"Repine" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... may well Spare out of life, perhaps, and not repine, But live content, which is the calmest life; But pain is perfect misery, the worst Of evils, and, excessive, ...
— Milton • John Bailey
... he dropped in swoon, On the maiden the chariot fall, As a thundercloud swings on the moon. Forth, free of the deluge, one cry From the vanishing gallop rose clear: And: Skiegeneia! the sky Rang; Skiegeneia! the sphere. And she left him therewith, to rejoice, Repine, yearn, and know not his aim, The life of their day in her voice, Left her ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... mankind, to expel all ideas of a revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, and an impious fraud. What is it that we have learned from this pretended thing called revealed religion? Nothing that is useful to man, and every thing that is dishonourable to his Maker. What is it the Bible teaches us?—repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches us?—to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery ...
— The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete - With Index to Volumes I - IV • Thomas Paine
... it; but it was a sort that at once interested and absorbed her, so that she had little time for dangerous thoughts or vain regrets. As he once said, Mr. Power made her own troubles seem light by showing her others so terribly real and great that she was ashamed to repine at ...
— Work: A Story of Experience • Louisa May Alcott
... ye! my children," he cried; "repine not for me, for I bear my cross with resignation. It is for me to bewail your lot, much fearing that the flock I have so long and so zealously tended will fall into the hands of other and less heedful pastors, or, still ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth
... purchaser of his little domain. Occasionally there was some whispering between this man and the Skinner nearest him, that induced Harvey to suspect he had been the dupe of a contrivance in which that wretch had participated. It was, however, too late to repine; and he followed the party from the house with a firm and collected tread, as if marching to a triumph, and not to a gallows. In passing through the yard, the leader of the band fell over a billet of wood, and received a momentary hurt from the fall; exasperated at the incident, the fellow sprang ...
— The Spy • James Fenimore Cooper
... the bright fire on the hearth, the heavy curtains shutting out all traces of the storm, and the smoking supper set so temptingly before him. And Morris felt the comfort of his home, thanking the God who had given him all this, and chiding his wayward heart that it had ever dared to repine. He was not repining to-night; he had not repined for many a day, though he never sat down at home after his day's labor in slippers and dressing-gown, with a new book beside him on the table, that ...
— Family Pride - Or, Purified by Suffering • Mary J. Holmes
... if, freely to guess, the gift recherche Some grammarian, haply Sulla, sent thee; I repine not; a dear delight, a triumph 10 This, thy drudgery thus to ...
— The Poems and Fragments of Catullus • Catullus
... Hafiz! speak not of thy need; Are not these verses thine? Then all the poets are agreed, No man can less repine." ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, April, 1858 • Various
... any near prospect of seeing them. I do not venture to wish it, for fear of growing discontented. The girls are happy, and so am I; and we do not repine because we ...
— Principle and Practice - The Orphan Family • Harriet Martineau
... gloomy, friendly Trees, I came along your narrow track To bring my gifts unto your knees And gifts did you give back; For when I brought this heart that burns— These thoughts that bitterly repine— And laid them here among the ferns And the hum of boughs divine, Ye, vastest breathers of the air, Shook down with slow and mighty poise Your coolness on the human care, Your wonder on its toys, Your greenness on the heart's despair, Your ...
— Poems of To-Day: an Anthology • Various
... exercised it may be made heroic and perfect. By suffering with patience, and in a Christian spirit, a soul makes higher and quicker advances in pure love, than by any other means or by any other good works. Let no one then repine, if by sickness, persecution, or disgraces, they are hindered from doing the good actions which they desire, or rendered incapable of discharging the duties of their station, or of laboring to convert others. God always ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler
... days of life were ours; The worst can be but mine; The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers, Shall never more be thine. The silence of that dreamless sleep I envy now too much to weep; Nor need I to repine That all those charms have passed away, I might ...
— Studies in Literature and History • Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall
... great theatre of this earth among the numberless number of men, to die were only proper to thee and thine, then undoubtedly thou had reason to repine at so severe and partial a law. But since it is a necessity, from which never any age by-past hath been exempted, and unto which they which be, and so many as are to come, are thralled (no consequent of life being more common and familiar), why shouldst thou with unprofitable and nought-availing ...
— A Book of English Prose - Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools • Percy Lubbock
... would take that trouble on herself, and for the future assume the management of her own family. Nothing could be more mortifying to Mrs. Grizzle than such a declaration; to which, after a considerable pause, and strange distortion of look, she replied: "I shall never refuse or repine at any trouble that may conduce to my brother's advantage."—"Dear madam," answered the sister, "I am infinitely obliged for your kind concern for Mr. Pickle's interest, which I consider as my own, ...
— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett
... of God to take her from us, Miles, I can scarce repine that her end should be so easy, and, in all ...
— Miles Wallingford - Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore" • James Fenimore Cooper
... and giving her another hug; "but, being a man, it wouldn't do at all to allow my feelings to overcome me in that manner. Besides, with my darling little wife still left me, I'd be an ungrateful wretch to repine at the absence of other ...
— Elsie's Kith and Kin • Martha Finley
... Heliodore! And mingle the sweet word ye call in vain With that ye pour! And bring to me her wreath of yesterday That's dank with myrrh; Hesternae Rosae, ah my friends, but they Remember her! Lo the kind roses, loved of lovers, weep As who repine, For if on any breast they see her sleep It is ...
— Grass of Parnassus • Andrew Lang
... Fanny Stack called. Penelope in the garden, as usual. All the trouble of entertaining falling upon my hands. Still, I do not repine. Providence is good; and Penelope of course, dear soul, should be allowed the recreation that pertains to her garden. And, indeed, a sweet ...
— Rossmoyne • Unknown
... wiped her eyes presently, shut her mouth on a sob, and went resolutely about her work. We had, after all, a tolerably cheerful evening in the kitchen. It seemed wisest for me not to show myself again before Captain Pendarves, but I am afraid I did not repine greatly at the banishment. As the door swung to and fro behind Mary carrying their dishes, I caught glimpses of the gloomy parlor, my grandfather huddled in his chair by the table, with bright, roving eyes; the sorcerer surprisingly busy about the food for a ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol 31, No 2, June 1908 • Various
... tears.' Remorse found vent in an agony of grief. 'She never would have left me,' he cries to Temple; 'this reflection will pursue me to my grave.' In July, the widower of a month hastened north to contest the county, only to find Sir Adam Fergusson chosen. 'Let me never impiously repine,' is his cry of distress. 'Yet as "Jesus wept" for the death of Lazarus, I hope my tears at this time are excused. The woeful circumstance of such a state of mind is that it rejects consolation; it feels an indulgence in its own wretchedness.' ...
— James Boswell - Famous Scots Series • William Keith Leask
... their wives were freezing at the baker's door for their ration of bread. In Paris the women—I speak of those of the poorer classes—are of more sterling stuff than the men. They suffer far more, and they repine much less. I admire the crowd of silent, patient women, huddling together for warmth every morning, as they wait until their pittance is doled out to them, far more than the martial heroes who foot it behind a drum and a trumpet to crown a statue, to visit a tomb, and to take their ...
— Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris • Henry Labouchere
... EXTEND this tale was never my design; Though known full well, I do not now repine; The case so thoroughly my purpose served. Ne'er from the narrative the object swerved; And scarcely can I fancy, better light The DOCTOR will afford to what I write. The scenes that follow I from Rome ...
— The Tales and Novels, Complete • Jean de La Fontaine
... digging holes in search of water there came forth some very thick and black stuff; but none of us could touch it, except the poor Dutch Creole, who drank above a quart of it as eagerly as if it had been wine. We tried to catch fish, but could not; and we now began to repine at our fate, and abandon ourselves to despair; when, in the midst of our murmuring, the captain all at once cried out 'A sail! a sail! a sail!' This gladdening sound was like a reprieve to a convict, ...
— The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African - Written By Himself • Olaudah Equiano
... Necessity is found to be, not arbitrary Power, but Strength and Force enlisted in the service of Intelligence. God having made us men, and placed us in a world of change and eternal renovation, with ample capacity and abundant means for rational enjoyment, we learn that it is folly to repine because we are not angels, inhabiting a world in which change and the clashing of interests and the conflicts ...
— Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry • Albert Pike
... this moment. I endeavour to strengthen my mind by arguing against the possibility of such a calamity. Alas! how soon have sorrows and friars, real as well as severe, followed the uniform and tranquil state of existence at which so lately I was disposed to repine! But I will not oppress you any longer with my complaints. Adieu, ...
— Guy Mannering • Sir Walter Scott
... end of Diggle's peroration. It was then too late to repine. The vessel was already rounding the Foreland, and though he was more than half convinced that he had been decoyed on board on false pretenses, he could not divine any motive on Diggle's part, and ...
— In Clive's Command - A Story of the Fight for India • Herbert Strang
... the coxswain received this showed that he did not repine at his fate. He did not even object to O'Connor's remark that, "Faix, he might consider himself the ...
— The Coxswain's Bride - also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue • R.M. Ballantyne
... escaped unharmed, and with the lives of all my companions," returned Stanhope; "I should, therefore, be ungrateful to repine at the slight evil which has befallen me; but you were more highly favored, to reach a safe harbor, before the tempest ...
— The Rivals of Acadia - An Old Story of the New World • Harriet Vaughan Cheney
... to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression." After further comment upon the failure of communism as "breeding confusion and discontent" he added this significant comment: "For ye yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense.... And for men's wives to be commanded to doe servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many ...
— The Women Who Came in the Mayflower • Annie Russell Marble
... adopted. To discover that a former belief is unfounded is to change nothing of the realities of existence. The sun will descend as it passes the meridian whether we believe it to be noon or not. It is idle and foolish, if human, to repine because the truth is not precisely what we thought it, and at least we shall not change reality by ...
— A Reply to Dr. Lightfoot's Essays • Walter R. Cassels
... easy, Mosk. It is not my place to carry tales to your landlord; and I am aware that the lower orders cannot conduct themselves with decorum, especially on Saturday night. I repine that such a scene should be possible in a Christian land, but I don't blame you for ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... road wayfarer Who where he may must sip his glass. Love is the King, the Purple-Wearer, Whose guard recks not of tree or grass To blaze the way that he may pass. What if my heart be in the blast That heralds his triumphant way; Shall I repine, shall I not say: "Rejoice, my ...
— The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar • Paul Laurence Dunbar
... Salutes the reader's eye, Here (in deep silence) precious dust doth lye, Obscurely Sleeping in Death's mighty store, Mingled with common earth till time's no more. Against Death's Stubborne laws, who dares repine, Since So much Merrett did his ...
— At the Sign of the Barber's Pole - Studies In Hirsute History • William Andrews
... Marguerite as she read the words over several times, then murmured, "How simple of me to repine when it is my Heavenly Father who ordereth all things," and from that moment Marguerite Verne found strength given from above, as she bowed her head in meek submission, and resolved to lead a higher ...
— Marguerite Verne • Agatha Armour
... has gone through. The double tragedy; for, soon after the master of Dandaloo's death in a Melbourne lunatic asylum, the little son of the house had died, not yet fourteen years of age, in an Inebriate's Home. Far was it from Mary to wish her friend to brood or repine; but to have ceased to remember as utterly as Agnes had done had something callous about it; and, in her own heart, Mary devoted a fresh regret to the memory of the poor little stepchild ...
— Australia Felix • Henry Handel Richardson
... her repine, And deem my loss too bitter to be borne, Yet all of passion scorn But the mild, deep'ning ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume IV. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... the beech is green, By swarming up its stem for eggs: They drive their horrid hoops between My legs:- It's idle to repine, I know; I'll tell you what I'll do instead: I'll drink my ...
— Fly Leaves • C. S. Calverley
... 'But you'll not repine, although your heartstrings break, will you?' said Polly, sympathisingly; 'especially in the presence of several witnesses who have ...
— A Summer in a Canyon: A California Story • Kate Douglas Wiggin
... "Do not repine, sirs, at the want," he observed. "I will show you a pure stream, the water of which, ere to-morrow's sun has set, those soldiers will value more than the finest ...
— Manco, the Peruvian Chief - An Englishman's Adventures in the Country of the Incas • W.H.G. Kingston
... by means wholly unforeseen, the trial of poverty and want so dreaded by the old widow in her thoughts of the future; and never again was she heard to repine, or even to express a fear for herself or for those whom ...
— Happy Days for Boys and Girls • Various
... us repine, howsomever, but consider that all is ordered for the best. The sons of the patriarch Jacob found out their brother Joseph in a foreign land, and where they least expected it; so it was here—even here, where my heart was sickening unto death, from my ...
— The Life of Mansie Wauch - Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself • David Macbeth Moir
... become indispensable to him. That women shall leave the home of their birth, and contract ties dearer than those of consanguinity, is a law as ancient as the first records of the history of our race, and as unchangeable as the constitution of the human body and mind. To repine against the nature of things, and against the great fundamental law of all society, because, in consequence of my own want of foresight, it happens to bear heavily on me, would be the basest and ...
— Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay • George Otto Trevelyan
... With the deliberate purpose of my mind, To my sweet friend. Relinquishing my love, I gave my dearest hope of joy to her. If God, from out his boundless store above, Had chosen added blessings to confer, I would rejoice, for her sake—not repine That th' immortal treasures ...
— Maurine and Other Poems • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... satisfaction in the thought that I regret your escape. I do not. I rejoice in it. To deal justice by death has this disadvantage that the victim has no knowledge that justice has overtaken him. Had you died, had you been torn limb from limb that night, I should now repine in the thought of your eternal and untroubled slumber. Not in euthanasia, but in torment of mind should the guilty atone. You see, I am not sure that hell hereafter is a certainty, whilst I am quite sure that it can be a certainty in this life; and ...
— Scaramouche - A Romance of the French Revolution • Rafael Sabatini
... it as pleasant to me as he can; I don't repine," said Bessie quickly. "He has given me a beautiful little filly to ride, but she is not quite trained yet; and I shall beg him to let me have a companionable dog; I love ...
— The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax • Harriet Parr
... matter he took in hand, the unruliness of his temper and passions just at the moments when it behooved him to have them most thoroughly in hand and under control, were a set of disagreeable facts which had been driven well home to him. The results, being even such as we have seen, he did not much repine at, for he felt he had deserved them; and there was a sort of grim satisfaction, dreary as the prospect was, in facing them, and taking his punishment like a man. This was what he had felt at the first blush ...
— Tom Brown at Oxford • Thomas Hughes
... we had known at Jerez that Granada was the lodestar, we could have reached Ronda in a run of four hours day before yesterday! But it was useless to repine, and ...
— The Car of Destiny • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... what hearts, had those men who without an effort, without moving a finger (not to do you justice, of that they were incapable, but) to preserve you from famine, could suffer you to perish? It was needless to repine! I consoled and reconciled myself to my fate as well as I was able. I pursued my studies, read the poets of ancient and modern times with unabating avidity, observed the actions and inquired into the motives of men, and made unceasing attempts ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft
... anxious breast repine, Because my youth is fled? Days of delight may still be mine, Affection is not dead. In tracing back the years of youth, One firm record, one lasting truth Celestial consolation brings; Bear it, ye breezes, to the seat, Where first my heart responsive beat,— 'Friendship ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.) - With his Letters and Journals. • Thomas Moore
... ingenuity, is so much ready money, which we are to lay out to the best advantage. Examine, compare, choose, reject; but stand to your own judgment; and do not, like children, when you have purchased one thing, repine that you do not possess another, which you would not purchase. Would you be rich? Do you think that the single point worth sacrificing everything else to? You may then be rich. Thousands have become so from the lowest beginnings by toil, and diligence, and ...
— The American Frugal Housewife • Lydia M. Child
... why art thou thus alone? Let Doues so mourn girle, yt hath lost their mates Thine is to come, then prethee cease thy mone, Care shold not dwel with great & high estates. Let her that needs and is not faire at all, Repine at fortune, loue shall be thy thrall, wing'd as he is, and armed thou shalt see, (I haue the power to giue) ...
— Seven Minor Epics of the English Renaissance (1596-1624) • Dunstan Gale
... "Though love repine, and reason chafe, There came a voice without reply,— ''T is man's perdition to be safe, When for the truth ...
— The Last Harvest • John Burroughs
... Paris knew it not, A child, fair Corythus, to be her shame, And still she mused, whenas her heart was hot, "He hath no child by that Achaean dame:" But when her boy unto his manhood came, Then sorer yet OEnone did repine, And bade him "fare to Ilios, and claim Thy father's love, and all ...
— Helen of Troy • Andrew Lang
... it no more. Live on, smile on, and be happy. My ghost shall repine, perhaps, at your happiness with another,—but in life I should go mad were ...
— Stories of Comedy • Various
... whither his father carried him, filled him with such a liking to debauchery and such an irreclaimable passion for sensual pleasures, as was the source from whence his following misfortunes flowed. For what, as he himself complained, first gave him occasion to repine at his condition, and filled him with wandering inclinations of pursuing an idle and extravagant life, was the forcing of him to go apprentice to a tailor, a trade for which he had always the greatest aversion, and contempt. No sooner, therefore, was he placed out apprentice, but the ...
— Lives Of The Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences • Arthur L. Hayward
... full of grief As this unkindness: every word thou speak'st Is a sharp dagger thrust quite through my heart. As little I deserve this at thy hands, As my kind patient wife deserv'd of me: I was her torment, God hath made thee mine; Then wherefore at just plagues should I repine? ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. IX • Various
... of Morality to be drawn out of this Vision, I learnt from it, never to repine at my own Misfortunes, or to envy the Happiness of another, since it is impossible for any Man to form a right Judgment of his Neighbour's Sufferings; for which Reason also I have determined never to think too lightly of another's Complaints, but to regard the Sorrows of ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
... He fully realized that he had bade a long farewell to all the comforts and luxuries of home. That day, for the first time, he was to partake of soldiers' fare, and that night, for the first time, he was to sleep upon a soldier's bed. These thoughts did not make him repine, for before he signed the muster roll, he had carefully considered, with the best information he could obtain, what hardships and privations he would be called to endure. He had made up his mind to bear all things without a murmur for the blessed land of his birth, which now called upon her sons ...
— The Soldier Boy; or, Tom Somers in the Army - A Story of the Great Rebellion • Oliver Optic
... evil, both physical and moral, explain them in a different way. They maintained that physical evil only obtains the name from our imperfect and vicious or feeble dispositions; that to a wise man there is no such thing; that we may rise superior to all such groveling notions as make us dread or repine at any events which can befall the body; that pain, sickness, loss of fortune or of reputation, exile, death itself, are only accounted ills by a weak and pampered mind; that if we find the world tiresome, or woeful, or displeasing, we may at any moment ...
— The Fallen Star; and, A Dissertation on the Origin of Evil • E. L. Bulwer; and, Lord Brougham
... realm to realm in grateful interchange The fruits each wants. Is aught obscure, aught hid? Doubts darkening on the mind the mounting blaze Removes; or from the entrail's panting fibres The seer divines, or from the flight of birds. Are we not then fastidious to repine At such a life so furnish'd by the gods? Euripides: Suppliants ...
— Story of Orestes - A Condensation of the Trilogy • Richard G. Moulton
... a waste of human blood, nor traced the gradual ruin of my country. I should not have seen our towns involved in flames, nor our helpless children the captives of fell barbarians. But it is in vain for human beings to repine at the just decrees of Providence, which have consigned every people to misery and servitude that abandon virtue, and attach themselves ...
— The History of Sandford and Merton • Thomas Day
... one of the strongest and most well-balanced possible, yet it was capable of the tenderest and most compassionate feelings for the sorrows of others. He did not repine over the miseries and infirmities of human nature, he only desired that all souls should ...
— The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales • Jean Pierre Camus
... merit of Lucy, and that of Rupert, to leave her entire fortune to the last. As for the declaration of the brother that he would give his sister nothing, that seemed to me to be rather strong for even Rupert. I knew the dear girl too well, and was certain she would not repine; and I was burning with the desire to be in the field, now she was ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper
... human eyes unseen, She rears her flowers, and spreads her velvet green: Pure gurgling rills the lonely desert trace, And waste their music on the savage race. Is nature then a niggard of her bliss? Repine we guiltless in a world like this? But our lewd tastes her lawful charms refuse, And painted art's depraved allurements choose. Such Fulvia's passion for the town; fresh air (An odd effect!) gives vapours to the fair; Green fields, and shady groves, and crystal springs, And larks, and nightingales, ...
— The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2 • Edward Young
... its infancy of improvement, was prepared to receive; as consisting principally of watchmakers and mechanics. The hardy husbandman was the character we wanted; who would work his persevering way through the thickets, clear the surface, and spread cultivation around us; and not easily repine if a storm overtook him ...
— The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America • John West
... the marriage of the lip and beaker Let Joy be born! and in the rosy shine, The slanting starlight of the lifted liquor, Let Care, the hag, be drowned! No more repine At all life's ills! Come, bury them in wine! Room for great guests! Yea, let us usher in Philosophies of old Anacreon And Omar, that, from dawn to glorious dawn, Shall lesson us in love and ...
— Weeds by the Wall - Verses • Madison J. Cawein
... "Let love repine and reason chafe, There came a voice without reply: 'T is man's perdition to be safe When for the truth ...
— The Nature of Goodness • George Herbert Palmer
... at least nine-tenths of his attention to go free. If it afforded agreeable employment to that part of his attention which it applied to its own use, so much the better; but, if it did not, he should not repine. He should be content with a life whose pleasures were to its pains as nine are to one. He had tried the trade of a copyist, and in circumstances more favourable than it was likely he should ever again have an opportunity of trying it, and he had found that it did not fulfil ...
— Arthur Mervyn - Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 • Charles Brockden Brown
... significant of a spirit of fair play and discipline, not without its admirable quality, that under such circumstances, the weaker were not overpowered by the stronger, but that each man had an equal chance for life. The lot fell upon Owen Coffin,[1] the captain's nephew. He did not repine. He expressed his willingness to abide {242} by the decision. No man desired to be his executioner. They cast lots, as before, to determine who should kill him, and the lot fell upon Charles Ramsdale. By him ...
— South American Fights and Fighters - And Other Tales of Adventure • Cyrus Townsend Brady
... severe aspect: "I regret to learn, Peas-cod and Bean-pod, that you are indulging in discontent; it is very wicked in any one to murmur or repine at his lot in this world. Learn from this mortal," she continued, placing her hand tenderly on Charley's head; "almost since his birth he has led a life of suffering, yet no repining falls from his patient lips; he is willing to live, and he will be resigned to die. I think my story-teller, ...
— The Fairy Nightcaps • Frances Elizabeth Barrow
... fellow-creatures in other parts of the world—war, pestilence, strife, and want—that it were as foolish and ungrateful to make ourselves unhappy because we are exposed to some remote danger against which we cannot guard, as to repine because we cannot ...
— Mr. Fortescue • William Westall
... they like you to feel That their bright smiling faces are masks which conceal A dead hope in their hearts. The strange fancy clings To the mind of the world that the rarest of things— Contentment—is commonplace; and, that to shine As something superior, one must repine, Or seem to be hiding an ache in the breast. Yet the commonest thing in the world is unrest, If you want to be really unique, go along And act as if Fate had not done you a wrong, And declare you have had ...
— Three Women • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... taking the words from Enfield, "we have been visited with that fell calamity, the collapse of Mr. Croker and his rule. We have seen the black last of him, and the very name of Croker already begins to be a memory. But why should one repine?" Lemon's sneer was deepening. "In every age the other great have come and ruled and gone to that oblivion beyond. They arose to fall and be forgot. It is the law. Then why not Mr. Croker? True, even while we consent, there ...
— The Onlooker, Volume 1, Part 2 • Various
... well foresee the perplexity and uneasiness of which Madame Duval's letter has been productive. However, I ought rather to be thankful that I have so many years remained unmolested, than repine at my present embarrassment; since it proves, at least, that this wretched woman is at length awakened ...
— Evelina • Fanny Burney
... Alma Mater Etonensis. The ram-hunting was derived from the manor of Wrotham in Norfolk, which formerly belonged to Bec, and being forfeited, together with other alien priories, was bestowed by Henry VI. on our college. I do not repine at reading any book from which I can learn a single fact that I wish to know. For the lives of the abbots, they were, according to the author, all pinks of piety and holiness but there are few other facts amusing, ...
— Letters of Horace Walpole, V4 • Horace Walpole
... rose lofty mountains, Before thee lay the lake divine, Around thee sang the crystal fountains,— With all these treasures, why repine? ...
— Poems • John L. Stoddard
... as the pinions of the airy fry Of larks and linnets who traverse the sky, Is the Tartana, spun so very fine Its weight can never make the fair repine; Nor does it move beyond its proper sphere, But lets the gown in all its shape appear; Nor is the straightness of her waist denied To be by every ravished eye surveyed; For this the hoop may stand at largest bend, It comes not nigh, ...
— Royal Edinburgh - Her Saints, Kings, Prophets and Poets • Margaret Oliphant
... Duke of Monmouth; and that neither he, nor his friends of his persuasion, have any hopes of getting their consciences at Liberty but by God Almighty's turning of the King's heart, which they expect, and are resolved to live and die in quiet hopes of it; but never to repine, or act any thing more than by prayers towards it. And that not only himself but; all of them have, and are willing at any time to take the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy. Mr. Blackburne observed further to me, some certain ...
— The Diary of Samuel Pepys • Samuel Pepys
... larger use of life in all directions. What if I too made trial of liberty!" Here lies the temptation. When the soul aspires to become larger than conscience and more tolerant than duty, it is not far from a fall. The honest woman will be tempted to repine at the liberty of the courtesan, and the man who is bound by his word will become capable of looking with envy on the liberty of the liar. Then come terrible experiences which teach at length that the unbinding of the passions is the hardest ...
— The Heavenly Father - Lectures on Modern Atheism • Ernest Naville
... communication with you. I am thankful for the many among the past that I have passed with you, and the remembrance of them fills me with pleasure. For those on which we have been separated we must not repine. Now we must be content with the many blessings we receive. If we can only become sensible of our transgressions, so as to be fully penitent and forgiven, that this heavy punishment under which we labour ...
— Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee • Captain Robert E. Lee, His Son
... alone in the world, she did not repine, but made herself useful, wherever she was, in teaching secular learning and religious truth, and in ministering to the sick and afflicted, the down-trodden and oppressed. She never sought to do any wonderful things,—but whatever her hand found to do, she did it with her might and with an eye ...
— Among the Sioux - A Story of the Twin Cities and the Two Dakotas • R. J. Creswell
... drew one of his pistols and shot the dog; he then had the bitch carried on horseback for several miles. From that day, however, she lost her appetite, ate little or nothing, had no inclination to go abroad with her master, or attend to his call, but seemed to repine like a creature in love, and express sensible concern for the loss of her gallant. Partridge season came, but Dido had no nose. Some time after she was coupled to a setter of great excellence, which ...
— Anecdotes of Dogs • Edward Jesse
... confinement, and the earnest desire to be doing our part in the war, there could be no cause to repine at our lot. We were allowed, at our own expense, to supply our tables from the Boston market, not only abundantly, but luxuriously; the Government furnishing the usual rations; and the prisoners grew robust upon the good fare and the bracing climate. A tug plied ...
— The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner • John Wilkinson
... envy seems principally directed, are the vices of the younger sort and the deaths of the old. By reflecting on the former, they find themselves cut off from all possibility of pleasure; and whenever they see a funeral, they lament and repine that others have gone to a harbour of rest to which they themselves never can hope to arrive. They have no remembrance of anything but what they learned and observed in their youth and middle-age, and even that is very imperfect; and ...
— Gulliver's Travels - into several remote nations of the world • Jonathan Swift
... been the fate of other dedicators, I, for my own part, sit down to write this address, without any apprehension of disgrace or disappointment; because I know you are too well convinced of my affection and sincerity to repine at what I shall say touching your character and conduct. And you will do me the justice to believe, that this public distinction is a testimony of my ...
— The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, Complete • Tobias Smollett
... satisfaction. May Goodchild was a typical daughter of her land. She had given her heart honestly and wholly to the man she loved; she found he had accepted it only to trifle with it and dishonour her. It was enough. There was no trait in her nature to lead her to repine; it was entirely controlled by a dominant desire to punish the traitor. Hal could scarcely believe that this stern, resolute woman was the same woe-begone inanimate girl he had interviewed. She examined the letter carefully, noting its ...
— Australia Revenged • Boomerang
... with his mother and tell her the good news. It was indeed a happy day for the parents to hear that the son whom they had given up for lost was living, and likely, under Gertrude's care, to do well. They had not dared to murmur or repine. It seemed to them little short of a miracle that death had spared to them all their children through this fearful season. When they believed one had at last been taken, they had learned the strength and courage to say, "God's will be done." Yet it was happiness inexpressible ...
— The Sign Of The Red Cross • Evelyn Everett-Green
... back again, which will not be till the last of this month. He damped my spirits greatly by telling me that the court had prolonged your stay another month. I was pleasing myself with the thought that you would soon be upon your return. It is in vain to repine. I hope the public will ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1 • Charles Dudley Warner
... Let us think, "In whatever condition we are placed, that is the true starting-point for us." India is our working-place, and all our duties are to be accomplished here, and nowhere else. Only he who has lost his manhood need repine. ...
— Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose - His Life and Speeches • Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose
... heredity and environment, to remove or at least materially to lighten, the crushing burden of the sense of sin. The same intention underlies the effort, occasionally made, to persuade men that, seeing they are such as God created them, it is not for them to repine at being what they are, nor to "take too serious a view" of any "penchant for {151} revolt"—another delightful phrase—they may discover within themselves; as a recent writer has it, "The responsibility of ...
— Problems of Immanence - Studies Critical and Constructive • J. Warschauer
... and twelve o'clock, Mr Monckton was again in Portman Square; he found, as he expected, both the ladies, and he found, as he feared, Mr Arnott prepared to be of their party. He had, however, but little time to repine at this intrusion, before he was disturbed by another, for, in a few minutes, they were joined by Sir Robert Floyer, who also declared his intention of accompanying ...
— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney
... which now in an adjoining room was Hagar's special care; and Hagar, sitting there with the wee creature upon her lap, and the dread fear at her heart that her young mistress might die, forgot for once to repine at her lot, and did cheerfully whatever was required ...
— Maggie Miller • Mary J. Holmes
... then worshipped and prayed to; giving all outward testimonies that his affections were set on heavenly things. This was his behaviour towards God; and for that to man, it is observable that he was never known to be angry, or passionate, or extreme in any of his desires; never heard to repine or dispute with Providence, but, by a quiet gentle submission and resignation of his will to the wisdom of his Creator, bore the burthen of the day with patience; never heard to utter an uncomely word: and by this, and a grave behaviour, which is a divine ...
— Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Rich'd Hooker, George Herbert, - &C, Volume Two • Izaak Walton
... man to repine, however, and he at once began to look about him for employment. He was sixty-seven years old, and it was hard to go out into the world to earn his bread again, but he bore his misfortunes bravely, and soon succeeded in obtaining the employment ...
— Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made • James D. McCabe, Jr.
... "hope forlorn" I am doom'd to go, Still 'tis my duty, and I'll not repine! But I must perish, ere forget to know, Thy body fed the vital spark ...
— The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 6, June 1810 • Various
... vain to me the smiling mornings shine, And reddening Phoebus lifts his golden fire; The birds in vain their amorous descant join, Or cheerful fields resume their green attire. These ears, alas! for other notes repine; A different object do these eyes require; My lonely anguish melts no heart but mine; And in my breast the imperfect joys expire; Yet morning smiles the busy race to cheer, And new-born pleasure brings to ...
— Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books - with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations • Charles W. Eliot
... I would clasp Thy hand in mine, Nor ever murmur nor repine— Content, whatever lot I see, Since 'tis ...
— The Story of the Hymns and Tunes • Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth
... Let Clickers bark on the whole Day at their Post: Let 'em tire all that pass with their rotified Cant, "Will you buy any Shoes, pray see what you want"; Let the rest of the World still contend to be great, Let some by their Losses repine at their Fate: Let others that Thrive, not content with their store, Be plagu'd with the Trouble ...
— Wit and Mirth: or Pills to Purge Melancholy, Vol. 5 of 6 • Various
... he died in 1897.] seems unnatural and unhealthful; but I cannot form any decisions at present. I am conscious of excellent health and unbroken strength, and after forty years of happy love should be very ungrateful to repine. ...
— Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman • Giberne Sieveking
... must needs ensue; for what availes Valour or strength, though matchless, quelld with pain Which all subdues, and makes remiss the hands Of Mightiest. Sense of pleasure we may well Spare out of life perhaps, and not repine, 460 But live content, which is the calmest life: But pain is perfet miserie, the worst Of evils, and excessive, overturnes All patience. He who therefore can invent With what more forcible we may offend Our yet unwounded Enemies, or arme Our ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton
... my hardships are bitter to bear; Don't think I repine at the soldier's rough fare; If ever a thought so unworthy steals on, I look upon Ashby,—and lo! it is gone! Such chivalry, fortitude, spirit and tone, Make brighter, and stronger, and prouder, my own. Oh! Beverly, ...
— Beechenbrook - A Rhyme of the War • Margaret J. Preston
... true, been deeply enough touched to feel either pique or melancholy at this discovery, but was so far heart-whole as to be rather inclined to laugh at the fickleness of the merry jilt, than either to repine or ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol. XXXII No. 2. February 1848 • Various
... not you, my friend and benefactor, just a little ashamed to repine and give way to such despondency? And surely you are not offended with me? Ah! Though often thoughtless in my speech, I never should have imagined that you would take my words as a jest at your expense. Rest assured that NEVER should I make sport of your years or of your character. Only my own ...
— Poor Folk • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
... granted to me! Forgive me my God, that I have dared thus to repine and forget that Thy protecting care was over me! I am a mother! My baby sleeps in his cradle by my side, and one glance at his face makes me forget all the misery I have endured. James returned during my illness. ...
— Mabel's Mistake • Ann S. Stephens
... thyself unhappy here, in an unsuitable place, and that thou mightest have been a happier woman in the wedded life of the world,—that is no marvel: truly, I think it of thee myself. To know it is no sin: to repine and murmur thereat, these are forbidden. Thy lot is appointed of God Himself—God, thy Father, who loveth thee, who hath given Himself for thee, who pleased not Himself when He came down to die for thee. Are there not ...
— In Convent Walls - The Story of the Despensers • Emily Sarah Holt
... Smith says the fire happened after the return of the expedition of Newport, Smith, and Scrivener to the Pamunkey: "Good Master Hunt, our Preacher, lost all his library, and all he had but the clothes on his back; yet none ever heard him repine at his loss." This excellent and devoted man is the only one of these first pioneers of whom everybody speaks well, and he deserved all affection ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner |
