I had a strong curiosity to be satisfied if he persisted in disbelieving a future state even when he had death before his eyes....... I asked him if the thought of annihilation never gave him any uneasiness. He said not the least.... "Well," said I, "Mr. Hume, I hope to triumph over you when I meet you in a future state; and remember you are not to pretend that you was joking with all this infidelity." "No, no," said he. "But I shall have been so long there before you come that it will be nothing new."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Many young people adopt pleasures for which they have not the least taste, only because they are called by that name.... You must ...allow that drunkenness, which is equally destructive to body and mind, is a fine pleasure. Gaming, that draws you into a thousand scraps, leaves you penniless, and gives you the air and manners of an outrageous madman, is another most exquisite pleasure, is it not? As to running after women, the consequences of that vice are only the loss of one's nose, the total destruction of health, and, not unfrequently, the being run through the body.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
An ant on the tablecloth Ran into a dormant moth... Of many times his size. He showed not the least surprise. His business wasn't with such. He gave it scarcely a touch,LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Not the least vital of the problems which confront our country is the problem of her attitude towards those of her children who, h...aving left her in her hour of need, have been called back to her now on the eve of her longawaited victory, to her whom in loneliness and exile they have at last learned to love. In exile, we have said, but here we must distinguish. There is an economic and there is a spiritual exile. There are those who left her to seek the bread by which men live and there are others, nay, her most favoured children, who left her to seek in other lands that food of the spirit by which a nation of human beings is sustained in life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Have you not budged an inch, then? Such is the daily news. Its facts appear to float in the atmosphere.... We should wash ourselve...s clean of such news. Of what consequence, though our planet explode, if there is no character involved in the explosion? In health we have not the least curiosity about such events. We do not live for idle amusement. I would not run round a corner to see the world blow up.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I listen to hear the voice of a Governor, Commander-in-Chief of the forces of Massachusetts. I hear only the creaking of crickets ...and the hum of insects which now fill the summer air. The Governor's exploit is to review the troops on muster days. I have seen him on horseback, with his hat off, listening to a chaplain's prayer. It chances that that is all I have ever seen of a Governor. I think that I could manage to get along without one. If he is not the least use to prevent my being kidnapped, pray of what important use is he likely to be to me? When freedom is most endangered, he dwells in the deepest obscurity. A distinguished clergyman told me that he chose the profession of a clergyman because it afforded the most leisure for literary pursuits. I would recommend to him the profession of a Governor.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
He is, in fact, the best tempered, and not the least impartial of reviewers. He goes out of his way to do justice to profligates a...nd quacks.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
... every event has had its cause, and nothing, not the least wind that blows, is accident or causeless. To understand what happen...s now one must find the cause, which may be very long ago in its beginning, but is surely there, and therefore a knowledge of history as detailed as possible is essential if we are to comprehend the past and be prepared for the future.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »