The Autocrat of the breakfast tableHoughton, Mifflin, 1858 - 373 pages |
From inside the book
Page 47
... reason , when they know perfectly well that if they were not the most stupid or the most selfish of hu- man beings , they would become non - compotes at once . [ Nobody understood this but the theological stu- dent and the ...
... reason , when they know perfectly well that if they were not the most stupid or the most selfish of hu- man beings , they would become non - compotes at once . [ Nobody understood this but the theological stu- dent and the ...
Page 55
... reasons , and deep philosophical ones . The clown knows very well that the women are not in love with him , but with ... reason , I must take more time to tell it . There is a perfect con- sciousness in every form of wit - using that ...
... reasons , and deep philosophical ones . The clown knows very well that the women are not in love with him , but with ... reason , I must take more time to tell it . There is a perfect con- sciousness in every form of wit - using that ...
Page 67
... reasons against it . In the first place , I should tell all my secrets , and I maintain that verse is the proper medium for such revelations . Rhythm and rhyme and the harmonies of musical language , the play of fancy , the fire of ...
... reasons against it . In the first place , I should tell all my secrets , and I maintain that verse is the proper medium for such revelations . Rhythm and rhyme and the harmonies of musical language , the play of fancy , the fire of ...
Page 83
... reason for supposing this indefinite length- ening of the time , nor any analogy that bears it out . It seems to me most likely that the coincidence of circumstances is very partial , but that we take this partial resemblance for ...
... reason for supposing this indefinite length- ening of the time , nor any analogy that bears it out . It seems to me most likely that the coincidence of circumstances is very partial , but that we take this partial resemblance for ...
Page 85
... reason for the strange connection between the sense of smell and the mind . The olfactory nerve - so my friend , the Professor , tells me - is the only one directly connected with the hem . ispheres of the brain , the parts in which ...
... reason for the strange connection between the sense of smell and the mind . The olfactory nerve - so my friend , the Professor , tells me - is the only one directly connected with the hem . ispheres of the brain , the parts in which ...
Common terms and phrases
American elm asked asphyxia beauty beneath Benjamin Franklin better boarders bombazine brain call John chair cheroot chloroform comes commonly conversation course dandyism dear divinity-student Doctors of Divinity dream English elm eyes face fact falchion fancy feel feet flowers give green grow hand head hear heard heart Houyhnhnm human intellectual kind lady laugh lecture lips literary live long path look man's mean meerschaum ment mind morning Nature never o'er old age old gentleman opposite OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES once perhaps person poem poets poor pretty Professor remarks remember round rowlocks schoolmistress seen smile sometimes soul speak spring stand stone story suppose sure sweet talk tell things thought tion told toutes les nuits tree truth turned uttered verses voice walk waves woman words write young fellow youth
Popular passages
Page 289 - Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always somewhere a weakest spot, In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In panel, or crossbar, or floor , or sill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, — lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will, Above or below, or within or without, And that's the reason, beyond a doubt, A chaise breaks down but doesn't wear out. But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do, With an "I dew vum...
Page 290 - That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,^ That was for spokes and floor and sills; He sent for lancewood to make the thills; The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees, The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese, But lasts like iron for things like these; The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum...
Page 104 - Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil; Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new...
Page 292 - What do you think the parson found, When he got up and stared around? The poor old chaise in a heap or mound, As if it had been to the mill and ground! You...
Page 289 - Saw the earth open and gulp her down, And Braddock's army was done so brown, Left without a scalp to its crown. It was on the terrible earthquake-day That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.
Page 99 - I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, — but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
Page 104 - THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS.* This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main, — The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Page 305 - I care not much for gold or land; Give me a mortgage here and there — Some good bank-stock — some note of hand, Or trifling railroad share — I only ask that Fortune send A little more than I shall spend.
Page 194 - The smooth, soft air with pulse-like waves Flows murmuring through its hidden caves, Whose streams of brightening purple rush, Fired with a new and livelier blush, While all their burden of decay The ebbing current steals away, And red with Nature's flame they start From the warm fountains of the heart.
Page 104 - And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell...