"Penchant" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... cette mer ancienne; puisqu'elle en a rempli elle-meme quelques unes, et qu'elle a recouvert de ses depots quelques autres filons tout formes. Quant a celles des matieres de ces filons, qui ne paroissent pas etre marines (et c'est de beaucoup la plus grande quantite), j'ai toujours plus de penchant d'en attribuer une partie a l'operation des feux souterreins, a mesure que je vois diminuer la probabilite de les assigner entierement a l'eau. Mais quoi-qu'il en soit, ces gangues ne font pas de meme date ...
— Theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 4) • James Hutton
... giving them a bit of ribbon, or a cast-off glove, which had belonged to the idol. Whereon that maiden, in virtuous indignation, told Mr. Bowie, and complained moreover (as maids are bound to do to valets for whom they have a penchant), of their having dared to compliment her on her own good looks: by which act she succeeded, of course, in making Mr. Bowie understand that other people still thought her pretty, if he did not; and also in ...
— Two Years Ago, Volume II. • Charles Kingsley
... quite common for us to ascribe all our defects to heredity. Poor old, overworked heredity is the dumping-ground for the most of our laziness, perversity and shortcomings! If we have a bad temper, a penchant for whiskey, or a wryneck, heredity has the brunt to bear. We can always give our imperfections a little veneering by saying ...
— Confessions of a Neurasthenic • William Taylor Marrs
... [common on Usenet's comp.risks newsgroup.] (alt. 'squirrelicide') What all too frequently happens when a squirrel decides to exercise its species's unfortunate penchant for shorting out power lines with their little furry bodies. Result: one dead squirrel, one down computer installation. In this situation, the computer system is said to ...
— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0
... now became narrower and overhung with wandering branches and creepers. The brambles seemed to have a special penchant for Mrs. Hading's flying ends of tulle and lace, and she spent most of her time disengaging herself while Druro went ahead, pushing branches out of the way. Poor Marice! Her feet ached in their high-heeled shoes, and her French toilette was created for a salon and not out-of-door walking. ...
— Blue Aloes - Stories of South Africa • Cynthia Stockley
... Reuss: sur ces bords il y a quelques buissons et peu d'arbres, ce sont des aulnes. Des cabanes de bois, des chalets isoles et solitaires sont repandus ca et la a l'entree du vallon: a gauche est le village d'In-der-Matt bati en pierres, et a neuf; dans le fond celui de hospital et situe sur le penchant d'un coteau, il est domine par une grosse tour: les montagnes du St. Gothard servent de fond au tableau, elles sont trop eloignees pour laisser apercevoir leur aridite; des montagnes nues, couvertes d'une verdure legere sans arbres ...
— Theory of the Earth, Volume 2 (of 4) • James Hutton
... and confiding nature, characterized by a penchant for escapade, is denoted by the joy-wheel at the base of Halley's Comet. And so we come to the life-belt. This—my word, this is all right! Unrivalled for resistance to damp and wear, will last three to ...
— The Brother of Daphne • Dornford Yates
... prowling. There are people who have a penchant for cities—more than that, a talent for them, a gift of sensing them, of feeling their rhythm and pulse-beats, as others have a highly developed music sense, or color reaction. It is a thing that cannot be acquired. In Fanny Brandeis there ...
— Fanny Herself • Edna Ferber
... the actress in Laura had fostered in her a curious penchant toward melodrama. She had a taste for the magnificent. She revelled in these great musical "effects" upon her organ, the grandiose easily appealed to her, while as for herself, the role of the "grande dame," with this ...
— The Pit • Frank Norris
... his eyes, moist now with the pressure of his emotions, and while he was wiping them, Mrs. McKaye and her daughters exchanged frightened glances. Elizabeth's penchant for ill-timed humor disappeared; she stood, alert and awed, biting her lip. Jane's eyebrows went up in quick warning to her mother, who paled and flushed alternately. The latter understood now why Andrew Daney had taken the precaution to warn her against ...
— Kindred of the Dust • Peter B. Kyne
... woodshed a disemboweled chest of drawers had been turned into an apartment-house for dolls. All the dolls that had dwelt in the Madigan family since Kate's babyhood (with the exception of Split's Dora, whom Fom, according to the preordained penchant of mothers, loved best because for her sake she suffered most) had descended to ...
— The Madigans • Miriam Michelson
... (to enclose) barcxirkauxi, enfermi. Pen (sheep fold) sxafejo. Pen-name pseuxdonomo. Penal puna. Penal servitude punlaboro. Penalty puno, monpuno. Penance, to do pentofari. Penance puno. Penchant inklino—emo. Pencil (lead) krajono. Pencil (slate) grifelo. Pendant pendajxo. Pendulum pendolo. Penetrate penetri. Penetrable penetrebla. Penetration akra sento. Penholder plumingo. Peninsula duoninsulo. Penitence pento. Penitent, a konfesanto. Penitent penta. ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes
... appeared to like being in hot water, for he more than once wrote an article with the full intention of standing the trial which he knew would be sure to follow its publication. One of his reasons may have been that this was the only way in which he could indulge his penchant for forensic disputation. He had been bred a clergyman, but, disliking the retirement of a quiet country parsonage, he threw up his preferment, abandoned his clerical functions altogether, and came to London to keep his terms at the Temple. The benchers, however, holding ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... forget that in my boyhood days I had a strong penchant for military parade. I remember well the respect always shown to Revolutionary veterans, who survived to the period of my boyhood. At every meeting, political or otherwise, where these soldiers appeared to share in the assemblage of citizens, they were received ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman
... study.—The course of study is flexible, and because of its resiliency it adapts itself easily and gracefully to the native dispositions and the aptitudes of the various pupils. If the boy has a penchant for agriculture, provision is made for him, both in the theory and in the practical applications of the subject. If he inclines to science, the laboratories accord him a gracious welcome. The studies are adapted to the boy and not the boy ...
— The Vitalized School • Francis B. Pearson
... sombres et courts comme les jours d'automne, Declinent comme l'ombre au penchant des coteaux; L'amitie te trahit, la pitie t'abandonne, Et, seule, tu ...
— French Lyrics • Arthur Graves Canfield
... did not heed them. For instance, Mrs. Pertonwaithe and Mrs. Wickson exercised tremendous social power in the university town, and from them emanated the sentiment that I was a too-forward and self-assertive young woman with a mischievous penchant for officiousness and interference in other persons' affairs. This I thought no more than natural, considering the part I had played in investigating the case of Jackson's arm. But the effect of such a sentiment, enunciated by two such powerful ...
— The Iron Heel • Jack London
... went on; and Brady himself couldn't have hammered the thirst mob into a better imitation of the real penchant for the stuff that you screw out of a ...
— The Trimmed Lamp • O. Henry
... of Sancerre during the Restoration; aged member of the old clerical school. Excellent company; a frequenter of the home of Mme. de la Baudraye, where he satisfied his penchant for gaming. With much finesse Duret showed this young woman the character of M. de la Baudraye in its true light. He counseled her to seek in literature relief from the bitterness of her wedded life. [The ...
— Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z • Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe
... from Francis' glance. The situation appealed to his strong penchant for merry plaisanterie. Besides—such was his overweening pride—to hear a woman confess she cared for another dampened his own ardor, instead of stimulating it. "None but himself could be his parallel;" the royal lover could brook no rival. Had she merely desired to marry ...
— Under the Rose • Frederic Stewart Isham
... angel again smiled upon him and made possible another tour among the Colorado mountains. This time he made Denver, instead of Colorado Springs, the centre of operations; nor did he go alone, his companion being an active boy of fourteen who has a penchant for Butterflies, while that of the writer, as need scarcely be said, is for the Birds—in our estimation, the two cardinal B's of the English language. Imagine two inveterate ramblers, then, with two such enchanting ...
— Birds of the Rockies • Leander Sylvester Keyser
... exists than the reputation for talent which this class acquire on a flimsy basis of superficial brilliance in conversation or a penchant for witty repartee. They are self-opinionated and egoistical, with a conceit and assurance out of all proportion to their abilities. Their mental perspective is distorted and they are conspicuous for their obstinacy. In conversation they are prolix and pretentious, and they ...
— Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia • Isaac G. Briggs
... Sumerian go-go lifestyle with its insistence on myths with plotlines and characters and action, not like we had in the old days. As artists, it would be a hell of a lot easier if our audiences were more tolerant of our penchant for boring them. We'd get to explore a lot more ideas without worrying about tarting them up with easy-to-swallow chocolate coatings of entertainment. We like to think of shortened attention spans as a product of the information age, but check ...
— Ebooks: Neither E, Nor Books • Cory Doctorow
... BOOBITRAPP, his uncle, who discusses the question of the school with the Duchess. Lord Arthur is in favour of Eton, as he wishes Guy to be a wet Bob and captain the cricket eleven; whereas the Duchess, having a penchant for yellow stockings, favours Christ's Hospital. In the end they compromise, and the boy is sent to a small private school in Bermondsey, where ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, March 25, 1914 • Various |
