcellinus
... surface for dancing purposes is produceable by the simple process of washing them over with milk. Some people, not caring to go to the trouble of having carpets taken up, content themselves with a holland cloth tightly stretched over the carpeting, which is indeed preferable to that abomination, a beeswaxed floor, but is, at best, but heavy traveling for the dancers, and apt, too, to tear during the evening ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 • Various
... book in a most uncompromising fashion; a fashion that betrays unmistakably her plebeian origin. Dysart, listening, admires her for it. Her rough and ready honesty seems to him preferable to the best bred shuffling ...
— April's Lady - A Novel • Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
... under the effects of the reverse experienced at Saint-Quentin. "The loss of Calais," said Pope Paul IV., "will be the only dowry that the Queen of England will obtain from her marriage with Philip. For France such a conquest is preferable to that of half the kingdom of England." When Mary Tudor, already seriously ill, heard the news, she exclaimed from her deathbed, on the 20th of January, "If my heart is opened, there will be found graven upon it the word Calais." And when the Grand Prior of France, ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume IV. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... enter into a dispute with Prince Houssain, but was persuaded that, if his perspective glass were not preferable, it was impossible it should be inferior, and therefore agreed to wait till Prince Ahmed arrived, to produce ...
— Fairy Tales From The Arabian Nights • E. Dixon
... of work had not been done by the men, and that task work should be introduced. Their answer was, that the stones given them to break, being large field stones, were as hard as anvils, and they could not break more of them in a given time than they had done; and that death by starvation was preferable to the sufferings they ...
— The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 (3rd ed.) (1902) - With Notices Of Earlier Irish Famines • John O'Rourke
... be carried like a pig through the public street!" cried To'oto'o. "Preferable far would be death itself than that the son of chiefs should be thus degraded, and his name become ...
— Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas • Lloyd Osbourne
... comfortable home secured for her at least during that period; for the future she would either have to perform menial services at the school, or go out in the cold world without a friend or protector. The former was considered by the poor girl preferable to going she knew not where, and so she accepted the offer of a situation as housemaid, kindly proffered to her by Mrs. Thompson out of pure charity at two dollars per month less than the previous occupant of ...
— The Mysteries of Montreal - Being Recollections of a Female Physician • Charlotte Fuhrer
... clouds obscuring the sky. The Indians themselves had become somewhat weary, and deeming it impossible for their victims to escape and feeling sure of the booty, which could by no possibility be removed, relaxed their watchfulness. As any death was preferable to captivity and torture by the Indians, the traders resolved, in the gloom of midnight to attempt an escape, though the chances were a hundred to one that they would be almost buried beneath the ...
— Christopher Carson • John S. C. Abbott
... is changed into a less soluble form, so the beverage made from black tea contains less tannin than that made from green tea. Hence, black tea is preferable. It is, however, slightly more stimulating than green tea. Good black tea is grayish black in color, not dead black. "English Breakfast" is a black tea. It consists of a mixture of several black teas. "Oolong" is black in appearance, but has the flavor ...
— School and Home Cooking • Carlotta C. Greer
... to Hudson Bay has been treated of in an earlier chapter: it is preferable to follow out to its finish the great, western impulse of the French, which led them to neglect for a time the doings of the British on the east coast of North America and in the ...
— Pioneers in Canada • Sir Harry Johnston
... an anxious as Norbert to bring this painful scene to a close, for anything was preferable to this hideous state of suspense. The last despairing glance of the Duchess had pierced his heart like a dagger thrust, and when he saw Norbert thrust aside his trembling wife with such brutality, it was all he could do ...
— The Champdoce Mystery • Emile Gaboriau
... was slain in one of the endless battles which took place between the contending factions. If he had lived, I might have submitted to the completion of my fate; but since he was no more, I felt that it would be a preferable lot to be a beggar in the streets of a Scottish village, than, an abbess in this miserable house of Saint Bride; nor was even that poor object of ambition, on which my father used to expatiate when desirous of persuading me ...
— Waverley Volume XII • Sir Walter Scott
... alone; he's brave, and ever has Been first, with that swart face and mountain shoulder, In field or storm, and patient in starvation; And for his tongue, the camp is full of licence, And the sharp stinging of a lively rogue Is, to my mind, far preferable to The gross, dull, heavy, gloomy execration Of a mere famished sullen grumbling slave,[dl] Whom nothing can convince save a full meal, And wine, and sleep, and a few Maravedis, 260 With which he ...
— The Works of Lord Byron - Poetry, Volume V. • Lord Byron
... might fail, but he would have the satisfaction of making the attempt and showing Glen that he was not a coward. He had been longing for some wild undertaking, and here was the opportunity right at hand. It would be far more preferable than spending his time around camp, or even ...
— Glen of the High North • H. A. Cody
... much more important dogmatic truth is than the ordinary everyday correspondence between statement and fact. To the Archdeacon a lie of Lalage's would have been a minor evil in every way preferable, if it came to a choice between the two, to Miss Pettigrew's unorthodox interpretation of the Mosaic narrative. I could argue the matter no more and fell back ...
— Lalage's Lovers - 1911 • George A. Birmingham
... affection, such as she saw Henry lavish on the shallow Queen, but which she could meet and requite in John. The brutal Boemond, the childish Malcolm, had aroused no feeling in her but dislike or pity, and to them a convent was infinitely preferable; but Bedford—the religious, manly, brave, unselfish Bedford—opened to her the view of all that could content a high-souled woman's heart, backed, moreover, by the wonder of having been the first to touch such ...
— The Caged Lion • Charlotte M. Yonge
... brimful of animation," said Trevalyon; and the salle a manger is preferable to privacy; when one travels, 'tis more of a change to live its life, the continuous noise, bustle and excitement ...
— A Heart-Song of To-day • Annie Gregg Savigny
... former extremely palateable, comparing them to young pullets. They likewise roasted several little cubs of seals, but there was a degree of softness in the meat which made it disgustful. The flesh of young, but full-grown sea-bears, was greatly preferable, and tasted like coarse and bad beef; but that of the old sea-lions and bears was so rank and offensive, that we could ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) • Robert Kerr
... himself to let these men have their way with him. To have to confess that he had been their tool went so much against the grain with him that anything seemed to him to be preferable to that. The passage across his brain of all these thoughts had not required many seconds, and his guests seemed to acknowledge by their silence that some little space of time should be allowed to him. Mr. Pile was leaning ...
— Ralph the Heir • Anthony Trollope
... I believe personally that the main object of the Yuen-nan provincial government in employing two American engineers, who at the present moment (August, 1910) are surveying a route from Yuen-nan-fu to the Yangtze, is merely official bluff. It is preferable to pay two men a monthly stipend if the official "face" can be preserved and the Chinese dogged official procrastination be maintained, rather than to allow foreigners to come ...
— Across China on Foot • Edwin Dingle
... the jester began, joyously anticipating a confirmation of the clever inferences he had drawn, "I suppose it was a long flight to the churchyard, where we found you. On the grave is a better place than in it, and a bed at Emmendingen, with plenty of grits and veal, is preferable to being in the snow on the highway, with a grumbling stomach Speak freely, my lad! Where does your nest ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... would be so streightened, so liable to harrassment, and especially to the comptrol of its navigation, that it would scarce be tenable, and surely not worth the expence of keeping. The country pretended to have been ceded is far preferable to it; and the masters of it would be equally masters of the sea all over North-America. Hallifax, for example, according to which of the nation's hand it should be in, may be equally an effectual check on ...
— An Account Of The Customs And Manners Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton • Antoine Simon Maillard
... her tall figure resolutely. "I must not give way to tears. I can not! I will not! There must be some way to pay my father's debts beside this extremity, to which death is almost preferable. There is still a week's time. A week—only a week." Panic overwhelmed her, and when someone gently took her hand, she cried aloud ...
— Down the Mother Lode • Vivia Hemphill
... and with life. Since one good action brings on my head such inexpressible evils, I have reason to believe that the wicked only have a right to happiness. If such be the order of things in this world, hurl me at once into hell. Its darkness is a thousand times preferable to ...
— Faustus - his Life, Death, and Doom • Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger
... us. But if we know how to manage a noble principle, and fear not death so much as a dishonest action, and think impatience a worse evil than a fever, and pride to be the greatest disgrace as well as the greatest folly, and poverty far preferable to the torments of avarice, we may still bear an even mind and smile at the reverses of fortune and ...
— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike
... is this to the backslider. A wicked professor is a practical atheist and a contemptible hypocrite. But the backslider is worse, he proclaims, in his downward course, the awful blasphemy that 'sin is better than Christ'; 'hell is preferable to heaven.' O! that some poor bewildered backslider may, by a Divine blessing upon the voice of Bunyan, be arrested ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... addressing his father punctiliously as "Mr. Chairman," and the other ranchers as "Gentlemen of the Executive Committee of the League." He had no wish, he said, to disarrange the regular proceedings of the Committee. Would it not be preferable to defer the reading of his report till "new business" was called for? In the meanwhile, let the Committee proceed with its usual work. He understood the necessarily delicate nature of this work, and would ...
— The Octopus • Frank Norris
... to be the logical consequence of P-B3, and therefore preferable. After the text move Black will sooner or later be able to enforce the advance of his own pawn to Q4, and his pieces will then have the ...
— Chess Strategy • Edward Lasker |
