"Confess" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... he will be punished according to circumstances,—perhaps by a mortification to the pocket, perhaps by the penance of the convent; and perhaps his fate will be worse, if he be obstinate. So nobody is obstinate, and all go to confession like good Christians, and confess what they please, for the sake of peace, if not of absolution. The Francescani march more solemnly up and down the alleys of their cabbage-garden, studiously with books in their hands, which they pretend to read; now and then taking out their snuff-stained ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 24, Oct. 1859 • Various
... from the simple declaration of you and yours, that "we accept of your services, and we thank you for them," than it is in common minds to conceive; but, fearful lest a too grateful sense should be entertained of the friendly offices I have been engaged in (which, however, I ought to confess, I was prompted to, in the first place, by a remembrance of the many obligations I owed to Commodore Pasley), I must beg you will recollect that, by sending to me your charming Nessy (and if strong affection ...
— The Eventful History Of The Mutiny And Piratical Seizure - Of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause And Consequences • Sir John Barrow
... "we have admired your campaign—have admired it greatly; we have appreciated the skill with which you have kept away from dangerous subjects, and we have been sure that it would continue to the end, but I must confess that this confidence of ours was shaken a little to-day—I trust that I am ...
— The Candidate - A Political Romance • Joseph Alexander Altsheler
... can then no longer be denied. His glorious appearing will silence all His enemies. His rejection ends and His glory as God's appointed King and ruler over this earth, He purchased with His blood, begins. Every knee must then bow before Him and every tongue confess that He ...
— The Work Of Christ - Past, Present and Future • A. C. Gaebelein
... "What! you confess it yourself?" cried the magistrate. "Don't hope, then, for mercy! You shall now pay two hundred guilders, or go ...
— Funny Big Socks - Being the Fifth Book of the Series • Sarah L. Barrow
... Johannesburg, that we may easily forget the old subjects of dispute which existed for a generation before it was known that there were any workable goldfields in South Africa, and before the word "Uitlander" had been mentioned amongst us. I must confess that for my part I had forgotten this incident of Sir R.N. Fowler's Mayoralty, and I think it may interest some of your readers to be reminded of it at the present time. I am, thine truly,—THOMAS HODGKIN. ...
— Native Races and the War • Josephine Elizabeth Butler
... "I will confess, candidly, that if the scheme of a worlds history with reference to its Creator, as set forth in the Bible, were true, it would be a scheme in many things worthy of a divine benevolence: such as that in which you believe. But ...
— Olive - A Novel • Dinah Maria Craik, (AKA Dinah Maria Mulock)
... pure love, is the most serious of all relations, and girls and boys should early be instructed about the secrets of their own natures, the object of marriage, and the serious results of any marriage where true love is not the object. I confess myself that I was not fit to marry with the ignorance of its holy purpose. Sunday school teachers, mothers, fathers, and ministers, look into God's word and see the results of sin. God has written of this so as to force ...
— The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation • Carry A. Nation
... confess that while they enumerate the requisites necessary to a critic, they tremble for their own incompetency. Labour however shall not be spared—-and they cherish the most sanguine hopes of supplying their general deficiency by candour and integrity; being determined ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor - Volume I, Number 1 • Stephen Cullen Carpenter
... with the night, and with the dreams and fancies of the night. Would he, then, confess to himself that which he would confess to no other? Or was it merely some passing whim—some slight underchord of sentiment struck amidst the careless joy of a young man's holiday—that had led him up into the silent region of trees and moonlight? The scene around him was romantic enough, but he ...
— Macleod of Dare • William Black
... "I have spent a delightful hour." Must he go on and confess that he had developed no particular dexterity in dealing with the younger ...
— Bertram Cope's Year • Henry Blake Fuller
... at times, just as people at home are grumbling at the Savoy, or Lockhart's. It is the Briton's habit so to do. But in moments of repletion we are fain to confess that the organisation of our commissariat is wonderful. Of course the quality of the menu varies, according to the immunity of the communication-trenches from shell fire, or the benevolence of the Quartermaster ...
— The First Hundred Thousand • Ian Hay
... Which round the world have travelled gaily, By Nursery pets consulted daily? If not, just get "Shock-headed PETER"; Read of AUGUSTUS, the soup-eater, And stuck-up "JOHNNY Head-in-Air," Who came down "bump" all unaware. And "Fidgety PHILIP." You'll confess them Pointed,—and don't try to suppress them, Like Princes, party-men and papers Which can't admire all your mad capers! My Wilful WILHELM, you'll not win By dint of mere despotic din; By kicking everybody over In whom a critic you discover, Or shouting in your furious ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, March 26, 1892 • Various
... Shepherd? I confess you surprise me, for I have always had an idea that he was a man of good family; although in some strange way his education had been neglected for, in fact, he told me one day that he ...
— For Name and Fame - Or Through Afghan Passes • G. A. Henty
... this out of a dread of the law, and of that wrath which God retains against acts of wickedness, even when no one can accuse the actors. Whence we are not to wonder at what was then done, while to this very day the writings left by Moses have so great a force, that even those that hate us do confess, that he who established this settlement was God, and that it was by the means of Moses, and of his virtue; but as to these matters, let every one take them as ...
— The Antiquities of the Jews • Flavius Josephus
... you are dull! You don't see I want to confess. It's sometimes a comfort to make yourself look as mean as possible. Afterwards you begin to imagine you're perhaps ...
— Partners of the Out-Trail • Harold Bindloss
... leadership of Luther in matters pertaining to Christian doctrine and morals will prove again that they are in no danger of inaugurating man-worship. The spirit of Luther is too much alive in them for that. They will, with the Marquis of Brandenburg, declare: "If I be asked whether with heart and lip I confess that faith which God has restored to us by Luther as His instrument, I have no scruple, nor have I a disposition to shrink from the name Lutheran. Thus understood, I am, and shall to my dying hour remain, a Lutheran." They will ever be able to distinguish ...
— Luther Examined and Reexamined - A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation • W. H. T. Dau
... returning on purpose to see him, nevertheless. The unhappy man, torn by remorse and passion, had resolved upon a course of action which seemed to him a penance for his crime of deceit. He determined to confess to Dawes that the message he had brought was wholly fictitious, that he himself loved the wife of the Commandant, and that with her he was about to leave the island for ever. "I am no hypocrite," he thought, in his exaltation. "If I choose ...
— For the Term of His Natural Life • Marcus Clarke
... die." Right unto Marsil their way they take. "Help, O king, for your people's sake!" King Marsil heard their cry at hand, "Mahound destroy thee, O mighty land; Thy race came hither to crush mine own. What cities wasted and overthrown, Doth Karl of the hoary head possess! Rome and Apulia his power confess, Constantinople and Saxony; Yet better die by the Franks than flee. On, Saracens! recreant heart be none; If Roland live, we ...
— The Harvard Classics, Volume 49, Epic and Saga - With Introductions And Notes • Various
... he was sure Ananias was a name for a liar though he could not tell why, one is driven to admit that ignorance of this special but not uncommon kind does imply more than inability to remember an old legend. We may be reluctant to confess the fact, but though most scientific men have some recreation, often even artistic in nature, we have with rare exceptions withdrawn from the world in which letters, history and the arts have immediate value, and simple allusions to these topics find us wanting. ...
— Cambridge Essays on Education • Various
... 'sins' but our 'sin'—not only the outward acts of transgression, but that alienation of heart from which they all come; not only sin in its manifold manifestations as it comes out in the life, but in its inward roots as it coils round our hearts. You are not to confess acts alone, but let your contrition embrace the ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren
... people have of doing things. After a hearty meal, instead of giving you time to ruminate, and to allow the gastric juices to operate, away they lug you to be plumped over head and ears into a pool of ice cold water. I rose, confoundedly against my inclinations I will confess, and, we proceeded to a small rocky waterfall, where a man might wash himself certainly, but as to swimming, which is to me the grand desideratum, it was impossible, so I prowled away down the stream, to look out for a pool, and at last I was successful. On ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott
... down here and by some means, which I must confess is quite beyond my ability to grasp, be cured in a miraculous ...
— The Miracle Man • Frank L. Packard
... why a young woman should not reason correctly as well as a young man. And yet I must confess that, some how or other, a masculine seems to be often attached to the thought of strong reasoning powers in the female sex. To say of such or such a young woman, She is a bold and powerful reasoner—would it not be a little uncommon? Would it be ...
— The Young Woman's Guide • William A. Alcott
... the order, but as his ship drew ahead he called out in a pertinacious way,—"I hope, Sir Gervaise, you don't mean to give that other lame duck up. I've got my first lieutenant on board one of 'em, and confess to a desire to put ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper
... tell me how you are! And did your wound cause you much trouble? I confess I've passed many an anxious hour, thinking of your narrow escape and of your injury. It wasn't too ...
— The Air Trust • George Allan England
... more in this darkness," said Dick at last. "I must confess I thought walking in the direction of the cave would be an ...
— The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle - The Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht • Edward Stratemeyer
... cut a long story short. Bull scouted around, found out that the sheriff had done the killing himself and just saddled the blame on me, and then he makes the sheriff confess, gets me out of jail, and takes me out ...
— Bull Hunter • Max Brand
... will not face man who faces me So nobly, with a knave's ignoble front! Guilt, heavy guilt, upon my conscience weighs, I fully do confess. Can he but grant Forgiveness, when I contest for it, I do not care ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. IV • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... the actual Zola manner, in "Jennie Gerhardt"; there came from Dreiser the news that he had never read a line of Zola, and knew nothing about his novels. Not a complete answer, of course; the influence might have been exerted at second hand. But through whom? I confess that I am unable to name a likely medium. The effects of Zola upon Anglo-Saxon fiction have been almost nil; his only avowed disciple, George Moore, has long since recanted and reformed; he has scarcely rippled the prevailing romanticism.... Thomas Hardy? Here, I daresay, ...
— A Book of Prefaces • H. L. Mencken
... had this settled, and when Mr. Carter stopped Bobby in the hall to ask him how the plans were going, Bobby had to confess that they had done little beyond dispute over the names for the sides and whether the girls should ...
— Four Little Blossoms and Their Winter Fun • Mabel C. Hawley
... discovery of the important nature of the evidence he could give, before he said anything about those articles. When he did tell her that he could break down any case for the prosecution, she did not at once confess that she was the woman of whose visit to Lord Loudwater those stories told; they did not even discuss the question, which had seemed so important to the Daily Wire, who that woman was. They contented themselves with discussing the question who could have seen her. He admired her ...
— The Loudwater Mystery • Edgar Jepson
... cannot narrate a life of adventurous and daring exploits, fortunately I have no heavy crimes to confess; and, if I do not rise in the estimation of the reader for acts of gallantry and devotion in my country's cause, at least I may claim the merit of zealous and persevering continuance in my vocation. We are all of us variously gifted from Above, and he who is content ...
— Peter Simple and The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 • Frederick Marryat
... the need to treat Barber with contempt so as to keep myself alive to the fact that he was really a mere nothing, a little scum on the surface of London, of no more importance than a piece of paper on the pavement. For—shall I confess it?—I was even yet so much under the emotion of the scene back there in the concert hall that I could not help regarding him still with some mixture of respect and—yes, absurd as it may sound, ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various
... Gram. and Buchanan's cor. "And the princes offered for the dedicating of the altar."—Numb. cor. "Boasting is not only a telling of lies, but also of many unseemly truths."—Sheffield cor. "We freely confess that the forbearing of prayer in the wicked is sinful."—Barclay cor. "For the revealing of a secret, there is no remedy."—G. Brown. "He turned all his thoughts to the composing of laws for the good ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown
... formally to avow God, to confess His omniscience, to confide in His justice, we should not really disregard Him, and in effect signify that we do not think He doth know what we say, ...
— Sermons on Evil-Speaking • Isaac Barrow
... we have much to do before we die, yet (if we will but attend) it may be of use to hear the fact dwelt upon; because by thinking over it steadily and seriously, we may possibly, through God's grace, gain some deep conviction of it; whereas while we keep to general terms, and confess that this life is important and is short, in the mere summary way in which men commonly confess it, we have, properly speaking, no knowledge of that ...
— Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) • John Henry Newman
... much the liaison system in Italy. The comparatively young officers intrusted with it report direct to army headquarters, and on their reports the communiques are usually based. These officers remind us of the missi dominici of the great Moltke, but on the whole I confess that the system does not ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume V (of 8) • Francis J. (Francis Joseph) Reynolds, Allen L. (Allen Leon)
... pronounced. At the bottom of my soul, from the first weeks, I felt that I was in a trap, that I had what I did not expect, and that marriage is not a joy, but a painful trial. Like everybody else, I refused to confess it (I should not have confessed it even now but for the outcome). Now I am astonished to think that I did not see my real situation. It was so easy to perceive it, in view of those quarrels, begun for reasons so trivial that afterwards one could not ...
— The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories • Leo Tolstoy
... she dared confess her ignorance to and ask information from. Jeremiah Foster had spoken as if her child, sweet little merry Bella, with a loving word and a kiss for every one, was to suffer heavily for the just and true words ...
— Sylvia's Lovers, Vol. III • Elizabeth Gaskell
... not capable of that! You are my wife, you are Margaret Faringfield, William Faringfield's daughter. God forgive the mistrust—yet every husband with an imagination has tortured himself for an instant sometime with that thought, suppose his wife's heart might stray? I've heard 'em confess the thought; and even I—but what a hell it was for the moment it lasted! And how swiftly I put it from me, to dwell on your tenderness in the old days, your pride that has put you above the hopes of all men but me, the unworthy one you chose to reach down your hand ...
— Philip Winwood • Robert Neilson Stephens
... What a meeting it will be! But then we must remember that they had no actual claim on the inheritance. Of course it will be a most grievous disappointment, but what is life made of? I'm afraid some people will be anything but grieved. We must confess that Hubert has not been exactly popular; and I rather wonder at it; I'm sure he might have been if he had liked. Just a little too—too self-conscious, don't you think? Of course it was quite a mistake, but ...
— Demos • George Gissing
... meant to eat something. But another man had come into the game with a roll of money and a boastful manner. Casey rubbed his cramped leg and hunched down in his chair again and called for a stack of blues. Casey, I may as well confess, had been calling for stacks of blues and reds and whites ...
— Casey Ryan • B. M. Bower
... not have to look very deeply into this "Wisdom-drama" to find out whose wisdom it is. Confess your own ignorance and your own impotence, abandon yourself utterly, and then we, the sacred Caste, the Keepers of the Holy Secrets, will secure you pardon and respite—in exchange for fresh meat. Here are verses from a psalm of the ancient Babylonians, ...
— The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition • Upton Sinclair
... time and place perhaps, but you will pardon that. I—really, it is very awkward. Can you not help me, Sir John? The weeks are slipping by, and I should, I confess, like to make my arrangements for leaving home, but until I know ...
— If Only etc. • Francis Clement Philips and Augustus Harris
... appearance on the Tennessee River opposite Johnsonville (whence a new railroad led to Nashville), and with his cavalry and field pieces actually crippled and captured two gunboats with five of our transports, a feat of arms which, I confess, excited my admiration. ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman
... "I confess I don't. You've been neglecting my education, young lady, since you began your own. What ...
— Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party • C. E. Jacobs
... now," he said, "This day before you die!" "I do confess my treachery, "I shall no ...
— Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. II (of 3) • Walter Scott
... I think. David must be found, and got to confess, and so release Fly of her promise before three o'clock. David is a dreadful boy to find when he takes it into his head to hide on purpose; but I must look for him, and in the meantime will ...
— Polly - A New-Fashioned Girl • L. T. Meade
... She was taken ill At the Star-in-the-East. I chanced to pass that way, And so they called me in. I found her dying. But ere she would confess and make her peace, She begged to know if I had ever seen, About this neighbourhood, a tall dark man, Moody and silent, with a little stoop As if his eyes were heavy for his shoulders, And a strange look ...
— The Poetical Works of George MacDonald in Two Volumes, Volume I • George MacDonald
... guilty, in their hatred of Margaret and her cause, it is said that one man, who was found out, as they thought, in an attempt to convey letters to and fro between Margaret and some of her friends in England, was torn to pieces with red-hot pincers in a fruitless attempt to make him confess who the persons were in England for whom the letters were intended. But he bore the torture to the end, and died ...
— Margaret of Anjou - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... only wondering. I don't know you very well, but I confess I thought I had summed ...
— Bella Donna - A Novel • Robert Hichens
... a blushing maiden to tune her harp, or chant her song, just then! Though I am the son of a fisherman, I confess I thought I heard one tripping lightly behind me, her face all warm with smiles. It was but a fancy, and I sighed while asking myself what had induced it. Not a brook murmured; no willows distilled ...
— The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter • "Pheleg Van Trusedale"
... it is to tell one's history to a woman who takes in every word as of large importance! How pleasant it is to confess to a keen and sympathetic hearer. The twenty-five miles passed far too soon. It was short, but long enough for large foundations ...
— The Preacher of Cedar Mountain - A Tale of the Open Country • Ernest Thompson Seton
... indeavour to enlarge & strengthen the Senses by Medicine, and by such outward Instruments as are proper for their particular works. By this means they find some reason to suspect, that those effects of Bodies, which have been commonly attributed to Qualities, and those confess'd to be occult, are perform'd by the small Machines of Nature, which are not to be discern'd without these helps, seeming the meer products of Motion, Figure, and Magnitude; and that the Natural Textures, which some call the Plastick faculty, may be made in Looms, which a greater ...
— Micrographia • Robert Hooke
... enjoyed seven years of peace and rest; we have endured seven years of fret and worry. Life of course was never worth living, but the common stupidity of the nineteenth century renders existence for those who may see into the heart of things almost unbearable. I confess that every day man's stupidity seems to me more and more miraculous. Indeed it may be said to be divine, so inherent and so unalterable is it; and to understand it we need not stray from the question in ...
— Mike Fletcher - A Novel • George (George Augustus) Moore
... birth, her environment, her wealth, and triumphed over all of them for you and her sons. I can't go on with my own plan for personal happiness, until I know for sure if you perfectly understand that she came to you that night to confess to you her faults, errors, mistakes, sins, if need be, and ask you to take the head of your household, and to help her fashion each hour of her life anew. Did she have a chance to ...
— Michael O'Halloran • Gene Stratton-Porter
... at the confessional this week, I will on Monday confess the liars, on Tuesday the thieves, Wednesday the gamblers, Thursday the drunkards, Friday the women of bad life, and Saturday ...
— The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; • Various
... animals, from the antelope to the elephant, with no other weapon than the sword; the lion and the rhinoceros fell alike before the invincible sabres of these mighty hunters, to whom as an old elephant-hunter I wished to make my salaam, and humbly confess my inferiority. ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker
... small wax church at the time the wicked wretch thought they should be collecting honey for him. One day, walking near the hive into which he had put the host, the bees came out, and stung him nearly to death. Remorse seized him, and in bitter anguish he went to the priest to confess his fault. As the case was an extraordinary one, the priest consulted the bishop, who advised that the parishioners, headed by the priest, should go in procession to the hives. On the people's arrival, the bees testified their joy by their melodious humming. In the hive into which the host ...
— The Mysteries of All Nations • James Grant
... hour," said Charles, "the race begins. Before I start I must confess my sins. For I have sinned, and now ...
— Right Royal • John Masefield
... take aim at the puma; he was lying in a cat-like attitude on one of the highest limbs. But the angry growl and the moving tail told me plainly enough he was preparing to spring, and spring on Dugald. It was the first wild beast I had ever drawn bead upon, and I confess it was a supreme moment; oh, not of joy, but,—shall ...
— Our Home in the Silver West - A Story of Struggle and Adventure • Gordon Stables
... of truth. Psal. lxxviii, 5: "For he hath established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children." Isaiah xliii, 10: "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." Matth. x, 32: "Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven." John xv. 27: "Ye also shall bear witness." Acts i, 8: "And ye shall ...
— Act, Declaration, & Testimony for the Whole of our Covenanted Reformation, as Attained to, and Established in Britain and Ireland; Particularly Betwixt the Years 1638 and 1649, Inclusive • The Reformed Presbytery
... December, by the United States authorities, charged with assisting rebel prisoners to escape, and relieving them with money and clothing; also, with holding correspondence with the enemy. I desire to state the facts of the case, to confess the truth, and to ask such clemency at your hands as may be consistent with your duty as an officer of the government. I was born and reared in Kentucky. My home was in the South till within the last ten years, my connections and friends all ...
— The Great North-Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details • I. Windslow Ayer
... Constitution as unsound, in some respects a wicked Constitution, since it recognized slavery as an institution. By "the higher law," they would sweep slavery away, perhaps by moral means, but by endless agitations, until it was destroyed. Mr. Webster, I confess, did not like those agitations, since he knew they would end in war. He had a great insight, such as few people had at that time. But his prophetic insight was just what a large class of people did not like, especially in his own State. He uttered disagreeable truths,—as all prophets do,—and ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume XII • John Lord
... his Son: "I saw an adage yesterday, in a medical magazine, which is well worth your remembering and acting on, it is this wise saying of the great Lord Bacon's:—'Who asks much learns much.' I remember the day when I did not like by asking, to confess my ignorance. I have long given up that, and now seize on every opportunity of adding ...
— Life and Literature - Over two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers, - and classified in alphabetical order • J. Purver Richardson
... but I was wrong to do that, quite wrong; I admit that now. I couldn't at first see why he pretended he hadn't heard that Sholto was blind. You may have noticed that I tried to give him the impression that I had examined Miss McLeod and come to the conclusion that I could do nothing. I confess I did that to see how he took it. But I was on a wrong scent altogether. He knew about the dog, that was obvious, but it was also obvious that he hadn't been told from an official source, so to speak. He kept fishing ...
— The Mystery of the Green Ray • William Le Queux
... was quite certain that they were missing, I told the farmer's wife. We searched high and low for those lambs for several days, but we could not find them. The farmer first, and then his wife took me apart, and tried to make me confess that men had come and taken the lambs away. They promised me that I should not be scolded if I would tell the truth. It was no good my saying that I really did not know what had become of them, I could see that ...
— Marie Claire • Marguerite Audoux
... Canada has no distinctive and great literature—I confess frankly I do not know. England had only Canada's population when a Shakespeare and a Milton rose like stars above the world. Scotland and Ireland both have a smaller population than Canada, and their ballads are sung all over the world. Canada has had a multitude of ...
— The Canadian Commonwealth • Agnes C. Laut
... fellowship in Christ which the nave suggests, we confess our belief in when we say, "I believe in the holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints." The pictures of the saints of the Old and the New Testament, of the angels who worship Christ our Saviour, and of the men blessed by Him when on earth, ...
— The Worship of the Church - and The Beauty of Holiness • Jacob A. Regester
... "I must confess that they are very long in bringing him, my dear," said Mrs. Grey; "but sickness in a house occasions often much confusion, and therefore ...
— The Young Emigrants; Madelaine Tube; The Boy and the Book; and - Crystal Palace • Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick
... brighten o'er the land. They came; they stopp'd—an angry eye they cast On the pale slumberer, and in silence pass'd. Again the thunder roll'd; the lightning flew; His country's form appear'd before his view: All stain'd with gore appear'd her azure vest, And her dim eyes unusual grief confess'd. The gloomy phantom on Ernestus frown'd, And with her sceptre touch'd the yawning ground: A boundless space, with mourning myriads spread, Appear'd below, and thus the vision said: "Behold th' abode of traitors! Sylla here, And ...
— Gustavus Vasa - and other poems • W. S. Walker
... coast:—"The Sea has a soul and hears." And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear when you feel afraid at sea;—if you say that you are afraid, the waves will suddenly rise higher. Now this imagining seems to me absolutely natural. I must confess that when I am either in the sea, or upon it, I cannot fully persuade myself that it is not alive,—a conscious and a hostile power. Reason, for the time being, avails nothing against this fancy. In order to be able to think of the sea as a mere body of water, I must be upon some height ...
— In Ghostly Japan • Lafcadio Hearn
... Bah the younger at last became a Christian and left her evil habits, did not make the elder woman more friendly, though she had in time to confess that life was easier for both under the new conditions. After some time the Christians of the village received her permission to use a cave in her spacious court for worship, in return for their offer to put it in repair. "It can do no harm," ...
— The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor Hsi's - The Story of the Work in Hwochow • A. Mildred Cable
... may beleive you flatter me, But say thou dost and seeme to love me dearelye, For I confess, as freelye as I love, One littell sparke of thee outbuys my kyngdome; And when my kyngdomes gone pray what am I? A pore decrepyd mysserable thynge That needs no greater plauge ...
— A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III • Various
... might thrill an audience. Djabal, horror-stricken at what she has done, confesses to her that he is no Hakeem, but a mere man. After the first revulsion of feeling, her love, hitherto questioned and hampered by her would-be adoration, burst forth with a fuller flood. But she expects him to confess to the tribe. Djabal refuses: he will carry through his scheme to the end. In the first flush of her indignation at his unworthiness, she denounces him. In the final scene occurs another wonderful touch of nature, a touch which reminds one of Desdemona's ...
— An Introduction to the Study of Browning • Arthur Symons
... exquisite photograph that presently took its place on Courtland's desk. He hoped to have opportunity to judge more accurately when the summer came, for Mother Marshall had invited Pat to come out with Courtland in the spring and spend a week, and Pat was going. Pat had something to confess to ...
— The Witness • Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
... father's first success in inducing some of his workmen, with whom he had fallen incidentally into conversation on the subject, to go over to Reims in the early morning at the beginning of Lent, and confess to an excellent priest there who was one of his friends. He spake with the men separately, and said nothing to any one of them of his conversations with the others. Meeting one of his converts on his return, M. Harmel asked him about ...
— France and the Republic - A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces - During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 • William Henry Hurlbert
... Orange, their commander-in-chief, used to report their troops as full in number, and possessed of all necessary points of equipment, not considering it consistent with their dignity, or the honour of Spain, to confess any deficiency either in men or munition, until the want of both was unavoidably discovered in the day of battle. Accordingly, Ravenswood thought it necessary to give the Marquis some hint that the fair assurance which they had ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott
... walk by the side of manhood, turning even the hard realities of life into beauty by that living well-spring of sweet thoughts and fancies that I see beaming from her eyes. Look at her now, Ianthe, and confess that surely that countenance breathes more beauty than chiselled features can give." And certainly, whether some mesmeric influence from her enthusiastic Fairy Godmother was working on Hermione's brain, or whether her own quotation upon ...
— The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales • Mrs. Alfred Gatty
... I think the conduct of Prussia towards Denmark the reverse of "moral," but I confess I have the same opinions of her later conduct towards France.... No doubt the military law presses hardly on the German people, and no doubt the Prussian Court tells them that it is the fault of France; but is it true? Do not believe in the French lamb troubling the waters to the hurt of the ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 • Stephen Gwynn
... speculations on the basis of a discredited Bible and according to the changing thoughts and opinions of man, is plainly nothing but a fantastic dream, a comic if it were not so tragic conception of a Christian congregation which claims to confess the same faith, but knows not what it is, and holds that it is instituted by God, but cannot tell for what purpose before the ...
— Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark • Jens Christian Aaberg
... "I confess I am glad we are off at once," he said, "for I was sick of doing nothing but idling away my time at Carthage; and I suppose it would be just the same here. How busy are the streets of the town! Except for the sight of the mountains ...
— The Young Carthaginian - A Story of The Times of Hannibal • G.A. Henty
... me, and I may as well confess," he said, scowling at Nat. "But I must say, I never thought a country boy ...
— From Farm to Fortune - or Nat Nason's Strange Experience • Horatio Alger Jr.
... with Candor. I never saw him but once, viz last Spring in Boston, till he came to this City. I had preconceivd an opinion of his Bravery, in speaking of which you tell me "no Caution ought to be used," though I have never yet been pointed to a single Instance of it. I confess his Appearance in Boston did not strike me most agreably. He was in the Midst of a Crowd, who were shouting his Entrance into the Town; and like some of his Superiors, he seemd to be intoxicated with popular Applause. I had other Apprehensions, but I give you my most charitable ...
— The Original Writings of Samuel Adams, Volume 4 • Samuel Adams
... believe a holy Christian Church, the forgiveness of sin, etc., are by the Word embodied in this Sacrament and presented to us. Why, then, should we allow this treasure to be torn from the Sacrament when they must confess that these are the very words which we hear everywhere in the Gospel, and they cannot say that these words in the Sacrament are of no use, as little as they dare say that the entire Gospel or Word of God, apart from the Sacrament, ...
— The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther
... feel," he said, "that I have lost the only thing in the world I really care about—my liberty." It sounds, as I thus describe the situation, as though my friend was acting in an entirely selfish and cold-blooded manner; but I confess that it did not strike me in that light at the time. He spoke in a mood of dreary melancholy, as a man might speak who had committed a great mistake, and felt himself unequal to the responsibilities he had assumed. He spoke of his wife with ...
— The Silent Isle • Arthur Christopher Benson
... believed in him fully; that should he confess his fault she would understand it, and lose faith in him. He would bear the burden, he said to himself. There should be no more repining or looking back, Maude must never know; and so Jerry's ...
— Tracy Park • Mary Jane Holmes
... sorry to confess, for truth's sake, that she did not think the Queen could have heard of the loss of the pig fund, and that it was more likely to be from someone who wished to make up for the disaster—who could it be? She looked at the round stamp upon the green-lettered paper, ...
— The Stokesley Secret • Charlotte M. Yonge
... no inconsiderable part of the old time cook book, and no doubt would constitute a very attractive feature of a modern culinary guide. However, hardly anyone would confess to having bought it on ...
— The Suffrage Cook Book • L. O. Kleber
... that there is illusion,—not as to the reality of the visible, but as to its meanings,—very much illusion. Yet why should this illusion attract us, like some glimpse of Paradise?—why should we feel obliged to confess the ethical glamour of a civilization as far away from us in thought as the Egypt of Ramses? Are we really charmed by the results of a social discipline that refused to recognize the individual?—enamoured of a cult that exacted ...
— Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation • Lafcadio Hearn
... objection, I can have none," Mr. Sheldon answered. "I must confess, your course of proceeding appears to me altogether ...
— Charlotte's Inheritance • M. E. Braddon
... I must confess it, sire, I have said too much to be able to unsay it. Rodrigo has noble qualities which I cannot hate; and, when a king commands, he ought to be obeyed. But to whatever [fate] you may have already doomed me, can you, before your eyes, tolerate this union? And when you desire ...
— The Cid • Pierre Corneille
... hope born of youth and inexperience that I now gave systematic attention to "HELP WANTED—Female." I will confess that at first I was ambitious to do only what I chose to esteem "lady-like" employment. I had taught one winter in the village school back home, and my pride and intelligence naturally prompted me to a desire to do something in ...
— The Long Day - The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself • Dorothy Richardson
... so thought I, by God that died. Now have you twain each for himself laid, That none[492] hath lied, but both true said: And of us twain none hath denied, But both affirmed that I have lied. Now since both ye[493] the truth confess, How that I lied, do bear witness, That twain of us may soon agree,[494] And that the lier the winner must be, Who could provide such evidence, As I have done in this pretence? Me-thinketh this matter sufficient To cause you to give judgment; And to give me the ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I. • R. Dodsley
... king, sitting down, and affectionately drawing her between his knees, "here is Quicksilver, who tells me that a great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my detaining you in my dominions. To confess the truth, I myself had already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from your good mother. But, then, you must consider, my dear child, that this vast palace is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones ...
— Tanglewood Tales • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... Berlioz, Wagner, Lenz, is striking; but Oulibichef is dead, and cannot reply. Some of the Russian's contrapuntal objections to the "Heroic Symphony" are well answered; but, as we are satisfied with the poetic explanation of the work by neither, we must confess, that, after the crystalline clearness of Oulibichef, the muddy wordiness of Marx is ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 30, April, 1860 • Various
... confess that their begging did not leave upon my mind the impression produced by ordinary mendicancy. They do not look as if they ought to work. I never saw one smile, and though they showed no positive suffering, I never saw one look happy. Each face seemed to be constantly telling the unhappy story of ...
— The trade, domestic and foreign • Henry Charles Carey
... away, and others are passing; one by one my list of friends grows less, and were it not that I, even now, pick up a new friend or two, I should run the risk of being a lonely old man. Let me confess, however, that my friends have brought me many worries, have caused me much disappointment, have often made me very angry. Sometimes, I must own, they have caused me real sorrow and occasionally feelings of utter despair. But ...
— London's Underworld • Thomas Holmes
... place Repairing where he judg'd them, prostrate fell Before him Reverent, and both confess'd Humbly their Faults, and Pardon begg'd, with ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... There she meets a brother Sedley home from India,—the immortal Jos,—at whom she began to set her hitherto untried cap. Here we become acquainted both with the Sedley and with the Osborne families, with all their domestic affections and domestic snobbery, and have to confess that the snobbery is stronger than the affection. As we desire to love Amelia Sedley, we wish that the people around her were less vulgar or less selfish,—especially we wish it in regard to that handsome young fellow, George Osborne, whom she loves with her whole heart. ...
— Thackeray • Anthony Trollope
... see thee a great man, and that will content me," said the younger, smiling affectionately; "a great scholar all confess you to be already: our mother predicts your fortunes every time she hears of your ...
— Rienzi • Edward Bulwer Lytton
... mentally to criticise her manner to himself. It had been very sweet, that warm, that full, that ready declaration of love. Yes; it had been very sweet; but—but—; when, after her little jokes, she did confess her love, had she not been a little too free for feminine excellence? A man likes to be told that he is loved, but he hardly wishes that the girl he is to marry should fling ...
— The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne • Anthony Trollope
... exclaimed Claude, laughing. "I am glad to hear that you are caught at last. Hear him, Jacques; how delightful it is to hear him confess that he has felt his heart burn before now. But this is the one, only, and lasting affection. Ah! Charles, you are still a sad dog! In this same town six years ago I heard you swear that you would live and die true to the beautiful daughter of the Sieur ...
— Marguerite De Roberval - A Romance of the Days of Jacques Cartier • T. G. Marquis
... summer, claiming that I was infringing upon his copyright, and feeling that I as a self-respecting man would never claim the discredit of having myself been the person he claims to have been. I will candidly confess that I am not proud of my achievements as Jonah. I was a very oily person even before I embarked upon the seas as Lord High Admiral of H.M.S. Leviathan. I was not a pleasant person to know. If I spent the night with a friend, his roof would fall in or his house would burn down. If I bet on ...
— The Enchanted Typewriter • John Kendrick Bangs
... He and those who shared his sentiments have been often and harshly censured on this account, and certainly the expressions of his displeasure are not unfrequently characterized by the bluntness and narrowness peculiar to him; on a closer consideration, however, we must not only confess him to have been in individual instances substantially right, but we must also acknowledge that the national opposition in this field, more than anywhere else, went beyond the manifestly inadequate ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen
... will confess that he drank just three drops too much punch last night, I will do the same. Mrs. Buckley, my dear lady, I hope you will order plenty of ...
— The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn • Henry Kingsley
... I confess that I was moved. This King, whatever his faults, made people love him. For a moment I could not bear to speak or break the poor fellow's illusion. But tough old Sapt had no such feeling. He slapped his hand on his ...
— The Prisoner of Zenda • Anthony Hope
... I request the insertion of a Query, requesting some of your readers to supply the ellipsis in the form with which petitions to Parliament are required to be closed, viz.: "And your petitioners will ever pray, &c." To me, I confess, there appears to be something like impiety in its use in its present unmeaning state. Would a petition be rendered informal by any addition which would make ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 190, June 18, 1853 • Various
... are asked to renounce the old system because the people make mistakes, and with the next breath we are solemnly assured that if we adopt the new system the people will not make mistakes. I confess I am not mentally alert enough to follow that sort of logic. It is too much like the road which was so crooked that the traveler who entered upon it had only proceeded a few steps when he met himself coming back. You cannot change the nature ...
— Elements of Debating • Leverett S. Lyon
... cap, which was the means of betraying them. The unfortunate Francesca Pompilia, in spite of all the wounds with which she had been mangled, having implored of the Holy Virgin the grace of being allowed to confess, obtained it, since she was able to survive for a short time and describe the horrible attack. She also related that after the deed, her husband asked the assassin who had helped him to murder her if she were really dead; and being assured that she ...
— A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.) • Mrs. Sutherland Orr
... enthusiasm, Miss Stone must be very charming and very lovable. I can see it in her picture, too, which I thank you for sending. Of course, without it I should have been cruelly anxious to see what she was like. She is very pretty—very. I am obliged to confess that. I think I shall come to love her for her own sake, and not only for yours. If only she will love me! You love me more than I deserve or merit, so don't say too much about me or she will be sure to ...
— The Smart Set - Correspondence & Conversations • Clyde Fitch
... One day ol' Mis' Squiers, the Doc's mother, missed a di'mon' ring. She laid it on the mantel an' it was gone, an' she said as Lucy took it. Lucy didn't take it, an' after they'd tried to make my gal confess as she was a thief they give 'er three days to hand up the ring or the money it was worth, or else they'd hev her arrested and sent t' jail. Lucy didn't take it, ye know. She jes' couldn't do sech a ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work • Edith Van Dyne
... kinds of question, one before and one after the sentence was passed. In the first, an accused person would endure frightful torture in the hope of saving his life, and so would often confess nothing. In the second, there was no hope, and therefore it was not worth ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE
... strange that I should have recollected this conversation. In truth, I did not, and it was not till many years afterwards that I was told of it. Indeed, I may confess once for all, that had I not possessed the advantage of communicating with some of the principal actors, I should have been unable to describe many of the events which occurred at that period of my existence. I remember, however, the captain, and his amiable consort, ...
— Charley Laurel - A Story of Adventure by Sea and Land • W. H. G. Kingston
... began to think that he might just as well say his prayers in bed, and then that it did not matter whether he was kneeling, or sitting, or lying down. And so it had come to pass with Tom, as with all who will not confess their Lord before men; and for the last year he had probably not said his prayers in earnest ...
— McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey
... up early, all this, which is the most dreadful part of all the rest, would be prevented. I have heard many an honest unfortunate man confess this, and repent, even with tears, that they had not learned to despair in trade some years sooner than they did, by which they had avoided falling into many foul and foolish actions, which they afterwards had been driven to by the extremity ...
— The Complete English Tradesman (1839 ed.) • Daniel Defoe
... have I.—But then I have also to confess a certain difficulty in understanding her. It is as if the cogs of our brain wheels didn't fit into each other, and as if something went to pieces in my head when I ...
— Plays by August Strindberg, Second series • August Strindberg
... "you have brought a stain upon this honourable and hitherto irreproachable institution, but I trust and believe that ere long, and before your misbegotten child is born, you may see cause to be grateful for our forbearance and our charity. Speaking for myself, I confess it is an occasion of grief to me, and might well, I think, be a cause of sorrow to him who has had your spiritual welfare in his keeping" (here he gave a look toward John), "that you do not seem to realize the position ...
— The Christian - A Story • Hall Caine
... the plains, where I remained three years; and when the governor wrote to me that he was about to remove from Kentucky, I resigned my commission as captain of scouts, and here I am. I must confess that I am sorry enough for it; for I never saw a duller country than California. There's no society here, no excitement—nothing to stir ...
— Frank Among The Rancheros • Harry Castlemon
... he ran out," answered Inez, "but I confess I was very badly frightened. If you think he is in the house, search it. I ask as a favor that you search it, for if he is concealed in the house as you think, he may murder ...
— Raiding with Morgan • Byron A. Dunn
... the question: "What is to be done?" consisted for me in this, that it was necessary for me to repent, in the full sense of that word,—i.e., to entirely alter my conception of my position and my activity; to confess the hurtfulness and emptiness of my activity, instead of its utility and gravity; to confess my own ignorance instead of culture; to confess my immorality and harshness in the place of my kindness and morality; ...
— What To Do? - thoughts evoked by the census of Moscow • Count Lyof N. Tolstoi
... nose is, you confess, a trifle flat, When the lips are red as roses, who would stop ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98 January 11, 1890 • Various
... But a feller seed you 'n' Steve comm' from the place whar Jas was found dead, 'n' whar the dirt 'n' rock was throwed about as by two bucks in spring-time. Steve says he didn't do it, 'n' he wouldn't say you didn't. Looks to me like Steve did the killn', 'n' was lyin' a leetle. He hain't goin' to confess hit to save your neck; 'n' he can't no way, fer he hev lit out o' ...
— A Cumberland Vendetta • John Fox, Jr.
... virtuous, and the world was right. A thousand fireflies had sparkled round this myrtle, and its fresh and verdant hue was still unsullied and un-scorched. Not a very accurate image, but pretty; and those who have watched a glancing shower of these glittering insects will confess that, poetically, the bush might burn. The truth is, that Lady Aphrodite still trembled when she recalled the early anguish of her broken sleep of love, and had not courage enough to hope that she might dream again. Like the old Hebrews, she ...
— The Young Duke • Benjamin Disraeli
... is married? Nothing can be more false. I know it is altogether a falsehood. He neither is nor ever will be married. If my brother dared say that in my presence, I would make him confess, before you, that he knows it cannot be. Oh! my poor little Fairy—my poor Dolly—my poor good friend, William! What shall I say? I am in great distraction of mind.' And she hugged and kissed the pale little ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... "I must confess," said Madame, sipping her tea, "that I fail to understand it. Why any child not an absolute idiot should so lose her own identity in another's absolutely bewilders me. I never heard of such ...
— The Copy-Cat and Other Stories • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
... best,—that is, for the shortest absence,—sufficiently unpleasant; but when there lie years, and, to the eye of affection, dangers, in the way of the next meeting, as the old Scotch ballad has it, "O but it is sair to part!" I should, I confess, were I free to choose, prefer the ignominy of cowardly flight, to the greatest triumph firmness ever yet achieved, and be constrained to hear and respond to that last ...
— Impressions of America - During the years 1833, 1834 and 1835. In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Tyrone Power |
