"Improve" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... calleth Meniana. They give great grace to the whole edifice, and serve only for this purpose, that people may from that place as from a most delectable prospect contemplate and view the parts of the City round about them in the coole evening."—No modern description could improve on ...
— A Wanderer in Venice • E.V. Lucas
... three hundred rupees had been repaid as yet; and, by way of atonement, Evelyn felt constrained to a more decisive friendliness with both brother and sister—a fact which Owen Kresney noted with satisfaction; and which did not improve matters between herself ...
— Captain Desmond, V.C. • Maud Diver
... don't make the gentleman afloat more than on shore. But what I like to see, is a man who treats his crew with proper gentleness, who looks after their interest in this world and the next, and tries to improve them to the best of his power—who acts, indeed, as a true Christian will act—that man is, I say, a gentleman. I say, put him where you will, ask him to do what you will, he will look and act like a gentleman. Who would dare to say that our good captain is not one? He ...
— Peter the Whaler • W.H.G. Kingston
... are on this subject let us add (and our young readers will come to know it if they are spared to see many years) that civilisation alone will never improve the heart. Let history speak and it will tell you that deeds of darkest hue have been perpetrated in so-called civilised, though pagan lands. Civilisation is like the polish that beautifies inferior furniture, which water will wash off if it be ...
— The Dog Crusoe and his Master • R.M. Ballantyne
... dread "Of his own woods; whom hapless guest ne'er saw "With safety; spurner of the power of Jove, "And all the host of heaven, what love is, feels! "Seiz'd with desire of me he flames, forgets "His flocks, and caverns. All thy anxious care "Thy beauty, Polyphemus! to improve, "And all thy anxious care is now to please. "And now with rakes thou comb'st thy rugged hair; "Now with a scythe thou mow'st thy bushy beard: "Thy features to behold in the clear brook, "And calm their fire employs thee. All his love "Of slaughter; all his fierceness; all his thirst ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid
... so placed that those who were behind it found great difficulty in getting out;—there was but a narrow gangway, which one person could stop. This was a bad arrangement, and one which Bertie thought it might be well to improve. ...
— Barchester Towers • Anthony Trollope
... straggled into this cabin, more or less faint and miserable, about an hour before noon, and lay down on the sofas to recover; during which interval, the captain would look in to communicate the state of the wind, the moral certainty of its changing to-morrow (the weather is always going to improve to- morrow, at sea), the vessel's rate of sailing, and so forth. Observations there were none to tell us of, for there was no sun to take them by. But a description of one day will serve for all the rest. ...
— American Notes for General Circulation • Charles Dickens
... satisfactory indeed, it was most depressing—and then there was much confusion prevailing around Rossville; and, this condition of things doubtless increasing my gloomy reflections, it did not seem to me that the outlook for the next day was at all auspicious, unless the enemy was slow to improve his present advantage. Exhaustion soon quieted all forebodings, though, and I fell into a sound sleep, from which I ...
— The Memoirs of General Philip H. Sheridan, Vol. I., Part 2 • P. H. Sheridan
... at anchor in Algoa Bay had just arrived from England, with a numerous collection of emigrants, who, to improve their fortunes, had left their native land to settle in this country. Many had landed, but the greater proportion were still on board of the vessels. The debarkation was rapidly going on, and the whole bay was covered with boats landing ...
— The Mission; or Scenes in Africa • Captain Frederick Marryat
... effort to answer thousands of these questions, written in good faith to Harper's Bazar, that this book is undertaken. The simplicity, the directness, and the evident desire "to improve," which characterize these anonymous letters, are all much to be commended. Many people have found themselves suddenly conquerors of material wealth, the most successful colonists in the world, the heirs of a great inheritance, the builders of a new empire. There is a true refinement ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood
... expensive luxury, under the circumstances. And since you have so mismanaged your fool of a sister's affair, I don't see how the circumstances can improve." ...
— In the Quarter • Robert W. Chambers
... A lecture doesn't begin to be old until it has passed its hundredth delivery; and some, I think, have doubled, if not quadrupled, that number. These old lectures are a man's best, commonly; they improve by age, also,—like the pipes, fiddles, and poems I told you of the other day. One learns to make the most of their strong points and to carry off their weak ones, to take out the really good things which don't tell on the audience, and put in cheaper things that do. All this degrades ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, April, 1858 • Various
... stranger. 'Pray, don't mind me, Sir,—your—ho! Breakfast ended, eh? Coffee not so bad, Sir; rather good coffee, I hold it, at the Phoenix. Cream very choice, Sir?—I don't tell 'em so though (a wink); it might not improve it, you know. I hope they gave you—eh?—eh? (he peeped into the cream-ewer, which he turned towards the light, with a whisk). And no disputing the eggs—forty-eight hens in the poultry yard, and ninety ducks in Tresham's little garden, next door to Sturk's. They make a ...
— The House by the Church-Yard • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... you credit. How well she looks! I hope she may be able to observe the Rule for many years to come.' I was feeling decidedly pleased at this compliment when another Sister came in, and, looking at me, said: 'Poor little Soeur Therese, how very tired you seem! You quite alarm me. If you do not soon improve, I am afraid you will not be able to keep the Rule very long.' I was then only sixteen, but this little incident made such an impression on me, that I never again set store on the varying opinion ...
— The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Ame): The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux • Therese Martin (of Lisieux)
... PERIOD.—One feature of this period is the efforts made by the nations to improve their condition, especially to increase the thrift and to raise the standing of the middle class. An illustration is what is called the "mercantile system" in France. Along with this change, there is progress in the direction of ...
— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher
... the Society is to improve the science of medicine, to increase the influence and usefulness of its members, and to secure greater harmony and friendship among them, therefore it is of the highest importance that each member should so conduct himself, both in his private and ...
— The Act Of Incorporation And The By-Laws Of The Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society • Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society
... Not only his honour but his future was at stake. If he discovered the thief, he would be the most talked of person in Perpignan. He would know how to improve his position. He would rise to dizzy heights. Perpignan-Ville de Plaisir would acclaim him as its saviour. The Government would decorate him. And finally, both the Mayor and Madame Coquereau would place the blushing and adorable Mademoiselle Stephanie in his arms and her two hundred and fifty ...
— The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol • William J. Locke
... the Reds have always shown a grasp of the new life, while the Trades Union men were crawling along with the uninspired programme of wages and hours; that the Reds were the sacrificing idealists and the Unionists the selfish Tories who wanted nothing more than to slowly improve their condition. Well, the logic of events seems to show that in the long run the Moores have the gospel. One scarcely cares to think what might have happened in Canadian industry and common living had Tom Moore given way to the Reds who came at ...
— The Masques of Ottawa • Domino
... to improve the lecture which was a part of the regular program. These Ten-Minute Talks are now given by a good reader and really worth-while material is presented. Such men as Arthur Deitrick, Eugene Farnsworth, and C.W. Russel have prepared these talks. In order to secure good singing, it was made known ...
— Poet Lore, Volume XXIV, Number IV, 1912 • Various
... Robert, 'if he grows up in the usual way, there'll be plenty of time to correct him as he goes along. The awful thing to-day was his growing up so suddenly. There was no time to improve him at all.' ...
— Five Children and It • E. Nesbit
... we must atone— So let us fight as though our strength were one. And hast thou purged thyself of guilt, as I, Perhaps that quiet, chaste, and modest maid Will hold thee not unworthy of her hand! Thou shalt improve him, Dona Clara, but Let not thy virtue win his mere respect, But lend it charm, as ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VI. • Editor-in-Chief: Kuno Francke
... been peppering this thing with shot, after all, and quite lately, too. Why, I believe old Jink's been trying to improve his ...
— The Man Who Knew Too Much • G.K. Chesterton
... handsome as a young man, for he was red-haired, awkward, and knew not what to do with his hands, though he played the violin passably well. But his friend, Patrick Henry, suave, tactful and popular, exerted himself to improve Jefferson's manners and fit him for general society, attaining at last very pleasing results, although there was a certain roughness in his nature, shown in his correspondence, which no amount of polishing seemed ...
— Threads of Grey and Gold • Myrtle Reed
... the exception of a few complaints about his physical discomfort, Herbert displayed an exemplary patience and soon began to improve, for his recovery was assisted by the tranquil state of his mind. The accident had happened at a very opportune time: it furnished an excellent excuse for withdrawing from an embarrassing situation and it would save his credit, if, as seemed probable, difficulties shortly ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss
... the case, saying that it was a beauty. She showed it to Sonia; then she put it on and stood before a mirror admiring the effect. To tell the truth, the effect was not entirely desirable. The pearls did not improve the look of her rather coarse brown skin; and her skin added nothing to the beauty of the pearls. Sonia saw this, and so did the Duke. He looked at Sonia's white throat. She met his eyes and blushed. She knew that the same thought was in both their minds; ...
— Arsene Lupin • Edgar Jepson
... Gunnery" (London, 1851), p. 454.] The Constitution was handled faultlessly; Captain Hull displayed the coolness and skill of a veteran in the way in which he managed, first to avoid being raked, and then to improve the advantage which the precision and rapidity of his fire had gained. "After making every allowance claimed by the enemy, the character of this victory is not essentially altered. Its peculiarities were a fine display of seamanship in the approach, extraordinary ...
— The Naval War of 1812 • Theodore Roosevelt
... two first classes remain stationary amidst the general movement, improve their habits and condition, and rise in ...
— A New Guide for Emigrants to the West • J. M. Peck
... elegant, accomplished, and powerful in her little world (for the world of fashion does not stretch ALL the way from pole to pole), her influence in Sir Leicester's house, however haughty and indifferent her manner, is greatly to improve it and refine it. The cousins, even those older cousins who were paralysed when Sir Leicester married her, do her feudal homage; and the Honourable Bob Stables daily repeats to some chosen person between breakfast and lunch his favourite original remark, ...
— Bleak House • Charles Dickens
... to occupy the whole stage without a competitor. The explanation is obvious enough. Dramatic art is to be congratulated on the fact that now and then Shakespeare left himself for a little out of the play, for then not only does the construction of the play improve, but the play grows in interest through the encounter of evenly-matched antagonists. The first thing we notice in "Othello" is that Iago is at least as important a character as the hero himself. "Hamlet," on the other hand, is almost ...
— The Man Shakespeare • Frank Harris
... confines, or to invade the territories of the adjacent tribes. The progress of manufactures and commerce insensibly collects a large multitude within the walls of a city: but these citizens are no longer soldiers; and the arts which adorn and improve the state of civil society, corrupt the habits of the military life. The pastoral manners of the Scythians seem to unite the different advantages of simplicity and refinement. The individuals of the same tribe ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon
... are no times when woman's figure has not the charm of womanhood, unless she attempts to improve it by some monstrous contrivance of her own; no times when good taste and womanly tact cannot so drape it that it will possess some attraction peculiar to her sex. And were it not so, how irrational, how wrongful is it to extinguish, I will not say the beauty, but, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 24, Oct. 1859 • Various
... promise not to find fault with me for carrying out my plan as I have made up my mind to do. You may read this letter before I seal it, and if you find anything in it you don't like you can suggest any change that you think will improve it. I hope you will see that it explains itself. I don't believe that you will find anything to frighten you ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... at me in a nasty sort of way through the jam. He may have loved me at first sight, but the impression he gave me was that he didn't think a lot of me and wasn't betting much that I would improve a great deal on acquaintance. I had a kind of feeling that I was about as popular with him ...
— Death At The Excelsior • P. G. Wodehouse
... indeed, than He gives forth. Now, He teaches fully what we should do if we wish to perform truly good works, and by commanding them, He shows that they please Him. If, then, it is God who commands this, and who knows not how to appoint anything better, I will never improve upon it." ...
— The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther
... who stand opposed to each other in these controversies—of Catholics and Protestants, Christians and Deists, Orthodox and Unitarians? They have plainly a twofold duty to themselves as well as to their opponents. They ought to increase their insight, and to improve their statements; to deepen and widen their hold of the substance; to correct and improve their expression of the form. The first is the work of religion; the second, ...
— Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors • James Freeman Clarke
... which was made by an apprentice out of little pieces of glass that had been thrown aside by his master as useless. It is said to be the most beautiful window in the Cathedral. And if, like this apprentice, we carefully gather up, and improve the little bits of time, of knowledge, and of opportunities that we have, we may do work for God more beautiful than that Cathedral window. We may do work like that which the apostles were sent to do. Here are some sweet lines, written by I know not whom, about that beautiful window, made ...
— The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young • Richard Newton
... what you have to say, my lady, and confide it to me. She shall have it to-night, if she's where you suppose. I 'll go, with your permission, and take a look at the mare. Sussex roads are heavy in this damp weather, and the frost coming on won't improve them for a tired beast. We haven't our rails ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... to be seen once, because no other country is like them. Every thing is artificial. You will be struck with the combinations of vivid greenery, and water, and building; but every thing is so distinct and rememberable, that you would not improve your conception by visiting the country a hundred times over. It is interesting to see a country and a nature made, as it were, by man, and to ...
— Specimens of the Table Talk of S.T.Coleridge • Coleridge
... changed his manner successively from that of the sentimental lover, to that of the polite gallant and accomplished man of the world; and when this did not succeed, he had recourse to philosophy, reason, and benevolence. No hint, which cunning and address could improve to his purpose, was lost upon Mowbray. Mrs. Coates had warned me that Miss Montenero was touchy on the Jewish chapter, and his lordship was aware it was as the champion of the Jews that I had first been favourably represented by Jacob, and favourably received by Mr. Montenero. Soon ...
— Tales & Novels, Vol. IX - [Contents: Harrington; Thoughts on Bores; Ormond] • Maria Edgeworth
... was in a critical situation. If taken, he would be hung as a spy. He stood still and reflected a moment, to calm his nerves. He had blundered in, perhaps he might get out. He would try; but as he was there, ought he not to improve the opportunity to find out all about the camp, how large it was, how many men there were? He counted the baggage-wagons and the tents. He almost stumbled over a man who was wrapped in his blanket. It was an officer sound asleep, with ...
— Winning His Way • Charles Carleton Coffin
... yet it is more imposing on paper. There is something more impressive in it; I shall be better able to criticise myself and improve my style. Besides, I shall perhaps obtain actual relief from writing. Today, for instance, I am particularly oppressed by one memory of a distant past. It came back vividly to my mind a few days ago, and has remained haunting me like an annoying tune that one cannot get rid of. ...
— Notes from the Underground • Feodor Dostoevsky
... which are so necessary a part of all Epic are much more convincing in the Odyssey; the actions and adventures are indeed beyond experience, but they are treated in such a masterly style that they are made inevitable; it would be difficult to improve on any of the little details which force us to believe the whole story. Added to them is another genuine romantic feature, the sense of wandering in strange new lands untrodden before of man's foot; the beings who move in these lands are gracious, barbarous, ...
— Authors of Greece • T. W. Lumb
... zoology that Roosevelt shows in his African and Brazilian journeys. Not only tastes, but many ideals and opinions the two men had in common. "Parson Lot," the Chartist and Christian Socialist, had the same sympathy with the poor and the same desire to improve the condition of agricultural laborers and London artisans which led Roosevelt to promote employers' liability laws and other legislation to protect the workingman from exploitation by conscienceless wealth. Kingsley, like Roosevelt, was essentially Protestant. Neither he nor Mr. Roosevelt liked ...
— Four Americans - Roosevelt, Hawthorne, Emerson, Whitman • Henry A. Beers
... flowed into Lake Michigan. It was then an exceedingly dirty stream and a menace to health. In order to improve the character of the river and also to give the Chicago adequate sanitary drainage, dredging operations to reverse the direction of flow of the river were undertaken, and canals were constructed connecting it with the Illinois River. This great engineering feat was begun in 1892 and completed ...
— The Greatest Highway in the World • Anonymous
... allow them to go very far forward. "Civilization is impossible where the banana grows," some observer has remarked. He meant that since the banana gave food without any culture or call on human energy, the people in banana-growing countries would be lazy, and would not have the stimulus to improve themselves that is necessary for progress. To get a good type of man he must have the ...
— Peeps At Many Lands: Australia • Frank Fox
... voice, to "port the helm!"—having previously given him secret instructions to put the helm hard a-starboard, which latter order was obeyed; by this manoeuvre the enemy's jib-boom caught in the fore-rigging of the Hyder Ally, thus giving her a raking position, which Captain Barney knew how to improve. The firing on both sides was tremendous;—an idea of it may be obtained from the fact, that more than twenty broadsides were fired in twenty-six minutes! In the mizzen staystail of the General Monk there were afterwards counted, three hundred and sixty-five ...
— Thrilling Stories Of The Ocean • Marmaduke Park
... KEY.—Circumstances will improve, things will become easy, and your path will be made smooth; you may hope for success in whatever you have on hand; a key at some distance from the consultant denotes the need for the assistance of ...
— Telling Fortunes By Tea Leaves • Cicely Kent
... bade his valet pack his things According to direction, then received A lecture and some money: for four springs He was to travel; and though Inez grieved (As every kind of parting has its stings), She hoped he would improve—perhaps believed: A letter, too, she gave (he never read it) Of good advice—and two ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron
... her mood changing. "Take them all; but don't try to improve them,—Mandy Ann and Judy, ...
— The Cromptons • Mary J. Holmes
... flannel will be found serviceable. By gently rubbing the surface of the body with it the skin will be warmed and stimulated, and the resulting glow will be as agreeable to the child as is that in the adult which follows the Turkish bath. The actual grooming of the human body is very useful to improve the health of ...
— The Physical Life of Woman: - Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother • Dr. George H Napheys
... of friends got together secretly and tried to organize a union, tried to get the workmen together to improve their own condition; but in some way ("they had spies everywhere," he said) the manager learned of the attempt and one morning when he reported at the mill he was handed a slip asking him to call for his wages, that his help ...
— The Friendly Road - New Adventures in Contentment • (AKA David Grayson) Ray Stannard Baker
... again from Rosenkranz, because I cannot improve upon his words: "Modesty is the feeling of the primitive harmony of nature and spirit, and it is very decidedly active in children, however unconstrained they are with regard to nature. True modesty is as far removed from coarseness as from prudery. ...
— The Education of American Girls • Anna Callender Brackett
... right. You see, she goes into the preparatory department, where they teach writin' an' spellin'. You'll see her hand improve ...
— A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen • Hamlin Garland
... what it is, old cock," continued the Aid-de-Camp, edging his seat closer, and giving his host a smart friendly slap upon the thigh, "this dull life of yours don't much improve your temper. Why, as I am a true Tennessee man, bred and born, I never set eyes upon such a crab apple in all my life—you'd turn a whole dairy of the sweetest milk that ever came from prairie grass sour in less than no ...
— The Canadian Brothers - or The Prophecy Fulfilled • John Richardson
... expected succession to the throne, had rendered the governor of Surat, at this juncture, less obsequious to the orders of his sovereign than the absolute nature of the constitution would otherwise have prescribed. Under these circumstances, and to improve upon the general treaty already mentioned, Sir Thomas Roe made proposals to Sultan Churrum to enter into an alliance for resisting the pretensions of the Portuguese. After long discussions with that prince, this treaty was concluded, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr
... old Dutchman was plainly convinced that the end justified the means, and cousin Serena felt that any further discussion of the question was useless, and that it would not tend to improve Matty's moral views or those of her brother Tony, who had just come in, as both were sure to side with their friend ...
— Uncle Rutherford's Nieces - A Story for Girls • Joanna H. Mathews
... came down to breakfast long after the others had finished. The next morning there was a letter waiting for him which had been readdressed on from Melchester. He was still in a sulk, and the contents of the epistle did not seem to improve his temper. He devoured his food in silence, and then went off by himself to smoke at the bottom ...
— Soldiers of the Queen • Harold Avery
... lithography, a chrysalis in which it perfected itself. Reproduction by process serves commercial purposes much better than ever wood-engraving could, but while the commercial demand for it lasted, as in the case of the arts of lithography and etching, it continued to improve; like them, let us hope, destined to find beautiful wings upon its release from the cramping demands of modern printing machines, in its practice by artists for sheer love of the peculiar qualities which are its own. It has been said that wood-engravers ...
— George Du Maurier, the Satirist of the Victorians • T. Martin Wood
... of turning back. Flight was very difficult, since he did not know where the foe lurked. To wait was the only thing to be done,—wait until night came, and then improve the darkness to return to the Rito in safety. But what of the all-important council-meeting, at which he was compelled to assist? Crouched behind the juniper-bush, cautiously peering out from behind it now and then, the old warrior pondered over the situation. ...
— The Delight Makers • Adolf Bandelier
... abundantly informes you of our condition, what various administrations of providence we have passed through and we still lye betwixt hopes and feares, a fit temper for working; the God of all grace enable us to improve it. As our hopes are not such as may make us fear, so neither doe our Feares prevail, to the casting away our confidence. Your own late condition, together with this Declaration of ours present, may acquaint you with the ...
— The Acts Of The General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland
... host, "in so far, at least, that they have no wish to change them, no idea that any great social or political reforms could improve our condition. Our lesson in Communism has rendered all agitation on such matters, all tendency to democratic institutions, all appeals to popular passions, utterly odious and alarming to us. But that we are happy I will venture neither to affirm nor to deny. Physically, no doubt, we have ...
— Across the Zodiac • Percy Greg
... with the chaff and the straw, and that the grain should be all clear profit. We see frequently societies of merchants in London, and other trading towns, purchase waste lands in our sugar colonies, which they expect to improve and cultivate with profit, by means of factors and agents, notwithstanding the great distance and the uncertain returns, from the defective administration of justice in those countries. Nobody will attempt to improve and cultivate ...
— An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations • Adam Smith
... my infancy, when the king my father (for you must know, madam, I am a prince by birth) perceived that I was endowed with a great deal of sense, and spared nothing to improve it. He employed all the men in his dominions, who excelled in sciences and arts, to ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Volume 1 • Anonymous
... hovering around the poor fellow's head, and many of them had alighted upon his face, and were sucking his blood as eagerly as though they knew they must improve their time. Gulpin was too weak, or else unconscious of their stings, to make an effort to drive them from their feast; and as for the police, they were too busy in dividing the gold found in the secret cellar to pay any attention ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes
... Amacasfe and the Residence; the facilities of Martial travelling, and above all of telegraphic and telephonic communication, dispensing with all reason for placing great institutions in or near important cities. We traveller by balloon, as I was anxious to improve myself in the management of these machines. After frightening my companions so far as to provoke some, outcry from Eive, and from Eunane some saucy remarks on my clumsiness, on which no one else would have ventured, I descended safely, if not very creditably, in ...
— Across the Zodiac • Percy Greg
... the Indians of the Gran Chaco, 58 sq.; among the Indians of Brazil, 59 sq.; among the Indians of Guiana, 60 sq.; beating the girls and stinging them with ants, 61; stinging young men with ants and wasps as an initiatory rite, 61-63; stinging men and women with ants to improve their character or health or to render them invulnerable, 63 sq.; in such cases the beating or stinging was originally a purification, not a test of courage and endurance, 65 sq.; this explanation confirmed by the beating of girls among the Banivas of the Orinoco to rid ...
— Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. • Sir James George Frazer
... entrance of that place of amusement, and the gentlemen remained behind to pay, "you are doing anything but what I told you; scarcely three words have you spoken to your cousin, who, by the way, is very pleasant. I think I shall take him up and improve him on my own account; but as for you, my dear, I can see plainly it's all over ...
— Kate Coventry - An Autobiography • G. J. Whyte-Melville
... of all power freely to consider these important questions. The Queen was, moreover, sorry to find Mr Disraeli, Mr Gladstone, and Sir Francis Baring agreeing with the doctrine of the Times and Lord Grey that we ought not to improve our state of preparation for war; and if we had been better prepared for the late war, we should ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume III (of 3), 1854-1861 • Queen of Great Britain Victoria
... boats. Some unusually intelligent stokers had deserted at Port Said, and as we were in consequence short-handed, it was suggested that any volunteers would be given a try. Finch Hatton and I felt that our years in the tropics should qualify us, and that the exercise would improve our dispositions. We got the exercise. Never have I felt anything as hot, and I have spent August in Yuma, Arizona, and been in Italian Somaliland and the Amazon Valley. The shovels and the handles of the wheelbarrows blistered ...
— War in the Garden of Eden • Kermit Roosevelt
... that it is the direct route to the Gironde; where, from Mortagne, another steam-boat, in communication with the Charente, conveys passengers to Bordeaux. Since the establishment of these boats a great change has been operated in Saintes, and probably its condition will now improve. ...
— Barn and the Pyrenees - A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre • Louisa Stuart Costello
... the stupor cases are often omitted from the list of those given occupation and amusement. Even if they go through the motions of work or play with no sign of interest, such exercise should not be allowed to lapse. Then, too, the environment should be changed when practicable. A patient may improve on ...
— Benign Stupors - A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type • August Hoch
... of some of those Territories ought to be developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction would have a tendency to improve the revenues of the Government and diminish the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious consideration whether some extraordinary measures to promote that end can not be adopted. The means which suggests ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Lincoln - Section 1 (of 2) of Volume 6: Abraham Lincoln • Compiled by James D. Richardson
... little pricks as if I were wronging her, for in spite of her faults I like her, and like to watch her flitting through the house and grounds like the little fairy she is, and I hope the marriage may turn out well, and that she will improve with age, and not make so heavy drafts on my ...
— Miss McDonald • Mary J. Holmes
... returned Sir James at once. "But that doesn't alter the principle of the thing. . . . By all means improve their conditions . . . give them better houses . . . stop sweated labour. That is our privilege and our duty. But if they continue on their present line, they'll soon find the difference. Things we did for 'em before, they'll have to whistle for in ...
— Mufti • H. C. (Herman Cyril) McNeile
... superiority which a State, supposed to be independent and equitable in its dealings to its subjects, must have over an oppressive government; and none for the time which is necessary to give prosperity to peaceful arts, even if the government should improve. Our country has a mighty and daily growing forest of this sort of wealth; whereas, in France, the trees are not yet put into the ground. For my own part, I do not think it possible that France, with all her command of territory and coast, can outstrip us in naval power, unless she could ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth
... Epiphanes (B.C. 164) improve the condition of affairs in Syria. The throne fell to his son, Antiochus Eupator, a boy of nine, according to Appian, or, according to another authority, of twelve years of age. The regent, Lysias, exercised the chief power, and was ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia • George Rawlinson
... five or six little attention is paid to the condition of the streets. Only Santiago, Puerto Plata and Santo Domingo have electric light, but that of Santo Domingo is very deficient. Little by little conditions are improving and especially the larger municipalities are endeavoring to improve their streets and ...
— Santo Domingo - A Country With A Future • Otto Schoenrich
... and quality. Ladies' stockings were also knitted of all grades from stout and thick to gossamer or open-work, etc. Homespun dresses were proudly worn, and it became a matter of constant experiment and great pride to improve the quality and vary colors. Warp and woof were finely spun, and beautiful combinations of colors ventured upon, although older heads eschewed them, and in consequence complacently wore their clean, smoothly-ironed gray, "pepper-and-salt," ...
— Memories - A Record of Personal Experience and Adventure During Four Years of War • Fannie A. (Mrs.) Beers
... of egoism and individualism in the demoralising atmosphere with which legalism (and its lineal successors) must needs invest human life, Man's conception of the rewards and punishments that await him will deteriorate rather than improve. The Jewish desire for national prosperity was an immeasurably nobler motive to action than is the Christian's fear of the quasi-material fires of Hell. Indeed it is nothing but our familiarity with the latter ...
— What Is and What Might Be - A Study of Education in General and Elementary Education in Particular • Edmond Holmes
... or bad methods of reading good books lead the reader's mind astray or stimulate a destructive imagination that affects character forever; but good books and right methods of reading make the soul sensitive to right and wrong, improve the mind, inspire to higher ideals ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10 - The Guide • Charles Herbert Sylvester
... government of Virginia had issued land warrants, or certificates entitling the holder to locate wherever he might choose, the number of acres named in the warrant. They also grave to actual settlers certain pre-emption rights to such lands as they might occupy and improve by building a cabin, raising a crop, &c. The holders of these warrants, after selecting the land which they intended to cover, with their titles, were required to enter a survey and description of the ...
— The First White Man of the West • Timothy Flint
... aid a teacher, you improve the education of your children. It is a wonder that teachers work as well as they do. I never look at a group of them without using, mentally, the expression, 'The noble ...
— Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals • Maria Mitchell
... wished for peace. He was constructing vast works to embellish and improve the empire. Thousands of workmen were employed in cutting magnificent roads across the Alps. He was watching with intensest interest the growth of fortifications and the excavation of canals. He was ...
— Napoleon Bonaparte • John S. C. Abbott
... ear-trumpet. Granting all these advantages to the young man, he ought, nevertheless, to go on improving, on the whole, as a medical practitioner, with every year, until he has ripened into a well-mellowed maturity. But, to improve, he must be good for something at the start. If you ship a poor cask of wine to India and back, if you keep it a half a century, it only grows ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... off for Cabool; I hope the country may improve as we advance. Everybody speaks very highly of Cabool itself—a fine climate, 6000 feet above the sea. It has been very hot the whole time we have been here. They say there is plenty of grain to be had on the road; I hope this may be true, and that we shall not have ...
— Campaign of the Indus • T.W.E. Holdsworth
... Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and with ...
— Book of Wise Sayings - Selected Largely from Eastern Sources • W. A. Clouston
... wealth—as yet undeveloped, is a conclusion at which most people will arrive, even after a short visit to the colony; but, how soon and in what way this development will take place depends, of course, upon the character of the inhabitants, and this character will, no doubt, improve as the remembrances of the convict life, which has so blighted this beautiful island, gradually recede into the dim distance of ...
— Six Letters From the Colonies • Robert Seaton
... 'but you and Susan are such old-fashioned people. Olive and I have as much enjoyment of life as ordinary folk. We quarrel sometimes and make it up again. I was never a very patient mortal—eh, old chap?—and one's temper does not improve with age.' And then after a little talk about the children, who had been ill with scarlatina, the letter wound up by begging the loan of a ...
— Lover or Friend • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... April 20th, 1877) a resolution, which put on record my opinions, and stated that the House regretted the failure of the policy of the Government either to improve the position of Christian subjects of the Porte or to avert war. It also regretted their unwillingness to co-operate with any other of ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 • Stephen Gwynn
... what, Billy," said Dick Harness, "you do improve, and we'll allow you to sing that song once more before you die, ...
— Poor Jack • Frederick Marryat
... things were in her favor. She was as quiet as an old cow at the post; many false starts would improve rather than diminish her chances, for nothing seemed to excite the gallant little brown mare. Her great burst of speed would enable the jockey to get out of the ruck and steal a good place to lie handy at the leader's heels. She could be nursed to the last furlong of the stretch, ...
— Thoroughbreds • W. A. Fraser
... final result of this interview between the artistic gambler and Miss Maclaire. In spite of the vague suspicion of evil which the plainsman had implanted within the woman's mind, the other possessed the advantage, and would certainly improve it. All conditions were decidedly in his favor. He merely needed to convince the girl that she was actually the party sought, and she would go forward, playing the game he desired, believing herself right, totally ...
— Keith of the Border • Randall Parrish
... word could be substituted for one used, without rendering a statement incorrect, or whether such change would improve it and make it more accurate. For instance, in the definition "Matter is that which can occupy space" would it be proper to substitute "does" for "can" or ...
— How to Study • George Fillmore Swain
... birthday, Like the mile-stones by the way, Will remind you as you go— Though at first they pass so slow That behind there is one more And, of course, one less before; Watch the moments as they fly, With a never tiring eye— Since you cannot stop their flow, O! improve them as they go. ...
— The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland • Various
... interesting companion to so pious and inquisitive a woman." She would receive him as a father and honour him as an apostle. Happy, thrice happy for us, when we make a proper selection of our bosom friends, and improve the hours of social intercourse to the purposes of spiritual improvement! Nothing is more advantageous than reciprocal communication; it elicits truth, corrects mistake, improves character, conduces ...
— Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II • Francis Augustus Cox
... to be learnt in solar physics from the marvelous photographs of the sun's spectrum exhibited last summer by Professor Rowland; photographs that show as many as one hundred and fifty lines between H and K, and which he is still laboring to improve! The extension, too, of the visible solar spectrum into the ultra-violet by Corun, Mascart, and others, adds much to our knowledge of the sun; while the photographs of Abney in the ultrared increase our information in a direction less ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 484, April 11, 1885 • Various
... train of wagons encamping on the trail about three miles off; and though we saw them distinctly, our little cart, as it afterward proved, entirely escaped their view. For some days Tete Rouge had been longing eagerly after a dram of whisky. So, resolving to improve the present opportunity, he mounted his horse James, slung his canteen over his shoulder, and set forth in search of his favorite liquor. Some hours passed without his returning. We thought that he was lost, or perhaps that some stray ...
— The Oregon Trail • Francis Parkman, Jr.
... gentlemen. I do not mean fops and dandies, but true gentlemen. You have perhaps seen the remark made, that "dress does not make the man, but after he is made, he looks better dressed up." Neither do gentlemanly habits and manners make the man, but they certainly improve him after he is made, and render ...
— The Nest in the Honeysuckles, and other Stories • Various
... the Regent, she possessed a very white skin, one of those opaque white complexions which seem only to flourish and improve on sensual pleasure. Her liquid violet eyes swam in a faint blue shadow; and her lips, always a little parted, disclosed a vague gleam of pearl behind their soft rosy line, like a ...
— The Child of Pleasure • Gabriele D'Annunzio
... period after childbirth, and in many more particular respects her health is carefully looked after. Such legislation would possibly be impossible to enforce with our notions in America. The most interesting of all is perhaps the attempt made in the State of Connecticut within a few years to improve social conditions by providing that no married woman should be employed in factories at all. The bill was not, of course, carried, but it raises a most interesting sociological question. Ruskin probably would have been in favor of it. He described as the very ...
— Popular Law-making • Frederic Jesup Stimson
... lord of, xviii. 1, an elder brother by a concubine of the tyrant Chou Hsin (reigned 1154-22 B.C.), last of the Yin dynasty. He fled from court, since he could not improve his brother. ...
— The Sayings Of Confucius • Confucius
... for all the world," owned the stranger, "Now there's plenty of folks that wouldn't care a Hannah Cook about such old truck, but it just hits me in the right spot. Mother's doughnuts, mother's mince-pies, I say! Can't improve on them! And when my wife and I bought our little place, I said to her, 'We'll have it all furnished with old-fashioned goods.' And here I am, taking, time away from my business, riding round the country, and paying good money for what's no ...
— Meadow Grass - Tales of New England Life • Alice Brown
... consider that the beauty of the mind is more honorable than the beauty of the outward form. So that if a virtuous soul have but a little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of institutions and laws, and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that personal beauty is a trifle. And after laws and institutions he will go on to the sciences, ...
— Louis Agassiz as a Teacher • Lane Cooper
... again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations, wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hast consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?' O happy Scotland! if thou canst now improve aright, and not abuse this golden opportunity, but if thou wilt help the ungodly, or love them that hate the Lord, wrath upon wrath, and woe upon woe, shall be upon ...
— The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning • Hugh Binning
... in time became a full partner in his master's business. George did not improve; he kept the loving hearts of his aged benefactors full of trouble, and their hands full of inventive activities to protect him from ruin. Edward, as a boy, had interested himself in Sunday-schools, ...
— The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories • Mark Twain
... something awful, and hate the very thoughts of professions, etc. If one could insure moderate health for them it would not signify so much, for I cannot but hope, with the enormous emigration, professions will somewhat improve. But my bugbear is hereditary weakness. I particularly like to hear all that you can say about education, and you deserve to be scolded for saying "you did not mean to TORMENT me with a long yarn." You ask about Rugby. I like it very well, on the same principle as my neighbour, ...
— The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I • Francis Darwin
... keen rivalry among themselves in efforts to improve the quality of the leaf grown. Reverend John Clayton, in 1688, says: "For there is not only two distinct sorts of sweet-scented and Aranoko tobacco but of these be several sorts, much different, the seeds whereof ...
— Agriculture in Virginia, 1607-1699 • Lyman Carrier
... he could not afford to refuse. For of late years his wife's failing health had forced her to relinquish teaching, and the burden of earning their living had fallen entirely upon him. She hoped that a long rest might improve her in health, and that in some months—six, she imagined as a sufficient interval—she would be able to undertake in full earnestness her daughter's education. To do this had become her dearest wish; for there could now be little doubt ...
— Evelyn Innes • George Moore
... Ireland are impoverished by the great quantity of claret, which from mistaken notions of hospitality and dignity, they think it necessary should be drunk in their houses. This expense leaves them no room to improve their estates by proper indulgence upon proper conditions to their tenants, who must pay them to the full, and upon the very day, that they may pay their wine-merchants.' In 1754 he wrote (ib.p.359):—If it ...
— Life Of Johnson, Volume 5 • Boswell
... upon the sands of time, so that in after-years they may guide some one to a noble deed and better way. When you reach the end of life, you can experience no greater consolation than to know you have done what you could. Improve the moments of time while you have them. They are passing swiftly. They will not wait for you. Some people are going to do, but behold, the opportunity passes before they are ready. Opportunities do not wait. Do good while you may. You are going to give ...
— How to Live a Holy Life • C. E. Orr
... I do; and from the first line if possible. I want to improve on the Battle of the Somme film. What time ...
— How I Filmed the War - A Record of the Extraordinary Experiences of the Man Who - Filmed the Great Somme Battles, etc. • Lieut. Geoffrey H. Malins
... upon His work in Creation and saw that it was good, He placed it beyond the power of man to improve upon it. ...
— A Handful of Stars - Texts That Have Moved Great Minds • Frank W. Boreham
... approaches nearer than 35,000,000 miles, while the moon when nearest is only a little more than 220,000 miles away. Given an effective magnifying power of five thousand diameters, which will perhaps be possible at the mountain observatories as telescopes improve, and we should be able to bring the moon within an apparent distance of about forty miles, while the corresponding distance for Mars would be more than seven thousand miles. But even with existing telescopic powers we can see details on the moon no larger than some artificial constructions ...
— Curiosities of the Sky • Garrett Serviss
... Sommers avoided these places, and got the few drugs he needed at a well-known pharmacy in the city. He had an idea that matters would improve when people returned from the country or the seashore. But these people did not take long vacations. He had had but one case, the wife of a Swedish janitor in a flat-building, and he had reason to believe that his services had not pleased. Every morning, as Alves hurried ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick
... work in terms which showed a perception of its merit. If the world knows little of its greatest men it seems to know not much more about its greatest works of art, nor, if it continues to look for guidance in this matter to professional critics and society art-dabblers, is it likely to improve its ...
— Ex Voto • Samuel Butler
... improve; and about eleven o'clock we reached a spring of cold water on the edge of a savannah, or grassy meadow, which our guides informed us was an arm of the Tlamath lake; and a few miles further we entered upon an extensive meadow, or lake of grass, surrounded by timbered ...
— The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California • Brevet Col. J.C. Fremont
... improvement of the educational system of their country. Selling and Hadley, both monks, Linacre, one of the leaders of medical science in his own time, Dean Colet of Westminster whose direction of St. Paul's College did so much to improve the curriculum of the schools,[1] Bishop Fisher of Rochester described by Erasmus as "a man without equal at this time both as to integrity of life, learning, or broadminded sympathies" with the possible exception of Archbishop Warham of Canterbury,[2] and Sir Thomas More, Lord ...
— History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance • Rev. James MacCaffrey
... proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth, and that the tenure of power by man is, in the moral purposes of his Creator, upon condition that it shall be exercised to ends of beneficence, to improve the condition of himself ...
— State of the Union Addresses of John Quincy Adams • John Quincy Adams
... you, and beg of you now, for the last time, that after this institution has been got into some kind of order, you will not suffer it to fall to ruin by your own negligence. I have lived among your children, and have taught them myself, and have seen them improve, and I know it will make them ...
— Sydney Smith • George W. E. Russell |
