"Befit" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... often ventured to remonstrate against these archaistic peculiarities, which to some extent mar our pleasure in Mr. Morris's translations. In his version of the rich Virgilian measure they are especially out of place. The "AEneid" is rendered with a roughness which might better befit a translation of Ennius. Thus the reader of Mr. Morris's poetical translations has in his hands versions of almost literal closeness, and (what is extremely rare) versions of poetry by a poet. But his acquaintance with Early English and ...
— Adventures among Books • Andrew Lang
... To be . . . eternitie: to be His image is to do the deeds that confer immortality, which, owing to the existence of death, consists only in doing the deeds that befit eternal life. ...
— Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois • George Chapman
... to hear yourself spoken of in terms that befit a man who has cowed out of an engagement ...
— Queechy, Volume I • Elizabeth Wetherell
... captive, but a stranger who came to us seeking our hospitality, and I made him my guest. So even were we assured that this be Sharrkan and were it proved to us that it is he beyond a doubt, I say it would ill befit mine honour that I should deliver into your hands one who hath entered under my protection. So make me not a traitor to my guest and a disgrace among men; but return to the King, my father, and kiss the ground before him, and inform him that the case is contrariwise ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2 • Richard F. Burton
... would amuse myself with proving that we owe not only Magna Charta, but our whole Empire—Canada, Australia, and all the rest of them—to our costive habits of body. What befits a nation, however, does not always befit a man. To crush, in a fit of chronic biliousness, the resistance of Bengal and add its land to the British Empire, may be a racial virtue. To crush, in a fit of any kind, the resistance of our next door neighbour Mr. Robinson, and add his purse to our own, is an individual ...
— South Wind • Norman Douglas
... thrown off his hat and knapsack and stood with his fine stature at the bow. His classic face was turned upward to the peaks, and with a look as if he felt their power. He waved his arms toward them as if in a salutation to things sentient. The man seemed to befit the environment, majestic ...
— The Last Leaf - Observations, during Seventy-Five Years, of Men and Events in America - and Europe • James Kendall Hosmer
... to him the boy Gregory afterwards famous as abbat of Utrecht, and at last he settled in the forests of Hessen and built a monastery at Amoeneburg. From his old friends in England he received sound advice as to the treatment of heathen customs and the gentle methods of conversion which befit the gospel of {137} Christ. [Sidenote: His mission from Rome, 723.] From Rome he received affectionate support; and in 722 he was summoned to receive a new mission from the pope himself. On S. ...
— The Church and the Barbarians - Being an Outline of the History of the Church from A.D. 461 to A.D. 1003 • William Holden Hutton
... prithee, who is greatest? Can you tell? Sad tales befit my woe: I 'll tell you one. A salmon, as she swam unto the sea. Met with a dog-fish, who encounters her With this rough language; 'Why art thou so bold To mix thyself with our high state of floods, Being no eminent courtier, but one That ...
— The Duchess of Malfi • John Webster
... enough for woe, Lose in that one their all—perchance a mite— But who in patience parts with all delight? Full many a stoic eye and aspect stern Mask hearts where Grief hath little left to learn; And many a withering thought lies hid, not lost, In smiles that least befit who ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Vol. 3 (of 7) • Lord Byron
... broke in the Doge shortly, "cease from gibes, my lord, which more befit an angry woman's mouth than that of one whose life is about to be put to hazard, and take up the gage of ...
— Red Eve • H. Rider Haggard
... experience. Many a young man is having what is called his "fling," who is yet quite sure in his own mind that when the time comes to accept the more serious responsibilities of life, he will change his habits and turn to ways that befit the new occasion. So we are told. And is it not true? Have we not known young men cover a considerable space of life with questionable, and even more than questionable courses, and yet settle down into exemplary domestic men ...
— Men in the Making • Ambrose Shepherd
... well laid on,—all these may vanish now, and leave me to mould a fresh existence out of sunshine, Brooding Meditation may flap her dusky wings and take her owl-like Right, blinking amid the cheerfulness of noontide. Such companions befit the season of frosted window-panes and crackling fires, when the blast howls through the black-ash trees of our avenue and the drifting snow- storm chokes up the wood-paths and fills the highway from stone wall to stone wall. In the spring and summer time all sombre ...
— Buds and Bird Voices (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... "What, sentry, ho! How passed the night through thy long waking?" "Cold, cheerless, dark—as may befit The hour before the ...
— A Backward Glance at Eighty • Charles A. Murdock
... a very cheap one, you mean, and, therefore, will not befit you, Sir Millionaire! It will cost nothing, and, therefore, lose its only charm for you, my Lord Spendthrift," cried the ...
— The Missing Bride • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
... dream of his that he should put her into one of the big, cushioned, winged chairs, and take his own place on the hearth-rug at her feet. Together they should sit and look into the fire, and be as silent or as full of happy speech as might seem to befit the hour. Now, when he had bereft her of her furry wraps and welcomed her as he saw fit, he made his dream come true. He told her of it as he put her in her chair, and saw her lean back against the comfortable cushioning with a long breath of ...
— The Twenty-Fourth of June • Grace S. Richmond
... thanking him for a copy of Varchi's commentary on one of his own sonnets, Michel Angelo says: "Since I perceive by his words and praises that I am esteemed by the author to be that which I am not, I pray you to offer such words to him from me as befit such love, affection, and courtesy." This Mr. Harford translates as follows: "And since I am almost persuaded by the praises and commendations of its author to imagine myself to be that which I ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, February, 1858 • Various
... well the glad befit," Cried Olleus' valiant son, [24] "To extol the Gods who sit On Olympus' lofty throne! Fortune all her gifts supplies, Blindly, and no justice knows, For Patroclus buried lies, And Thersites homeward ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller
... ward thee, Woelfing, to-day; Till the dawn shelter they show; A flawless sword Will befit thee at sunrise, By day be ready for fight, And pay thy ...
— Stories of the Wagner Opera • H. A. Guerber
... their state of holiness and everlasting peace, the damned appear in every realistic aspect of most stringent agony and terror. The colossal forms of flesh with which the multitudes of saved and damned are equally endowed, befit that extremity of physical and mental anguish more than they suit the serenity of bliss eternal. There is a wretch, twined round with fiends, gazing straight before him as he sinks; one half of his face is buried in his hand, the other fixed in a stony spasm of ...
— The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti • John Addington Symonds
... whereupon he wedded her, and when the marriage-contract was drawn up (as was customary in those days), they sojourned together in one stead. As time went on the lad grew up to be a lusty youth of handsome mien; moreover he became perfect in courtly ceremonial and in every art and science that befit Princes. The King and all the Ministers and Emirs highly approved of him, and determined that I should be married to him, and that he should succeed the sovereign as heir to throne and kingship. The youth also was well pleased with such tokens of favour from my father, but chiefly he rejoiced with ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton
... he replied coolly, "thou art a good knight, but such words befit not this place. We must fight with our hands, and not with empty words." And grasping his sword, he suddenly brought it down on the helmet of his foe with such tremendous force that it wellnigh drove the head of Gonzales down to the neck of his steed. The knight ...
— With Spurs of Gold - Heroes of Chivalry and their Deeds • Frances Nimmo Greene
... pass, you rude young woman!' cried Phemy, who had of late been cultivating in her imagination such speech as she thought would befit Mrs. ...
— Heather and Snow • George MacDonald
... expense of his government is not less than a million dollars, or about three dollars for every man, woman, and child on the island. The executive and judicial departments are on a scale of expense which would befit a continent. The Governor receives a salary of forty thousand dollars, the Chief Justice fifteen thousand dollars, the Associate Justices ten thousand dollars. The ecclesiastical establishment, which ministers little or nothing to the religious wants ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 102, April, 1866 • Various
... "Such strife would ill befit us," / Gernot spake again; "For though should die in battle / a host of valiant men 'Twould bring us little honor / and ye could profit none." Thereto gave Siegfried answer, / good King ...
— The Nibelungenlied - Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original • trans. by George Henry Needler
... Athens. Nor, indeed, do I marvel at Aurelius for trusting him. As a scholar or a jurist he will always be negligible, but as a man he is naively sincere and candid and with all the strength of his Roman will he is determined that both his work and his pleasures shall be such as befit a gentleman of honour and refinement. He may bore you, but, if I do not misread you, the pleasures that are within his gift will have a finer edge for you than those of the Colosseum and the ...
— Roads from Rome • Anne C. E. Allinson
... comedy is finely touched to a fine issue. The divine instrument fashioned by Marlowe for tragic purposes alone has found at once its new sweet use in the hands of Shakespeare. The way is prepared for As You Like It and the Tempest; the language is discovered which will befit the lips of Rosalind ...
— A Study of Shakespeare • Algernon Charles Swinburne
... noticeable is the peculiar attitude of popular sentiment toward this movement. The unreasonable prejudice which has been displayed, and the flippant condemnation that it has generally received in advance of any investigation, illy befit the boasted impartiality and liberality of the closing decade of the nineteenth century. When the "Fatherhood of God" and the "Brotherhood of Man" are so much on men's lips, and when the spirit of altruism ...
— The Arena - Volume 4, No. 23, October, 1891 • Various
... fill the hirlass horn, Round the dirge-feast quaff till morn; Songs and joy sound o'er the heath, For he died the warrior's death! Garlands fling upon the fire, His shall be a noble pyre! And his tomb befit a king, Encircled with a regal ring Which shall to latest time declare, That a princely chief lies there, Who died to set his country free, Who fell for British liberty; His renown the harp shall sing To mail clad chief and battle-king, And fire the mighty ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 19. No. 534 - 18 Feb 1832 • Various
... repeat so long as the world may last, found no better rule for a man's life than that he should incline his mind to move in Charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of Truth. This condition, says he, is Heaven upon Earth; and although what touches truth may better befit the philosopher who uttered it than the vulgar and unlearned, for whom perhaps it is a counsel too high and therefore dangerous, what comes before should surely be graven by each of us on the walls of our hearts. For any man ...
— Simon Dale • Anthony Hope
... in positions of that sort, in places and regions so remote, it is necessary to exercise the authority and propriety due to those offices, I charge you to be very careful in that respect, and always to attend meetings and courts with the garb and decorum which befit the occasion. ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume XI, 1599-1602 • Various
... till the whole is explained to you. Thenceforth you will rule your own conduct, judge, determine, and act for yourself. We know, we are sure, that you will act nobly, uprightly, and well in the meanwhile, and that you will do no deed which at a future period may not befit any station and any race ...
— The King's Highway • G. P. R. James
... were not built for defence, Nor that thy equipments befit thee for war; A castle of love is thy only pretence, A name that is higher ...
— Revised Edition of Poems • William Wright
... young man, with long dark hair and with well-made features and a certain diffidence in his manner which did not befit his calling. ...
— Kate Bonnet - The Romance of a Pirate's Daughter • Frank R. Stockton
... befit her character. Fury is in her countenance and in her three red eyes. Her tongue lolls from her mouth. In one of her four hands is the dripping, bloody head of a slaughtered enemy. Her necklace is of the heads of her slain. Her girdle is the severed hands of the dead men. Tradition ...
— Where Half The World Is Waking Up • Clarence Poe
... Moses, with eye undimmed and strength unabated, was taken from earth by a departure so easy that it was said to be "by the kiss of God." Elijah, instead of removal by death, ascended to his rest in a chariot of fire. Was it not possible that as easy an exodus might befit Him? Might not this ignominious death He looked forward to make it impossible for the people to believe in Him? How could they rank Him with those old prophets whom God had dealt with so differently and so plainly honoured? ...
— How to become like Christ • Marcus Dods
... foolish boy. But if," he said, taking one of his pistols from the holster, and turning its muzzle toward her, "ye are mad enough to harbour one serious thought of such a matter, I am ready for you. But, methinks, my lad, you seem at an age when robbing a garden or an old woman's fruit-stall would befit you better, if you must turn thief, than taking his Majesty's mails from a stout man such as I am upon his highway. Be thankful, however, that you have met with one who will not shed blood if he can help it, and sheer off before you provoke me ...
— Fifty-Two Stories For Girls • Various
... honeyed bee, when spring declines, Thick swarming o'er the meadows. There all day A huge man sat, of savage, wild aspect; His breast stood roundly forward, his broad back Seemed as of iron, such as might befit A vast Colossus sculptured. Full to view The muscles of his brawny shoulders stood, Like the round mountain-stones the torrent wave Has polished; from his neck and back hung down A lion's skin, held by its claws. Him first The red-haired ...
— The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 • William Lisle Bowles
... to liberty. So he did about all that can be done in like cases: he wrote for her an epitaph for her pet, setting forth its misfortunes, and giving it a charitable history, which must have been very consoling. He did not indulge in any frivolous rhymes, but used the stately rhythms that befit a ...
— True to His Home - A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin • Hezekiah Butterworth
... "what you say may befit you, but not me, who well know that this book is the true and faithful version of the word of the Lord, a version made by a very wise divine, a very good man, ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... bear divided thought one way and hearing in other: 15 Vanquish't by right we must be, since Victory loveth the heedful. Therefore at least d'ye turn your minds the task to consider, Soon shall begin their say whose countersay shall befit you. Hymen O Hymenaeus: Hymen ...
— The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus • Caius Valerius Catullus
... sons of Charlemagne, In the free schools of Aix, how kings should reign, And with them taught the children of the poor How subjects should be patient and endure, He touched the lips of some, as best befit, With honey from the hives of Holy Writ; Others intoxicated with the wine Of ancient history, sweet but less divine; Some with the wholesome fruits of grammar fed; Others with mysteries of the stars o'er-head, That hang suspended in the vaulted sky Like lamps in some fair palace ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
... Rome, were deposited in the mausoleum of the Antonines. All the senators and private individuals, men and women, without exception entertained so violent a hatred of him that all their words and actions relating to him were such as would befit the downfall of a most implacable foe. He was not officially disgraced, because the soldiers did not get from Macrinus the state of peace which they had hoped to secure by a change. Deprived of the profits which they ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol VI. • Cassius Dio
... remained so for a month or two, in its mother's womb; but afterwards the heat greatly increasing in the genital organs, they have protruded and the child has become a male, but nevertheless retained some things which do not befit the masculine sex, such as female gestures and movements, a high voice, and a more effeminate temper than is usual with men; whilst, on the other hand, the genitals have become inverted through cold humours, ...
— The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher • Anonymous
... will be pleased to have patience and go back to Burgos, where you will say to our parents that we, their sons, having with mature deliberation considered how much more arms befit cavaliers than do letters, have determined to exchange Salamanca for Brussels, and Spain for Flanders. We have got the four hundred crowns; the mules we intend to sell. The course we have chosen, which is so worthy ...
— The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... lightened graver care, From Muse or Sylvan was he wont to ask, In phrase poetic, inspiration fair; Careless he gave his numbers to the air, They came unsought for, if applauses came: Nor for himself prefers he now the prayer; Let but his verse befit a hero's fame, Immortal be the verse!—forgot the ...
— Some Poems by Sir Walter Scott • Sir Walter Scott
... hastily. "Knight of St. John, I know thy secret projects, subterfuge and evasion neither befit nor avail thee. If thou didst not intrigue against my life, thou didst intrigue against the life of Rome. Thou hast but one favour left to demand on earth, it is the ...
— Rienzi • Edward Bulwer Lytton |
