About the London shop girls of the meaner short no derogatory remarks can be too strong, just as no commendation can be too high o...f the courtesy, honest, and good nature of the girls who wait on you in the shops on Oxford and Bond Streets. This court-born, alley- nursed, street-bred girl is everywhere. Sometimes she is sober, oftener she is not. She sells you flowers and fruit on every corner, serves in bars and cheap eating-houses. We have nothing at all at home to correspond to her ...She wears flowers and paste jewels, but she seldom bathes, never has enough hairpins, and considers toothbrushes necessary only for members of the royal family.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am now experiencing one of the "ups" of political life. Congress adjourned on the first after a session of almost seventy-five d...ays, mainly taken up with a contest against me. Five vetoes, a number of special messages, and oral consultations with friends and opponents have been my part in it. At no time ... has the stream of commendation run so full. The great newspapers, and the little, have been equally profuse of flattery. Of course, it will not last. But I think I have the confidence of the country. When the [New York] Tribune can say, "The President has the courtesy of a Chesterfield and the firmness of a Jackson" (!), I must be prepared for the reactionary counterblast.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore obliged to content themselves w...ith single morsels, and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet before them.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is ...given to the actions themselves.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The general nature of the speech act fallacy can be stated as follows, using "good" as our example. Calling something good is char...acteristically praising or commending or recommending it, etc. But it is a fallacy to infer from this that the meaning of "good" is explained by saying it is used to perform the act of commendation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »