Quotes4study

Affaire du c?ur=--An affair of the heart.

French.

A people among whom there is no habit of spontaneous action for a collective interest — who look habitually to their government to command or prompt them in all matters of joint concern — who expect to have everything done for them, except what can be made an affair of mere habit and routine — have their faculties only half developed; their education is defective in one of its most important branches. [ Principles of Political Economy , Book V, Chapter XI, § 6.]

Mill, John Stuart.

Bonus animus in mala re dimidium est mali=--Good courage in a bad affair is half of the evil overcome.

Plautus.

Never mind the future: be what you ought to be; the rest is God's affair.

_Amiel._

Adhuc sub judice lis est=--The affair is not yet decided.

Unknown

Affaire d'honneur=--An affair of honour; a duel.

French.

Whoever can administer what he possesses, has enough, and to be wealthy is a burdensome affair, unless you understand it.

_Goethe._

The moral sense is a very complex affair--dependent in part upon associations of pleasure and pain, approbation and disapprobation formed by education in early youth, but in part also on an innate sense of moral beauty and ugliness (how originated need not be discussed), which is possessed by some people in great strength, while some are totally devoid of it--just as some children draw, or are enchanted by music while mere infants, while others do not know "Cherry Ripe" from "Rule Britannia," nor can represent the form of the simplest thing to the end of their lives.

T. H. Huxley     Aphorisms and Reflections from the Works of T. H. Huxley

If we listened to our intellect we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go in business because we'd be cynical: "It's gonna go wrong." Or "She's going to hurt me." Or,"I've had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore . . ." Well, that's nonsense. You're going to miss life. You've got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.

Ray Bradbury

Factum abiit; monumenta manent=--The event is an affair of the past; the memorial of it is still with us.

_Ovid._

A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.

David Mitchell

It is daring to predict the same affair in so many ways. It was necessary that the four idolatrous or pagan monarchies, the end of the kingdom of Judah, and the seventy weeks should coincide, and all this before the second temple was destroyed.

Blaise Pascal     The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal

The courage that dares only die is on the whole no sublime affair.... The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die decently, but to live manfully.

_Carlyle._

Man's life is not an affair of mere instinct, but of steady self-control.

_Goethe._

Res rustica=--A rural affair.

Cicero.

Even the best of modern civilisations appears to me to exhibit a condition of mankind which neither embodies any worthy ideal nor even possesses the merit of stability. I do not hesitate to express my opinion that, if there is no hope of a large improvement of the condition of the greater part of the human family; if it is true that the increase of knowledge, the winning of a greater dominion over Nature which is its consequence, and the wealth which follows upon that dominion, are to make no difference in the extent and the intensity of Want, with its concomitant physical and moral degradation, among the masses of the people, I should hail the advent of some kindly comet, which would sweep the whole affair away, as a desirable consummation.

T. H. Huxley     Aphorisms and Reflections from the Works of T. H. Huxley

Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone’s finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?

Walker Percy

To bring nations to surrender themselves to new ideas is not the affair of a day.

_Draper._

The most important affair in life is the choice of a trade, yet chance decides it. Custom makes men masons, soldiers, tilers. "He is a good tiler," says one, "and soldiers are fools." But others: "There is nothing great but war, all but soldiers are rogues." We choose our professions according as we hear this or that praised or despised in our childhood, for we naturally love truth and hate folly. These words move us, the only fault is in their application. So great is the force of custom that out of those who by nature are only men, are made all conditions of men. For some countries are full of masons, others of soldiers, etc. Nature is certainly not so uniform. Custom then produces this effect and gains ascendency over nature, yet sometimes nature gets the upper hand, and obliges man to act by instinct in spite of all custom, whether good or bad.

Blaise Pascal     The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Perfection is not the affair of the scholar; it is enough if he practises.

_Goethe._

"God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time."

- Robin Williams, commenting on the Clinton/Lewinsky affair

Il y a anguille sous roche=--There is a snake in the grass; a mystery in the affair.

_Fr. Pr._

I never whisper'd a private affair / Within the hearing of cat or mouse, / No, not to myself in the closet alone, / But I heard it shouted at once from the top of the house; / Everything came to be known.

_Tennyson._

Mihi istic nec seritur nec metitur=--There is neither sowing nor reaping in that affair for my benefit.

Plautus.

L'affaire s'achemine=--The affair is going forward.

French.

Thy conversion is my affair; fear not and pray with confidence as for me.

Blaise Pascal     The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal

Genius is mainly an affair of energy.

_Matthew Arnold._

Life's an awfully lonesome affair. You can live close against other people yet your lives never touch. You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even coming and going.

Emily Carr

Those who are always hopeful in adversity, and rejoice in good luck, are suspected of being glad of failure should they not be correspondingly depressed under bad luck; they are delighted to find pretexts for hoping, in order to show that they are interested, and to hide by the joy they pretend to feel that which they really feel at the ill success of the affair.

Blaise Pascal     The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal

How comes it that this man, distressed at the death of his wife and his only son, or who has some great and embarrassing law suit, is not at this moment sad, and that he appears so free from all painful and distressing thoughts? We need not be astonished, for a ball has just been served to him, and he must return it to his opponent. His whole thoughts are fixed on taking it as it falls from the pent-house, to win a chase; and you cannot ask that he should think on his business, having this other affair in hand. Here is a care worthy of occupying this great soul, and taking away from him every other thought of the mind. This man, born to know the Universe, to judge of all things, to rule a State, is altogether occupied and filled with the business of catching a hare. And if he will not abase himself to this, and wishes always to be highly strung, he will only be more foolish still, because he wishes to raise himself above humanity; yet when all is said and done he is only a man, that is to say capable of little and of much, of all and of nothing. He is neither angel nor brute, but man.

Blaise Pascal     The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal

Affaire d'amour=--A love affair.

French.

Res in cardine est=--The affair is at a crisis (

_lit._ on the hinge).

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.

JEAN BAPTISTE MOLIERE. 1622-1673.     _L'Ecole des Femmes. Act ii. Sc. 6._

man’s beliefs were his own affair, so long as they did not interfere with the liberty of others.

Arthur C. Clarke

For three years, the young attorney had been taking his brief

vacations at this country inn.  The last time he'd finally managed an

>affair with the innkeeper's daughter.  Looking forward to an exciting

few days, he dragged his suitcase up the stairs of the inn, then stopped

short.  There sat his lover with an infant on her lap!

    "Helen, why didn't you write when you learned you were pregnant?"

he cried.  "I would have rushed up here, we could have gotten married,

and the baby would have my name!"

    "Well," she said, "when my folks found out about my condition,

we sat up all night talkin' and talkin' and finally decided it would be

better to have a bastard in the family than a lawyer."

Fortune Cookie

There are four stages to a marriage.  First there's the affair, then there's

the marriage, then children and finally the fourth stage, without which you

cannot know a woman, the divorce.

        -- Norman Mailer

Fortune Cookie

A sociologist, a psychologist, and a engineer were discussing the

consequences and implications of a married man's having a mistress.  The

sociologist's opinion was that it is absolutely and categorically unforgivable

for a married man to forfeit the bond of matrimony, and engage in such lowly

and lustful pursuits.

    The psychologist's opinion was that although morally reprehensible,

if a man MUST have a mistress to achieve his full potential as a human being,

then -- well -- he may go ahead and choose to have a mistress, as long as he

is considerate enough to keep this secret from his wife.

    The engineer then interjected: "I also believe that, if necessary,

a married man is entitled to a mistress.  However, I do not see why the

>affair should be concealed from the wife.  On the contrary, if the affair</p>

is out in the open, then on Friday evenings he may tell his wife that he

is going to see his mistress, tell his mistress that he is going to be with

his wife, then go to his office and get some work done!"

Fortune Cookie

Too Late

    A large number of turkies [sic] went to San Francisco yesterday by

the two o'clock boats.  If their object in going down was to participate in

the Thanksgiving festivities of that city, they would arrive "the day after

the affair," and of course be sadly disappointed thereby.

        -- Sacramento Daily Union, November 29, 1861

Fortune Cookie

You are going to have a new love affair.

Fortune Cookie

FORTUNE DISCUSSES THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN:    #5

Trust:

    The average woman would really like to be told if her mate is fooling

around behind her back.  This same woman wouldn't tell her best friend if

she knew the best friends' mate was having an affair.  She'll tell all her

OTHER friends, however.  The average man won't say anything if he knows that

one of his friend's mates is fooling around, and he'd rather not know if

his mate is having an affair either, out of fear that it might be with one

of his friends.  He will tell all his friends about his own affairs, though,

so they can be ready if he needs an alibi.

Driving:

    A typical man thinks he's Mario Andretti as soon as he slips behind

the wheel of his car.  The fact that it's an 8-year-old Honda doesn't keep

him from trying to out-accelerate the guy in the Porsche who's attempting

to cut him off; freeway on-ramps are exciting challenges to see who has The

Right Stuff on the morning commute.  Does he or doesn't he?  Only his body

shop knows for sure.  Insurance companies understand this behavior, and

price their policies accordingly.

    A woman will slow down to let a car merge in front of her, and get

rear-ended by another woman who was busy adding the finishing touches to

her makeup.

Fortune Cookie

You know what we can be like:  See a guy and think he's cute one minute, the

next minute our brains have us married with kids, the following minute we see

him having an extramarital affair.  By the time someone says "I'd like you to

meet Cecil," we shout, "You're late again with the child support!"

        -- Cynthia Heimel, "A Girl's Guide to Chaos"

Fortune Cookie

... before I could come to any conclusion it occurred to me that my speech

or my silence, indeed any action of mine, would be a mere futility.  What

did it matter what anyone knew or ignored?  What did it matter who was

manager?  One gets sometimes such a flash of insight. The essentials of

this affair lay deep under the surface, beyond my reach, and beyond my

power of meddling.

        -- Joseph Conrad

Fortune Cookie

Dying is a very dull, dreary affair.  My advice to you is to have

nothing whatever to do with it.

        -- W. Somerset Maugham, his last words

Fortune Cookie

"Nastasia Philipovna!" began the general, reproachfully. He was beginning to put his own interpretation on the affair.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Idiot

"I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the key of the affair now."

Arthur Conan Doyle     The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

And, to begin with, before entering the court, I will mention what surprised me most on that day. Indeed, as it appeared later, every one was surprised at it, too. We all knew that the affair had aroused great interest, that every one was burning with impatience for the trial to begin, that it had been a subject of talk, conjecture, exclamation and surmise for the last two months in local society. Every one knew, too, that the case had become known throughout Russia, but yet we had not imagined that it had aroused such burning, such intense, interest in every one, not only among ourselves, but all over Russia. This became evident at the trial this day.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Brothers Karamazov

Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.

MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE. 1533-1592.     _Book iii. Chap. xiii. Of Experience._

"You are right; and now I wish to see him on an affair of great importance. Do you think it will be long before he comes in?"

Alexandre Dumas, Pere     The Count of Monte Cristo

"Yes. It really would be happier for him to die young. If I were in his place I should certainly long for death. He is unhappy about his brother and sisters, the children you saw. If it were possible, if we only had a little money, we should leave our respective families, and live together in a little apartment of our own. It is our dream. But, do you know, when I was talking over your affair with him, he was angry, and said that anyone who did not call out a man who had given him a blow was a coward. He is very irritable to-day, and I left off arguing the matter with him. So Nastasia Philipovna has invited you to go and see her?"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Idiot

But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her. Lydia--the humiliation, the misery she was bringing on them all, soon swallowed up every private care; and covering her face with her handkerchief, Elizabeth was soon lost to everything else; and, after a pause of several minutes, was only recalled to a sense of her situation by the voice of her companion, who, in a manner which, though it spoke compassion, spoke likewise restraint, said, "I am afraid you have been long desiring my absence, nor have I anything to plead in excuse of my stay, but real, though unavailing concern. Would to Heaven that anything could be either said or done on my part that might offer consolation to such distress! But I will not torment you with vain wishes, which may seem purposely to ask for your thanks. This unfortunate affair will, I fear, prevent my sister's having the pleasure of seeing you at Pemberley to-day."

Jane Austen     Pride and Prejudice

But Pyotr Ilyitch had already run away or she would not have let him go so soon. Yet Madame Hohlakov had made a rather agreeable impression on him, which had somewhat softened his anxiety at being drawn into such an unpleasant affair. Tastes differ, as we all know. "She's by no means so elderly," he thought, feeling pleased, "on the contrary I should have taken her for her daughter."

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Brothers Karamazov

"Allow me, Mr. Ivolgin," he said irritably. "What is the good of all this rigmarole? Pardon me. All is now clear, and we acknowledge the truth of your main point. Why go into these tedious details? You wish perhaps to boast of the cleverness of your investigation, to cry up your talents as detective? Or perhaps your intention is to excuse Burdovsky, by roving that he took up the matter in ignorance? Well, I consider that extremely impudent on your part! You ought to know that Burdovsky has no need of being excused or justified by you or anyone else! It is an insult! The affair is quite painful enough for him without that. Will nothing make you understand?"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Idiot

"They sought even more thoroughly than the august heirs had done, but it was fruitless. There were two palaces and a vineyard behind the Palatine Hill; but in these days landed property had not much value, and the two palaces and the vineyard remained to the family since they were beneath the rapacity of the pope and his son. Months and years rolled on. Alexander VI. died, poisoned,--you know by what mistake. Caesar, poisoned at the same time, escaped by shedding his skin like a snake; but the new skin was spotted by the poison till it looked like a tiger's. Then, compelled to quit Rome, he went and got himself obscurely killed in a night skirmish, scarcely noticed in history. After the pope's death and his son's exile, it was supposed that the Spada family would resume the splendid position they had held before the cardinal's time; but this was not the case. The Spadas remained in doubtful ease, a mystery hung over this dark affair, and the public rumor was, that Caesar, a better politician than his father, had carried off from the pope the fortune of the two cardinals. I say the two, because Cardinal Rospigliosi, who had not taken any precaution, was completely despoiled.

Alexandre Dumas, Pere     The Count of Monte Cristo

M. de Villefort's communications on the subject were very limited and concise; he told her, in fact, that an explanation had taken place between M. Noirtier, M. d'Epinay, and himself, and that the marriage of Valentine and Franz would consequently be broken off. This was an awkward and unpleasant thing to have to report to those who were awaiting her return in the chamber of her father-in-law. She therefore contented herself with saying that M. Noirtier having at the commencement of the discussion been attacked by a sort of apoplectic fit, the affair would necessarily be deferred for some days longer. This news, false as it was following so singularly in the train of the two similar misfortunes which had so recently occurred, evidently astonished the auditors, and they retired without a word. During this time Valentine, at once terrified and happy, after having embraced and thanked the feeble old man for thus breaking with a single blow the chain which she had been accustomed to consider as irrefragable, asked leave to retire to her own room, in order to recover her composure. Noirtier looked the permission which she solicited. But instead of going to her own room, Valentine, having once gained her liberty, entered the gallery, and, opening a small door at the end of it, found herself at once in the garden.

Alexandre Dumas, Pere     The Count of Monte Cristo

"I did not expect this of you," said the staff captain seriously and severely. "You don't wish to apologize, but, man, it's not only to him but to the whole regiment--all of us--you're to blame all round. The case is this: you ought to have thought the matter over and taken advice; but no, you go and blurt it all straight out before the officers. Now what was the colonel to do? Have the officer tried and disgrace the whole regiment? Disgrace the whole regiment because of one scoundrel? Is that how you look at it? We don't see it like that. And Bogdanich was a brick: he told you you were saying what was not true. It's not pleasant, but what's to be done, my dear fellow? You landed yourself in it. And now, when one wants to smooth the thing over, some conceit prevents your apologizing, and you wish to make the whole affair public. You are offended at being put on duty a bit, but why not apologize to an old and honorable officer? Whatever Bogdanich may be, anyway he is an honorable and brave old colonel! You're quick at taking offense, but you don't mind disgracing the whole regiment!" The staff captain's voice began to tremble. "You have been in the regiment next to no time, my lad, you're here today and tomorrow you'll be appointed adjutant somewhere and can snap your fingers when it is said 'There are thieves among the Pavlograd officers!' But it's not all the same to us! Am I not right, Denisov? It's not the same!"

Leo Tolstoy     War and Peace

Aliena negotia centum / Per caput, et circa saliunt latus=--A hundred affairs of other people leap through my head and at my side.

Horace.

"Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."

Arthur Conan Doyle     The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Politics:  A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.

The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

"What you say is absurd, and I cannot see why M. Debray's name is mixed up in this affair."

Alexandre Dumas, Pere     The Count of Monte Cristo

"But now the affair becomes even more complex; his jealous torments reach a climax, and those same two questions torture his fevered brain more and more: 'If I repay Katerina Ivanovna, where can I find the means to go off with Grushenka?' If he behaved wildly, drank, and made disturbances in the taverns in the course of that month, it was perhaps because he was wretched and strained beyond his powers of endurance. These two questions became so acute that they drove him at last to despair. He sent his younger brother to beg for the last time for the three thousand roubles, but without waiting for a reply, burst in himself and ended by beating the old man in the presence of witnesses. After that he had no prospect of getting it from any one; his father would not give it him after that beating.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Brothers Karamazov

Bennigsen, who had chosen the position, warmly displayed his Russian patriotism (Kutuzov could not listen to this without wincing) by insisting that Moscow must be defended. His aim was as clear as daylight to Kutuzov: if the defense failed, to throw the blame on Kutuzov who had brought the army as far as the Sparrow Hills without giving battle; if it succeeded, to claim the success as his own; or if battle were not given, to clear himself of the crime of abandoning Moscow. But this intrigue did not now occupy the old man's mind. One terrible question absorbed him and to that question he heard no reply from anyone. The question for him now was: "Have I really allowed Napoleon to reach Moscow, and when did I do so? When was it decided? Can it have been yesterday when I ordered Platov to retreat, or was it the evening before, when I had a nap and told Bennigsen to issue orders? Or was it earlier still?... When, when was this terrible affair decided? Moscow must be abandoned. The army must retreat and the order to do so must be given." To give that terrible order seemed to him equivalent to resigning the command of the army. And not only did he love power to which he was accustomed (the honours awarded to Prince Prozorovski, under whom he had served in Turkey, galled him), but he was convinced that he was destined to save Russia and that that was why, against the Emperor's wish and by the will of the people, he had been chosen commander-in-chief. He was convinced that he alone could maintain command of the army in these difficult circumstances, and that in all the world he alone could encounter the invincible Napoleon without fear, and he was horrified at the thought of the order he had to issue. But something had to be decided, and these conversations around him which were assuming too free a character must be stopped.

Leo Tolstoy     War and Peace

For this purpose a capable officer, Bolkhovitinov, was chosen, who was to explain the whole affair by word of mouth, besides delivering a written report. Toward midnight Bolkhovitinov, having received the dispatch and verbal instructions, galloped off to the General Staff accompanied by a Cossack with spare horses.

Leo Tolstoy     War and Peace

"And I also wish for justice to be done, once for all," cried Madame Epanchin, "about this impudent claim. Deal with them promptly, prince, and don't spare them! I am sick of hearing about the affair, and many a quarrel I have had in your cause. But I confess I am anxious to see what happens, so do make them come out here, and we will remain. You have heard people talking about it, no doubt?" she added, turning to Prince

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Idiot

The Fleming called his wife, and related the affair to her. "Where the devil could Monsieur le Maire be going?" They held counsel together. "He is going to Paris," said the wife. "I don't believe it," said the husband.

Victor Hugo     Les Miserables

The wine-shop was a corner shop, better than most others in its appearance and degree, and the master of the wine-shop had stood outside it, in a yellow waistcoat and green breeches, looking on at the struggle for the lost wine. "It's not my affair," said he, with a final shrug of the shoulders. "The people from the market did it. Let them bring another."

Charles Dickens     A Tale of Two Cities

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