"Dissemble" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... said that the members always thought it an honour to see the Prince de Conde in his place, but that they could not dissemble their real concern to see his hands stained with the blood of the King's soldiers who were killed at Bleneau. Upon this a storm arose from the benches, which fell with such fury upon the poor President that he had scarcely room to put in ...
— The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, Complete • Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
... could he mean by these words? No actor on earth could dissemble like this. His whole manner was utterly unlike the manner of a man just detected in a terrible crime. He seemed rather to reproach me, indeed, than to crouch; to be ...
— Recalled to Life • Grant Allen
... Be all Cis Talbot by day. When there is need to dissemble, believe in thine own feigning. 'Tis for want of that art that these clumsy Southrons make themselves but a laughing-stock whenever ...
— Unknown to History - A Story of the Captivity of Mary of Scotland • Charlotte M. Yonge
... fighting at home for liberty," he was warned that the Jesuits at Rome had their eyes on him. But he stayed there two {46} months nevertheless, fearlessly keeping his resolution, not indeed to introduce or invite religious controversy but, if questioned, then, as he says, "whatsoever I should suffer to dissemble nothing." By February he was again in Florence; and after visits to Bologna, Ferrara and Venice, whence he characteristically shipped "a chest or two of choice music books" for England, he crossed the Alps, spent a week or ...
— Milton • John Bailey
... virtues of those who are celebrated in history may serve us for models in the conduct of our lives; their vices and failings, on the other hand, are no less proper to caution and instruct us; and the strict regard which an historian is obliged to pay to truth will not allow him to dissemble the latter, through fear of eclipsing the lustre of the former. Nor does what I here advance contradict the rule laid down by Plutarch, on the same subject, in his preface to the life of Cimon.(223) He requires, that the illustrious actions of great men be represented in their ...
— The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, • Charles Rollin
... and ordinarily things have best succeeded with him that hath been nearest the Fox in condition. But it is necessary to understand how to set a good colour upon this disposition, and to be able to fain and dissemble throughly; and men are so simple, and yeeld so much to the present necessities, that he who hath a mind to deceive, shall alwaies find another that will be deceivd. I will not conceal any one of the examples that have ...
— Machiavelli, Volume I - The Art of War; and The Prince • Niccolo Machiavelli
... thought troubled their minds. The lady's tone, the way in which she flung her proverb in the faces of the eight conspirators against the house of d'Esgrignon, caused them inward perturbation, which they dissembled as provincials can dissemble, by dint of lifelong practice in the shifts of a monastic existence. Little Mme. Camusot saw their change of countenance and subsequent composure when they scented opposition on the part of the examining magistrate. ...
— The Collection of Antiquities • Honore de Balzac
... Dissemble as we may, it is impossible for us to believe, after fully considering the nature of slavery, that it can much longer maintain a peaceable existence among us. A day of revolution must come, and it is our duty to prepare for it. Its threatened evil may be changed into a national ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier
... recommend to the encouragement of both the Universities, as it affords the easiest and shortest method of conveying some of the most useful principles of logic. It was the maxim of a very wise prince that 'he who knows not how to dissemble knows not how to reign'; and I desire you to receive it as mine, that 'he who knows not how to riddle knows ...
— The Canterbury Puzzles - And Other Curious Problems • Henry Ernest Dudeney
... and see him tremble, See him gasp for breath. Nay, dear, he does not dissemble, This is really Death. He is weak, and worn, and wasted, Bear him to his bier. All there is of life he's tasted— He ...
— Yesterdays • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... state. He learned, too, with regret, that he had been communicating matters—to what extent he knew not—to others, which he wished safely locked in his own breast; and judging it best, in the present instance, to dissemble a little, that his informant might not be aware of his having overheard her, he feigned to be ...
— Ella Barnwell - A Historical Romance of Border Life • Emerson Bennett
... silly disposition; and she too frequently had recourse to feigned sentiments to feel her way. And as she began to conceal her true feelings and inclinations and to simply dissimulate, and he to conceal his true sentiments and wishes and to dissemble, the two unrealities thus blending together constituted eventually one reality. But it was hardly to be expected that trifles would not be the cause of tiffs between them. Thus it was that in Pao-yue's mind at this time prevailed the reflection: "that were others unable ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin
... (says the thoughtful writer already quoted,)—"the fact is not to be denied; the Religion of Nature has had the opportunity of rekindling her faded taper by the Gospel light,—whether furtively or unconsciously availed of. Let her not dissemble the obligation, and make a boast of the splendour, as though it were originally her own; or had always, in her hands, been sufficient for the illumination of the World."—"It is not to be imagined ...
— Inspiration and Interpretation - Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford • John Burgon
... remember; one such blank some half-a-dozen of us labour to dissemble. In his youth he was most beautiful in person, most serene and genial by disposition; full of racy words and quaint thoughts. Laughter attended on his coming. He had the air of a great gentleman, jovial ...
— Memories and Portraits • Robert Louis Stevenson
... think of conspiring against men so valiant as the Spaniards? Do not jest with me thus, I beseech you."19 "This," continues Pizarro's secretary, "he said in the most composed and natural manner, smiling all the while to dissemble his falsehood, so that we were all amazed to find such cunning in ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott
... first Attempt denys; Again he moves her, she denys again, Crys Lord I never shall endure a Man: But warmer grown, he rushes on the Bride, And panting now, is but with Sighs deny'd, She yields a little to dissemble more, Knowing the part she'd acted once before: Wwhile he good Man, so pleas'd with what he'as done, Proclaims her Chastity ...
— The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony: Responses from Men • Various
... Garonne"), which is of a vivacious and comic nature in Sherasmin's part, and then passes into a tender minor as Fatima sings. The next number is a trio for soprano, alto, and tenor ("And must I then dissemble?"), written very much in the style of the trio in "Der Freischuetz," and yet purely original in its effect. Reiza follows with a smooth, flowing, and pathetic cavatina ("Mourn thou, poor Heart"), ...
— The Standard Operas (12th edition) • George P. Upton
... garlands dead, and all but he departed. Only in this case they haven't arrived. CHAPLAIN in his place, ready to say his prayers. Everything here but congregation. House, it is well known, thrilled with excitement over Parnell Commission Report. Throbbing with anxiety to debate it. Manages somehow to dissemble its feelings, smother its aspirations. Presently two Members ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, March 15, 1890 • Various
... which, in every controversy in which it had ever been engaged, had called in the aid either of the magistrate or of the assassin, should have become as thorough-going friends to religious liberty as Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jefferson, or that a Jesuit-ridden bigot should be induced to dissemble for the good of ...
— Critical and Historical Essays Volume 1 • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... caravel, the Portuguese promised to give for her some bullocks and elephants teeth, and gave us then one tooth and one bullock, engaging to bring the rest next day. Next day being the 1st January 1591, our captain went a-land to speak with the Portuguese, but finding them to dissemble, he came on board again, when presently we unrigged the caravel and set her on fire before the town. We then set sail and went along the coast, where we saw a date tree, the like of which is not on all that coast, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII • Robert Kerr
... tell you another tale shortly: thou shalt see that I can doot, I could bring in my Author to tell thee to thy face, that he hath found a knaue in grosse, of thee: but I can say, I haue found thee a foole in retaile: thou seest simplicity can not double, nor plaine dealing cannot dissemble, I could wish thee to amend thy life, and take ...
— The Art of Iugling or Legerdemaine • Samuel Rid
... beseech; mirth and jollity. Later on, the Prayer-Book, which was written in the years 1540 to 1559, keeps up the habit: and we find the pairs acknowledge and confess; assemble and meet together; dissemble and cloak; humble and lowly. To the more English part of the congregation the simple Saxon words would come home with kindly association; to others, the words confess, assemble, dissemble, and humble would speak with greater force and clearness. —Such is the phenomenon ...
— A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2 (of 2) • John Miller Dow Meiklejohn
... caution, replied that he acquiesced; and then for a few seconds there was silence in the room, his lordship continuing to sit in the same attitude of profound melancholy, and the others to look at him with compassion, which they vainly strove to dissemble. At last, in a voice little above a whisper, the Earl asked if the man ...
— The Castle Inn • Stanley John Weyman
... attempting to soar Above another, 50 The unanimous three C. A. and B. C. and A. B. All are equal, each to his brother, Preserving the balance of power so true: Ah! the like would the proud Autocratrix[23:1] do! 55 At taxes impending not Britain would tremble, Nor Prussia struggle her fear to dissemble; Nor the Mah'met-sprung Wight The great Mussulman Would stain his Divan 60 With Urine ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
... had ever seen, or heard, or read of. By this time I was worn weak as a rat with night-watching and day-watching: but of this he made no account whatever. He started by using his greater weakness for strength, and he went on to dissemble his growing strength, hiding it, increasing it, still trading it as weakness upon my exhaustion. He came back to life with a permanent sneering smile, and a trick of wearing it for hours at a stretch as he leaned back on the cushions I had painfully made for him of plaited flax and stuffed ...
— Foe-Farrell • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... remained in Britaine with an armie, which so much fauoured him, and that with so good cause, sith by his policie and noble conduct the same had obteined so manie victories, so much honor, and such plentie of spoiles and booties. Wherevpon to dissemble his intent, he appointed to reuoke him foorth of Britaine, as it were to honor him, not onelie with deserued triumphs, but also with the lieutenantship of Syria, which as then was void by the [Sidenote: Cneus Trebellius alias Salustius Lucullus as ...
— Chronicles (1 of 6): The Historie of England (4 of 8) - The Fovrth Booke Of The Historie Of England • Raphael Holinshed
... constancy of the queen of Hungary, whose wisdom and resolution, which will equal her name in future histories with those of the most successful conquerors, rejected their mediation, and refused to own her right doubtful, by submitting it to be tried; they were obliged no longer to dissemble their designs, or make farther pretences to respect or tenderness. Her fall was necessary to their own exaltation; they, therefore, kindled a general conflagration of war, they excited all the princes to take arms against her, and found it, indeed, ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 11. - Parlimentary Debates II. • Samuel Johnson
... depravity, in the popular and moral sense of the word; and the doctrine amounted only to this, that "spiritually, man is paralyzed, until the grace of God comes freely upon him." How to reconcile this with the condemnation, and punishment of man for being unspiritual, I knew not. I saw, and did not dissemble, the difficulty; but received it as a mystery hereafter to be ...
— Phases of Faith - Passages from the History of My Creed • Francis William Newman
... would have been less amiable in my eyes had there not been this little unwillingness; but allow me to assure you that I have your respected mother's permission for this address. You can hardly doubt the purport of my discourse, however your natural delicacy may lead you to dissemble: my attentions have been too marked to be mistaken. Almost as soon as I entered the house I singled you out as the companion of my future life. But before I am run away with by my feelings on this subject, perhaps it will be advisable ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various
... Jack's parting word to him to dissemble all outward signs of astonishment at what he might see when he entered the city; to walk on without stopping to stare or gape, to look as though such sights were of everyday occurrence in his life, and to bear ...
— Tom Tufton's Travels • Evelyn Everett-Green
... turning from her, without attempting to dissemble her chagrin, to answer a knock at ...
— At Last • Marion Harland
... when I had told him something of what passed, and that Jessie seemed an undeserving woman, and far from grateful: "She is no friend to me," said he; "but indeed, Mackellar, I have few friends to boast of, and Jessie has some cause to be unjust. I need not dissemble what all the country knows: she was not very well used by one of our family." This was the first time I had heard him refer to the Master, even distantly; and I think he found his tongue rebellious even for that much, but presently he resumed—"This ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. XII (of 25) - The Master of Ballantrae • Robert Louis Stevenson
... dissemble, but acknowledge to ourselves how things are: there is in our family a sad difference of sentiment, and the ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 • Various
... spoken as he did after a moment's rapid thinking. To Adler's questions as to the manner of the chief engineer's death Bennett had at first given evasive replies. But a sudden sense of shame at being compelled to dissemble before a subordinate had lashed him across the face. True, he had made a mistake—a fearful, unspeakable mistake—but at least let him be man enough to face and to accept its consequences. It might not be necessary or even expedient ...
— A Man's Woman • Frank Norris
... nine to thirty-eight. On the 10th of May an address to the king was moved in the upper house by the Earl of Guildford, and in the lower house by Mr. Fox, declaring that the duty incumbent on parliament no longer permitted them to dissemble their deliberate opinion, that the distress, difficulty, and peril, to which this country was then subjected, had arisen from the misconduct of the king's ministers aud was likely to increase as long as the same ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... was not, of course, so distinguishing as it would have been in an age of less transatlantic travel, but still, as we say, it was evident, and it lent him a superiority which he could not wholly conceal. His superiority, so involuntary, would, if he had wished to dissemble, have affirmed itself in the English cut of his clothes and in the habit of his top-hat, which was so newly from a London shop as not yet to have lost the whiteness of its sweat-band. But his difference ...
— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells
... walking with me. Col. Town. He has! Ber. Upon my word I think he is a very agreeable man; and there is certainly something particularly insinuating in his address. Col. Town. [Aside.] So, so! she hasn't even the modesty to dissemble! [Aloud.] Pray, madam, may I, without impertinence, trouble you with a few serious questions? Ber. As many as you please; but pray let them be as little serious as possible. Col. Town. Is it not near two years since I have ...
— Scarborough and the Critic • Sheridan
... Nick who roused her, and starting up at his touch, she knew instantly that what they had all mutely feared had drawn very near. His face told her at a glance, for he made no effort to dissemble. ...
— The Way of an Eagle • Ethel M. Dell
... with calculated ceremony, one acting as spokesman offered to present their credentials. Duchemin had a start of surprise to dissemble when he saw the woman wave ...
— Alias The Lone Wolf • Louis Joseph Vance
... the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our Heavenly Father, but confess them with an humble, ...
— God's Good Man • Marie Corelli
... inexhaustibly, for instance, to be made up to by all the people who had always disapproved of him, and to unite at the same table persons who had to dissemble their annoyance at being invited together lest they should not be invited at all. Equally exhilarating was the capricious favouring of the dull and dowdy on occasions when the brilliant and disreputable expected his notice. It enchanted him, for example, to ask the old Duchess of Dunes and ...
— The Glimpses of the Moon • Edith Wharton
... immediately the reader will learn to know as an intruder into my dreams, bear to my own mind. He is originally a mere reflex of my inner nature. But as the apparition of the Brocken sometimes is disturbed by storms or by driving showers, so as to dissemble his real origin, in like manner the Interpreter sometimes swerves out of my orbit, and mixes a little with alien natures. I do not always know him in these cases as my own parhelion. What he says, generally is but that which I have said in daylight, and in meditation ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 356, June, 1845 • Various
... listened to his ceaseless chatter with apparent interest, probably in order the better to dissemble the real motive of his visit. However, after going the rounds for an ...
— Facing the Flag • Jules Verne
... hands in anguish. Her face was still raised to his, white and strained and desperate—the face of a woman who would never dissemble with him again. "Yes," she ...
— The Rocks of Valpre • Ethel May Dell
... pause to parley or dissemble, But smote the Warden hoar; Ah! what a blow! that made all England tremble, And groan from shore ...
— Successful Recitations • Various
... gracious, Oswald!' Ernest exclaimed as his friend stepped in, 'why, you've actually come in evening dress! A white tie and all! What on earth will Max say? He'll be perfectly scandalised at such a shocking and unprecedented outrage. This will never do; you must dissemble somehow or other.' ...
— Philistia • Grant Allen
... at this man with surprise, when he thought of the pressing recommendation of the steward of the Princess de Saint Dizier; he had expected to see quite another sort of personage, and, hardly able to dissemble his astonishment, he said to him: "Is it to M. Rodin that I ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue
... should be restored to the Catholic communion. [101] The emperor respected, and might forgive, this inflexible resolution; and the faction who considered Athanasius as their most formidable enemy, was constrained to dissemble their hatred, and silently to prepare an indirect and distant assault. They scattered rumors and suspicions, represented the archbishop as a proud and oppressive tyrant, and boldly accused him of violating ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon
... defrauded of his fathers inheritance, by his brother, through their vntruth and negligence) yet although he meant to delaie the matter, [Sidenote: Wil. Malm. Simon Dun.] and thought it rather better to dissemble with them for a time, than to commit the successe of his affaires and person to their inconstancie; shortlie after being set on fire, and still incouraged by the persuasion of Rafe bishop of Durham (who by a woonderfull wilie shift, about the first of Februarie had broken ...
— Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (3 of 12) - Henrie I. • Raphael Holinshed
... so. I can never forget last winter watching you dissemble your good healthy appetite and pretend you didn't want beefsteak, while you fed your father and me on a juicy tenderloin. Brave little housekeeper ...
— Under the Country Sky • Grace S. Richmond
... of the Thane of Cawdor, whom he has just defeated and taken prisoner, or call him a prosperous gentleman who has forfeited his title and life by open rebellion? Or why should he wonder that the title of the rebel whom he has overthrown should be conferred upon him? He cannot be supposed to dissemble his knowledge of the condition of Cawdor, because he inquires with all the ardour of curiosity, and the vehemence of sudden astonishment; and because nobody is present but Banquo, who had an equal part in the battle, and was equally ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume V: Miscellaneous Pieces • Samuel Johnson
... St. Dorotheus: "Sometimes the necessity of some matter urges (incumbit), which, unless you somewhat conceal and dissemble it, will turn into a greater trouble." And he goes on to mention the case of saving a man who has committed homicide from his pursuers: and he adds that it is not a thing that can be done often, but once ...
— Apologia pro Vita Sua • John Henry Newman
... loyall Subjects doe owe not onely themselves, but allso their landes, livinges, goodes, and what soever they call theirs, to the good of the Commonwealth, and estate under which they peaceably enjoy all, It is further enacted that no man dissemble his estate, or hide his abilitye, but be willinge at all times to pay such duetyes, taxes, and subsidies, as shall be lawfully demaunded & thought reasonable without the hinderance of his owne estate, upon payne of forfettinge himself and his ...
— Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries • William Francis Dawson
... a vanity of telling their faults; they are the strangest men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a folly; they have lost abundance of advantage by it; but if you would give them the world, they ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 14, - Issue 389, September 12, 1829 • Various
... the Archbishop, gently, to an officious young priest in his suite, who would have dragged the dog away—"grudge me not my welcome. Dogs be honest creatures, and dissemble not. Hast thou never heard the saw, that 'they be ill folks that dogs and children will ...
— The White Lady of Hazelwood - A Tale of the Fourteenth Century • Emily Sarah Holt
... and earnestly in love? Hast thou that feeling which the poets describe—a feeling which makes us neglect our suppers, forswear the theatre, and write elegies? I should never have thought it. You dissemble well." ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VI. • Various
... kept silence, whilst he finished shaving my head; by which time the hour of prayer was come and it was wellnigh time for the exhortation.[FN98] When he had done, I said to him, 'Take the meat and drink and carry them to thy friends. I will await thy return.' For I thought it best to dissemble with the accursed fellow and feign compliance with his wishes, so haply he might go away and leave me. Quoth he, 'Thou art deceiving me and wilt go alone and cast thyself into some peril, from which there will be no escape for thee. For God's sake, do not go till I return, that I may accompany thee ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume I • Anonymous
... fanatic; but he also possessed very different qualities. Those who knew him best were most devoted to him. His followers adhered to him with a faith which was proof against all persecutions; we find him even ordaining that slaves who are converts may dissemble their connection with him in order to avoid the cruel treatment it drew down on them. Such attachment could only have been inspired by a noble nature; his followers felt him to be indeed a teacher sent by Allah, and were enthusiastically convinced ...
— History of Religion - A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great Systems • Allan Menzies
... "I must dissemble, then, as well as I can," said Lord Menteith, "as I have hitherto done, upon your hint. But I wish the fellow at the ...
— A Legend of Montrose • Sir Walter Scott
... and Scripture tell us that it is absurd and wrong to worship images and pray to saints,—tell us that your doctrines are not true. And we will say so in spite of the Pope and all his power,—in spite of torture and a fiery death. We cannot palter; we cannot dissemble; we cannot shelter ourselves under half-truths, and make a covenant with lies. 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than to God, judge ye. We cannot but speak the things which we ...
— All Saints' Day and Other Sermons • Charles Kingsley
... almost in the ironical tone. She should have noted that. And how could a true-hearted girl suppose him capable of giving such counsel to her whom he loved? It smote him with horror and anger; but he was much too manly to betray these actual sentiments, and continued to dissemble. You see, he had not forgiven her for ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... how to dissemble the feeling of humiliation mixed with indignation which flashed up in him, and which, he was afterwards afraid, must have made him seem rather curt in his response to the head waiter's civilities. Miss Axewright left ...
— A Pair of Patient Lovers • William Dean Howells
... supples rigour, and it lessens sin. Thus, her sharp wit, her love, her secrecy, Trooping together, made her wonder why She should not leave her bed, and to the temple; Her health said she must live; her sex, dissemble. She view'd Leander's place, and wish'd he were Turn'd to his place, so his place were Leander. "Ay me," said she, "that love's sweet life and sense Should do it harm! my love had not gone hence, Had he been like his place: O blessed place, Image of ...
— Hero and Leander and Other Poems • Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman
... the bush; I cannot dissemble," began Lionel, in deep agitation. "Tell me your true opinion of this business, for the love of Heaven! I have come down to ask it ...
— Verner's Pride • Mrs. Henry Wood
... wheels, you cannot match Fortune. After all, she has made trochilics her hobby through all the ages. Look at her handiwork here. Jill knows Jack for a flunkey and seeks to dissemble her knowledge, for fear of bruising his heart. As for Jack, when Jill stumbles upon his secret, he curses his luck: now that he believes it inviolate, he ...
— Anthony Lyveden • Dornford Yates
... state of Rome would be utterly overthrown, went ... unto the city of Elea standing by the sea. There Portia, being ready to depart from her husband Brutus and to return to Rome, did what she could to dissemble the grief and sorrow she felt at her heart. But a certain painted table (picture) bewrayed her in the end.... The device was taken out of the Greek stories, how Andromache accompanied her husband Hector when he went out of the city of Troy to go to the wars, and how Hector delivered her his little ...
— The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar • William Shakespeare
... moment imagine that poor child was acting? Impossible! Why, she was as sound asleep as she ever was in all her life, and there was not the least sign that she was conscious of my touch when I took hold of her arm to lead her from the pantry. Do you suppose it would have been possible for her to dissemble to ...
— Caps and Capers - A Story of Boarding-School Life • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... the promise of heaven, had married a street car conductor and wired for congratulations. He had pulled himself together and staggered to the meeting where, though still with the sinking sensation of a man who has inadvertently stepped through the plastering of the ceiling, he was able to dissemble successfully. ...
— The Fighting Shepherdess • Caroline Lockhart
... see, she has to dissemble. That's what she says. She can't go with me all the time, and when I see her with anybody else it seems as though it would kill me. I know she does not smile at anybody else the way she does at me, but the condum fools might think ...
— Peck's Uncle Ike and The Red Headed Boy - 1899 • George W. Peck
... interest, he made every sacrifice, both of pride and passion, which could interfere with it. He was careful in disguising his real sentiments and purposes from all who approached him, and frequently used the expressions, "that the king knew not how to reign, who knew not how to dissemble; and that, for himself, if he thought his very cap knew his secrets, he would throw it into the fire." No man of his own, or of any other time, better understood how to avail himself of the frailties of others, ...
— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott
... ever attended; and how dearly did I pay for my curiosity! I was accompanied by my 'cara Inglesina', who, always on the alert, exclaimed, 'Let me entreat Your Highness not to remain any longer in this place. You are too deeply moved to dissemble.' ...
— The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 6 • Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe
... that God, no doubt, is just and good in theory, but he cannot dissemble the obvious fact that His works in the universe are neither; indeed, if we may judge the tree by its fruits, His regime is the rule of an oriental and almighty despot whose will and pleasure is the sole moral law. And that will is too often undistinguishable ...
— The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur • Emile Joseph Dillon
... instead of meeting as two spirits whose interests were inseparable, you denied any previous knowledge of me, and even manifested a sort of terrified aversion at my approach. I saw you shrink away from my side; then nothing remained for me but to temporarily dissemble my purpose and try first to win your confidence by the exercise of my poor woman's wits. In this at least I ...
— The Argosy - Vol. 51, No. 1, January, 1891 • Various
... answered that to her, her mother was the fairest woman that lived. Elizabeth spurned her from her presence, and conveyed threat as to the manners of my son when she left the hall. 'Ods life, my lord! to what pass hath England come when children must be taught to dissemble and fawn else they be subjected to discipline by the queen? Had she not enough courtiers to hail her as 'Diana,' and 'The Miracle of Time,' and other things of like ilk that she must needs try to subvert my child from truth? Gramercy! I am ready at this ...
— In Doublet and Hose - A Story for Girls • Lucy Foster Madison
... I cannot dissemble the joy I felt on the first view of this striking and venerable edifice. It is situated on a considerable eminence—and seems to be built upon a foundation of rock. Its mosque-fashioned towers, the long range of its windows, and height of its walls, ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three • Thomas Frognall Dibdin
... "You will have to dissemble a little, of course; pretend you want a holiday too, and take him to—to, well, we must look up some inexpensive ...
— The Prodigal Father • J. Storer Clouston
... 545. Adj. truthful, true; veracious, veridical; scrupulous &c (honorable) 939; sincere, candid, frank, open, straightforward, unreserved; open hearted, true hearted, simple-hearted; honest, trustworthy; undissembling &c (dissemble &c 544)[obs3]; guileless, pure; truth-loving; unperjured[obs3]; true blue, as good as one's word; unaffected, unfeigned, bona fide; outspoken, ingenuous &c (artless) 703; undisguised &c (real) 494. uncontrived. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... was impossible for man to avoid. For that withdrawing of our thoughts which he recommends when he calls us off from contemplating our misfortunes, is an imaginary action; for it is not in our power to dissemble or to forget those evils which lie heavy on us; they tear, vex, and sting us—they burn us up, and leave no breathing-time; and do you order us to forget them, (for such forgetfulness is contrary to nature,) and at the ...
— The Academic Questions • M. T. Cicero
... [i.e., Henry VIII.] began to hate her [i.e., Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared. When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the king's orders), I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with empty hopes, ...
— The Scottish Reformation - Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics • Alexander F. Mitchell
... Lodovico publicly vaunted himself to be the son of Fortune, "little remembering the inconstancy of human fame," and flattered himself that he would always be able to govern the affairs of Italy, "with his industrie to turn and winde the minds of every one. This fond persuasion he could not dissemble, neither in himself, nor in his peoples, in so much that Milan day and night was replenished with voices vaine and glorious, celebrating with verses Latine and vulgar and with publicke orations full of flatterie, the wonderfull wisedom of Lodowike Sforce, on the which they made to depend ...
— Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497 • Julia Mary Cartwright
... dignity of the king, my master, at the same time it offends the neutrality, which His Majesty professes. I expect, therefore, from your equity, that you will be the first to condemn a conduct so opposite to the duties of hospitality and decency. The king cannot dissemble it, and it is by his express order, gentlemen, that I acquaint you, that orders have been sent to the ports, in which the said privateers have entered, to sequester, and detain them, until sufficient security can be obtained, that ...
— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. I • Various
... foolish lies, as vulgar men do. Why should you and I, with our experience, ape romance and dissemble passion? I do not believe Miss Blanche Amory to be peerless among the beautiful, nor the greatest poetess, nor the most surpassing musician, any more than I believe you to be the tallest woman in the whole world—like the giantess whose picture we saw as we rode through the fair yesterday. ...
— The History of Pendennis • William Makepeace Thackeray
... "Don't dissemble, please. My point is simply this: If every other occupation in the world demands some previous preparation, why shouldn't a girl know something about housekeeping and homemaking ...
— Flower of the Dusk • Myrtle Reed
... They must not get abroad to smirch me. If on a country walk I have taken to my heels, you must not twit me with poltroonery. If you charge me with such faint-heartedness while other persons are present, I'll deny it flat. When I sit in the company of ladies at dinner, I dissemble my true nature, as doublet and hose ought to show itself courageous to petticoat. If then, you taunt me, for want of a better escape, I shall turn it to a jest. I shall engage the table flippantly: Hear how preposterously the fellow talks!—he ...
— There's Pippins And Cheese To Come • Charles S. Brooks
... serve you: I think I could:—but here's the difficulty; I am so entirely yours, That I should scurvily dissemble hate; The cheat would be ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) - The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian • John Dryden
... more than a few minutes when a footstep was heard on the path outside, and next moment Fred Jenkins presented himself at the opening of the summer-house. The face of the mariner betrayed him, for he was too honest by nature to dissemble effectively. ...
— The Buffalo Runners - A Tale of the Red River Plains • R.M. Ballantyne
... for as for a woman, he could have Whores enow at his whistle. But, as I said, he wanted Money, and that must be got by a Wife, or no way; nor could he so easily get a Wife neither, except he became an Artist at the way of dissembling; nor would dissembling do among that people that could dissemble as well as he. But there dwelt a Maid not far from him, that was both godly, {70e} and one that had a good Portion, but how to get her, there lay all the craft. {71a} Well, he calls a Council of some of his most trusty and cunning Companions, {71b} and breaks his mind to them; to wit, ...
— The Life and Death of Mr. Badman • John Bunyan
... They allowed Stonor to rest and recuperate in the dug-out until they came to the first rapid. Later, the policeman bent to the tracking-line with a good will. This was better luck than he had hoped for. His principal fear was that he might not be able to dissemble sufficiently to keep their suspicions lulled. He knew, of course, that if they should guess of what he was thinking his life would not be worth a copper penny. His intuition told him that even though he was a prisoner, Clare ...
— The Woman from Outside - [on Swan River] • Hulbert Footner
... that he proposed getting the prigany of Surat transferred to himself, which the prince would have to resign, as he had been made governor of Ahmedabad, Cambay, and that territory. To satisfy me that he did not dissemble, he desired me to come at night to court, bringing the king my master's letter and the translation, as the time was favourable for its delivery; desiring me at the same time to persist in my complaint, and to offer taking leave, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr
... to dissemble; Mary Anne knew now as well as I did that the ladder had no business to be there. I did the best I could, however. I put her on the ...
— The Circular Staircase • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... much assist you in your choice, but not preserve you from being a slave; because the Gentlewoman whom you have chosen, hath till this time be past, had one or other ill condition, which she knew how to hide and dissemble with, that you never so much as thought of, or expected from her. Cornelius Agrippa knew this in his daies, when he said, men must have and keep their wives, e'en as it chanceth; if they be (saies he) merry humored, if they be foolish, ...
— The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and The Confession of the New-married Couple (1682) • A. Marsh
... bewildered. I want desperately to be bluff and outspoken, but I suppose I must dissemble. I long painfully to be like 'truthful James,' but I must follow in the footsteps of the sneaky little boy who came to a bad end because he told a lie. The question is: Shall my mother be sacrificed to this passionate love ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird
... point of blurting out the very vital truth that there was nothing in the wide world he would not do to save that wonderful being from the slightest ache or pain, but thought it best to dissemble the craziest of infatuations that ever a penniless and obscure engineer felt for a daughter of the Imperial House of Russia. Instead he murmured some conventional expression ...
— The Book of All-Power • Edgar Wallace
... Devia. In Wood's Ath. Oxon., edit. Bliss, fol. ii. col. 602, two answers to the Via Tuta are mentioned; but this is not noticed. From the author stating in the preface, "I confesse, Sir Humfrey, I am Tom Teltruth, who cannot flatter or dissemble," I suppose the initials T.T. ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 45, Saturday, September 7, 1850 • Various
... the countess entered the room. Maurice glanced from Madame to Fitzgerald and back to Madame; he frowned. The Englishman, who had never before had cause to dissemble, caught up his pipe and fumbled it. This act merely discovered his embarrassment to the keen eyes of his friend. He had forgotten all about Maurice. What would he say? Maurice was something like a conscience to him, and his heart ...
— The Puppet Crown • Harold MacGrath
... i pensieri stretti. "I had made this resolution with myself," he says, "not of my own accord to introduce conversation about religion; but, if interrogated respecting the faith, whatsoever I should suffer, to dissemble nothing." To this resolution he adhered, he says, during his second two months' visit to Rome, notwithstanding threats of Jesuit molestation, which probably were not serious. At Florence his friends ...
— Life of John Milton • Richard Garnett
... were seized with the worst panic and saw themselves forced, if they valued their lives, to empty bags of gold into the rapacious hands of this soldier. They racked their brains for plausible lies to dissemble their riches, to pass themselves off as poor—very poor. Loiseau pulled off his watch-chain and hid it in his pocket. As night fell their apprehensions increased. The lamp was lighted, and as there ...
— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 1 (of 8) - Boule de Suif and Other Stories • Guy de Maupassant
... The female mind is quick, and almost gifted with the power of witchcraft, to decipher what is passing in the thoughts of familiar companions. Silent and forbearing as William Shakspeare might be, Anne, his staid wife, would read his secret reproaches; ill would she dissemble her wrath, and the less so from the consciousness of having deserved them. It is no uncommon case for women to feel anger in connection with one subject, and to express it in connection with another; which other, perhaps, (except as a serviceable mask,) would ...
— Biographical Essays • Thomas de Quincey
... festivity. The minds of all being thus displayed without reserve, the subjects of their deliberation are again canvassed the next day; [133] and each time has its advantages. They consult when unable to dissemble; they determine when not liable ...
— The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus • Tacitus
... from her. He even joked and told stories, but with a seeming effort and not in accord with his feelings. Liddy watched him quietly, feeling sure he was acting a part and for a purpose. The more he tried to dissemble, the deeper became her dread. At last, when the chance came, she said ...
— Pocket Island - A Story of Country Life in New England • Charles Clark Munn
... side, Our Local Parliament's since then Have seldom witnessed two such men Paymaster Rudyerd, too, I scan, A most important gentleman, Who carried in the days of old The Governmental bags of gold; Yet never did one less resemble He, of the twelve who did dissemble, And for the thirty pieces paid, His master cruelly betrayed. And John McCarthy, who can say That he's a man of yesterday? Through the dim maze of vanished year His name to memory appears, A dealer in strong leather ware That stood the worst of wear and ...
— Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants • William Pittman Lett
... and both attributed it to the peace, or to the ease and plenty, which the Christians had enjoyed. The latter gives us a melancholy account of their change. They had begun to live in fine houses, and to indulge in luxuries. But, above all, they had begun to be envious, and quarrelsome, and to dissemble, and to cheat, and to falsify their word, so that they lost the character, which Pliny, an adversary to their religion, had been obliged to give of them, and which they had retained for more than a century, as appears ...
— A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume III (of 3) • Thomas Clarkson
... of phrase that could stretch the meaning of the word "dissemble" so as to make it cover so violent a process as kicking downstairs has the true zest, the tang, of contradiction and surprise. Hood, not content with such a play upon ideas, would bewitch the whole ...
— The Function Of The Poet And Other Essays • James Russell Lowell
... uncle. Everything was spoken before him; he lived in the centre of intrigues which were to shake thrones, and perhaps to form them. He became habituated to the idea that everything could be achieved by dexterity, and that there was no test of conduct except success. To dissemble and to simulate; to conduct confidential negotiations with contending powers and parties at the same time; to be ready to adopt any opinion and to possess none; to fall into the public humour of the moment, and to evade the impending catastrophe; to look upon every man as a tool, and never ...
— Tancred - Or, The New Crusade • Benjamin Disraeli
... old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and to have the gout; too old to be agreeable, too young to die. I arrived last night about five, had scarcely swallowed my dinner when Mainwaring made his appearance. I will not dissemble what real pleasure his sight afforded me, nor how strongly I felt the contrast between his person and manners and those of Reginald, to the infinite disadvantage of the latter. For an hour or two I was even staggered in my resolution of marrying him, and though this was too ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen
... took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was silent. I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and perhaps the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind by the idea that I had taken an everlasting ...
— Gibbon • James Cotter Morison
... entirely from his absolute integrity and fairmindedness. Clarendon's portrait of Falkland applies equally as well to Otis, —"He was so severe an adorer of the truth that he could as easily have given himself leave to steal as to dissemble." In short, Otis acted aright, and feared not the consequences, and thus became a power in the community because ...
— James Otis The Pre-Revolutionist • John Clark Ridpath
... What excuse could I offer for such unceremonious intrusion? Accident? She would not believe it; the time and the place were against such a supposition. With an intellect like hers, it would be idle to adopt so shallow an artifice. No; I would not dissemble; I would boldly avow the truth. Jealousy had rendered me ...
— The War Trail - The Hunt of the Wild Horse • Mayne Reid
... could not dissemble. He stammered, stopped, wiped his forehead, and stretched out his hands as though in appeal to the mercy of ...
— The Golden Shoemaker - or 'Cobbler' Horn • J. W. Keyworth
... by certain subordinate motives to retrace their steps. She contemplated future poverty with alarm, and cannot be exculpated from a charge of secretly preferring the service of Chemosh, the Moabitish god, to the service of Jehovah. Her affection for Naomi had, perhaps, induced her hitherto to dissemble; and though she persevered to a considerable extent, when the final resolution was to be taken, she paused—hesitated —trembled—and drew back. She could not part with all for this service. In the days ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I • Francis Augustus Cox
... into his head, with that look of hers, all that might befall him and the Maid if he mastered not his passion, nor did what he might to dissemble; so he bent the knee to her, and spoke boldly to her in her own vein, and said: "Nay, most gracious of ladies, never would I abide behind to-day since thou farest afield. But if my speech be hampered, or mine eyes stray, is it not because my mind is confused ...
— The Wood Beyond the World • William Morris
... by them the dark tale was brought. The second officer of the Morning Star was one of them; he had been compelled to dissemble and to appear to serve the mutinous band; the others were innocent passengers, whose lives had not been taken. All agreed in one thing: that Gordon, the ringleader, had in all probability escaped. He had put off from the Morning Star, when she was sinking, in one of her best boats; he ...
— Elster's Folly • Mrs. Henry Wood
... persuasion that the 'Drama' will have a majority of friends in the end, and perhaps deserve to have them. Nay, why should I throw perhapses over my own impressions, and be insincere to you who have honoured me by being sincere? Why should I dissemble my own belief that the 'Drama' is worth two or three 'Seraphims'—my own belief, you know, which is worth nothing, writers knowing themselves so superficially, and having such a natural leaning to their last work. Still, ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1 of 2) • Frederic G. Kenyon
... his chin, and thanked Heaven again that he had let his beard grow. Almost mechanically he decided to wear the mask—in short, to dissemble. ...
— Happy Days • Alan Alexander Milne
... man and lover You have divined and visualized, In quiet day dreams. And what is strange Your boy of eight is subtly guised In fleeting looks that half resemble Something in me. Two souls may range Mid this earth's billion souls for life, And hide their hunger or dissemble. For there are two at least created, Endowed with alien powers that draw, And kindred powers that by some law Bind souls as like as sister, brother. There are two at least who are for each other. If we are such, it is not fated You are for him, howe'er ...
— Toward the Gulf • Edgar Lee Masters
... this purpose to the queen? But at the last it seemed good to him to call certain of the chiefs, as Mnestheus, and Sergestus, and Antheus, and bid them make ready the ships in silence, and gather together the people, but dissemble the cause, and he himself would watch a fitting time to speak and unfold ...
— The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10) • Various
... of these two men had the same end in view; each desired to dissemble his own character. And each of them succeeded with the many, but failed as between themselves. Selpdorf posed as the suave, sympathetic, good-natured friend of those with whom he came in contact; Counsellor, as a man of no account, ...
— A Modern Mercenary • Kate Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard
... who may justly be burnt up for our unfruitfulnesse in the dayes of our plenty, & stubbornesse in the dayes of our affliction, which has brought us so low, that where we once enjoyed a blessed plenty, we must now beg of the crumbs that fall from your Table: We cannot dissemble, but so farre as we can discern our owne hearts, we would preferre the joyful sound of the Gospel to our much wished Peace and precious lives: But it may be discerned, your Consultations of before have been guided ...
— The Acts Of The General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland
... After hee had with him selfe considered this straunge case, hee for conclusion founde out that the yonge man was sicke of loue, and of none other cause. Moreouer he thought that many times, wise and graue men, through ire, hatred, disdaine, melancholie, and other affections, could easily faine and dissemble their passions, but loue if it be kept secrete, doth by the close keping therof, greater hurt then if it be made manifest. And albeit that of Antiochus he coulde not learne the cause of his loue, yet after that imagination was entred into his head, he purposed to finde it out ...
— The Palace of Pleasure, Volume 1 • William Painter
... me, Friar, tell me; thou art counted a holy man; do not play the hypocrite with me, nor bear with me. I cannot dissemble: did I ought but by thy own consent? by thy allowance? nay, ...
— The Merry Devil • William Shakespeare
... 'I don't dissemble; I don't care to speak; but if you will have me say so, I do suspect—I think it must have originated ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... deserted, lonely. desierto m. desert. desigual adj. uneven, dissimilar. deslizarse glide along, slip along. desmayado, -a faint, swooning. desmayar be discouraged, be faint, swoon. desmayo m. drooping, swooning, faltering. desmentir belie, deny, dissemble. desnudo, -a naked, unsheathed, drawn. despacio adv. slowly. desparecer disappear, vanish. despecho m. spite, insolence, anger, despair, dismay; a —— de in spite of; a su —— in spite ...
— El Estudiante de Salamanca and Other Selections • George Tyler Northup
... the king's ingratitude, and was troubled much, for a king is a powerful foe; but he comforted Orna, and bade her dissemble, and complain also of him to her brother, so that he might confide to her unsuspectingly whatsoever he might design ...
— The Pilgrims Of The Rhine • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... will dissemble, as most ritche men doo, Pleade poverty and speake my mayster fayre; By out my freedom for som little somme, And, beeinge myne owne man, by lands and howses; That doon, to sea I'l rigge shipps of myne owne, ...
— A Collection Of Old English Plays, Vol. IV. • Editor: A.H. Bullen
... together, however, by a secret compact, and both of them realized the craft of the foe whom they were fighting. "Not a letter, not a cable, not a single scrap of paper," said the wary Jack. "And you must keep away from me and be sure to dissemble all ...
— The Midnight Passenger • Richard Henry Savage |
