"Agonize" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... doubt it was connected with that curious and recurrent illusion which postulates in human affairs—a thing called "Progress." This illusion, though both logically and practically the enemy of reform—for if things of themselves tend to grow better, why sweat and agonize to improve them?—is none the less characteristic, generally speaking, of reforming epochs, and it was not without its hold over the minds of the American Fathers. But there were also certain definite causes, some of which they could ...
— A History of the United States • Cecil Chesterton
... are my days and nights; my sleep, my life. Yet, dying, I agonize to live, and fear to drink the last drop of that ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern -- Volume 11 • Various
... the desolating hand of death. Alas, the ruins of the tomb! The ruins of the tomb are an emblem of the ruins of the world; when not an individual, but a universe, already marred by sin and hastening to dissolution, shall agonize and die! Directing your thoughts from the one, fix them for a moment on the other. Anticipate the concluding scene, the final catastrophe of nature, when the sign of the Son of man shall he seen in heaven; when the Son of man Himself shall appear in the glory of his Father, and send ...
— Phrases for Public Speakers and Paragraphs for Study • Compiled by Grenville Kleiser
... conviction that all is not right within, and that we reject the tribunal because we are conscious that it must condemn us—abjure the authority of the court because we have violated its jurisdiction; yes, when I reflect upon this, it is then that these visitations of gloom and wretchedness sometimes agonize my mind until it becomes dark and heated, like hell, and I curse both myself and my creed. Now, however, when this marriage shall have taken place, the great object of my life will be gained—the great struggle will be over, and I can relax and fall back into a life of comfort, ...
— The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton
... Take their foul fill Of the foul fell it wore. Though a thousand serpent heads were raised to slay, A thousand twisting coils writhed where it lay, There lies the beast, there let it lie for me And agonize and rave; For Thou has raised my soul, Thy soul, to Thee! Thy soul, dear Lord, Thou hast been strong ...
— The Rainbow and the Rose • E. Nesbit
... was strange to him. It was a world apart from anything that had ever touched him. He marvelled suddenly at the countless lives living out their allotted span in the confined area of these and similar walls. Surely all could not submit willingly to such a crushing captivity? Some must agonize and spend their strength unavailingly, like birds beating their wings against the bars of a cage for freedom. To the man who had roamed through all the continents of the world this forced inactivity seemed appalling—stultifying. The hampering of personal freedom, the forcing of independent ...
— The Shadow of the East • E. M. Hull
... for company Lie with companions fit; And bid, with a good will, The serpent-fangs of ill Take their foul fill Of the foul fell it wore. Though a thousand serpent heads were raised to slay, A thousand twisting coils writhed where it lay, There lies the beast, there let it lie for me And agonize and rave; For Thou has raised my soul, Thy soul, to Thee! Thy soul, dear Lord, Thou ...
— The Rainbow and the Rose • E. Nesbit
... out into the darkness for new stars, new forces. And yet as Clarke and his party indignantly declared, "both novelist and scientist ignore the question most vital to us all—the question of the soul's survival after death"—ignore it till some loved one dies, then they, too, agonize in secret over the mystery for a space, only to rise and go back to their work, concealing the conviction which their hour of ...
— The Tyranny of the Dark • Hamlin Garland
... be disgraced; the once happy congregation be rent; its ministry be driven from the altar, and its sanctuary crumble to ruin? Shall our benevolent institutions fail, and our liberties be sacrificed? Shall God be grieved? Shall wailings from the bottomless pit hereafter reproach and agonize you as the cause of the ruin, perhaps of your children and children's children? Methinks one common pulsation beats in your hearts, and you answer, No—no. Methinks I see you rising in the majesty of freemen and Christians, in behalf of an injured country and church, and ...
— Select Temperance Tracts • American Tract Society
... friend,—be a man! be the Christian you wish to be thought: consider that this fellow-man of ours has a dearly-loved family. If you have that card which the seconds gave you twelve years ago, don't agonize or terrify him any more; write to him that "the account is settled," and give over to him that horrible deed of contract. I shall honor you till my death for it. I know that in any case you will do it one day ...
— Debts of Honor • Maurus Jokai |
