"Compliment" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... murthered him. It was he was the cause of my jewel with my cousin, Art Considine, and I wanting to be the very pink of politeness to him. I wrote him a note when he came to Athlone, afther two years in France, and jist out o' compliment to him, I unluckily put in a word of French: come an' dine, says I, and we'll have a dish of chat. I knew u-n p-l-a-t (spelling it), was a dish, an' says I to Jerome, that pigimy (so he pronounced it) you seen here at the door, that's his damnable name, what's chat in French—c-h-a-t—spelling ...
— The House by the Church-Yard • J. Sheridan Le Fanu
... was scanning my appearance, I could but return the compliment. She was very tall, almost as tall as I was myself; you would choose to call her stately, rather than slender. She was very fair, with large lazy blue eyes and a lazy smile to match. In all respects she was the greatest contrast to the ...
— The Indiscretion of the Duchess • Anthony Hope
... York newspaper in Washington the other day that something done in Boston lately was done with the "usual Boston intensity." I believe the remark was not intended to be a compliment, but we shall take it as one, and are quite willing to accept the phrase. I think it is true in the past, I hope it will be true in the future, that we go at the things which we have to do with ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol II, After-Dinner Speeches E-O • Various
... of Shakspeare. The flatteries of James and Elizabeth may now go packing together. The following four lines which I have met with in no other edition of Shakspeare than Mr. Collier's, are worth any one of his plays for their personal value; they show how he could evade a compliment with the enunciation of a general truth that yet could be taken as a compliment by the person ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 43, Saturday, August 24, 1850 • Various
... inverted compliment. But Dyckman began to think very hard. He was suddenly confronted with one of the conundrums in duty which life incessantly propounds—life that squats at all the crossroads with a sphinxic riddle ...
— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes
... last he stood bare, so to speak, he that had come so richly clothed in fraud and falsehood. His counsel began an argument, but the court declined to hear it, and threw out the case, adding a few words of grave compliment for Joan, and referring to ...
— Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc - Volume 1 (of 2) • Mark Twain
... contemptuously of the letters attributed to Phalaris, and of the critics who were taken in by such counterfeits, which was perfectly true. Boyle, much provoked, paid, in his preface, a bitterly ironical compliment to Bentley's courtesy. Bentley revenged himself by a short dissertation, in which he proved that the epistles were spurious, and the new edition of them worthless: but he treated Boyle personally with civility as a young gentleman of great hopes, whose love of learning was highly ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 3. (of 4) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... compliment, sir. I might return it by saying that you have the makings of a Planeteer ...
— Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet • Harold Leland Goodwin
... drunk and could not make out any perfect sentence, and it appeared to me that the khan was drunk likewise; wherefore I held my peace. Then he made us rise and sit down again, and after a few words of compliment, we withdrew from the presence. One of the secretaries, and the interpreter, who had the charge of educating one of his daughters, went with us, and were very inquisitive about the kingdom of France, particularly inquiring whether it had plenty of sheep, cattle, and horses, as if they ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1 • Robert Kerr
... to say, although we understood their answers to general questions, we could not gather any lengthened information from them. I gave the elder native a blanket, and to the other a knife, with both of which they seemed highly delighted, and in return I suppose paid us the compliment of sending their wives to us as soon as it became dusk, but as we did not encourage their advances they left us after a short visit. The native who had killed the talpero, skinned it the moment he arrived in the camp, and, having first moistened them, stuffed ...
— Expedition into Central Australia • Charles Sturt
... he throw,] i.e., a fine pearl. To swallow a pearl in a draught seems to have been equally common to royal and mercantile prodigality. It may be observed that pearls were supposed to possess an exhilarating quality. It was generally thrown into the drink as a compliment to some distinguished guest, and the King in this scene, under the pretence of throwing a pearl into the cup, drops some ...
— Hamlet • William Shakespeare
... of Gilfoyle from her new friends as anxiously as if he had been a baby born out of wedlock instead of a grown man born into it. And Gilfoyle had returned the compliment. He had not told his new friends in Chicago that he was married, because the Anita Adair that he had left in New York was, as F.P.A. would say, his idea ...
— We Can't Have Everything • Rupert Hughes
... therefore, since this name struck Julius Caesar as being fair and apt, and given by circumstance, and seeing furthermore that flowers themselves bring good augury, he appointed the name of Florence for the town. He wished besides to pay his valiant captain this compliment; and he loved him all the more for having drawn him from a very humble place, and for the reason that so excellent a man was a creature of his own. The name that learned inventors and investigators of such etymologies ...
— The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini • Benvenuto Cellini
... absolute simplicity of manner commanded admiration and respect among the hard-riding Moonstone boys. She was, to them, a "lady," yet a lady they could understand. Hers was a gentle tyranny. A request from her was deemed a great compliment ...
— Overland Red - A Romance of the Moonstone Canon Trail • Henry Herbert Knibbs
... mouth, and she walked along, swaying her hips, like a filly from the Cordova stud farm. In my country anybody who had seen a woman dressed in that fashion would have crossed himself. At Seville every man paid her some bold compliment on her appearance. She had an answer for each and all, with her hand on her hip, as bold as the thorough gipsy she was. At first I didn't like her looks, and I fell to my work again. But she, like ...
— Carmen • Prosper Merimee
... the author of Waverley of treason against Nature, in not drawing his characters after the fashion of Shakspeare, but in a manner of his own. This, without being meant, was the highest praise Scott could well receive. Perhaps the finest compliment ever paid him, was at the time of the late coronation, I think. The streets were crowded so densely, that he could not make his way from Charing Cross down to Rose's, in Abingdon-street, though he elbowed ever so stoutly. He applied ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 470 - Volume XVII, No. 470, Saturday, January 8, 1831 • Various
... artful satire, but is never understood ; while Colonel Manners domineers with so high a hand, he carries all before him; and whenever Mrs. Schwellenberg, to lessen her mortification, draws me into the question, he instantly turns off whatever she begins into some high-flown compliment, so worded also as to convey some comparative reproach. This offends more than ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madam D'Arblay Volume 2 • Madame D'Arblay
... blacks at the service I had done them, that they paid me the greatest compliment in their power by offering me a chieftainship, and inviting me to stay with them for ever. I refused the flattering offer, however, as I was quite bent on ...
— The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont - as told by Himself • Louis de Rougemont
... Secretary, "but it is best between us. Finesse would be wasted upon one with your penetrating mind, and I pay you the highest compliment I know when I discard any attempt to use it. I find that I have made a great mistake in more respects than one. The man who I thought stood in my way thought so himself at one time, but he knows better. Helen Harley is very beautiful ...
— Before the Dawn - A Story of the Fall of Richmond • Joseph Alexander Altsheler
... intonation in Fleur-de-Lys's—laconic words. The young man understood that it was indispensable that he should whisper something in her ear, a commonplace, a gallant compliment, no matter what. Accordingly he bent down, but he could find nothing in his imagination more tender and personal ...
— Notre-Dame de Paris - The Hunchback of Notre Dame • Victor Hugo
... till the tears ran down her cheeks, and thought she never could be tired of looking at them. But presently she saw four lines clearly printed underneath her picture, and her childish face grew sweetly serious as she read the words of a great poet, which Will had made both compliment ...
— A Modern Cinderella - or The Little Old Show and Other Stories • Louisa May Alcott
... in mid-stream, and were not sorry,—receiving as we stepped ashore what is probably a part of every programme, the compliment of being "the bravest lady that ever went over ...
— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Old Series, Vol. 36—New Series, Vol. 10, July 1885 • Various
... Dick much. You might as well call a young wolf a lion and expect him to take the compliment ...
— The Light That Failed • Rudyard Kipling
... grammatical accuracy the ancient remnants of Zoroaster's doctrine. How that problem was solved is well known to all who take an interest in the advancement of modern scholarship. It was as great an achievement as the deciphering of the cuneiform edicts of Darius; and no greater compliment could have been paid to Burnouf and his fellow-labourers than that scholars, without inclination to test their method, and without leisure to follow these indefatigable pioneers through all the intricate ...
— Chips From A German Workshop - Volume I - Essays on the Science of Religion • Friedrich Max Mueller
... and when Pompey saluted him with the title of Imperator, which was the highest title known to the Roman constitution, and the one which Sylla's lofty rank and unbounded power might properly claim, Sylla returned the compliment by conferring this great ...
— History of Julius Caesar • Jacob Abbott
... consequently invited this company of ladies and gentlemen to be present to welcome Mr. Garrison, the black advocate of emancipation from the United States of America." (Laughter.) I have often said, sir, that that is the only compliment I have ever had paid to me that I care to remember or tell of. For Mr. Buxton had somehow or other supposed that no white American could plead for those in bondage as I had done, and therefore I ...
— The Underground Railroad • William Still
... should have spurned him for his perpetual insult of inane compliments. He was always dawdling after "the sex," which was one of his sweet phrases, and yet he was not passionate. Passion does not dawdle and compliment, nor is it nasty, as this fellow was. Passion may burn like a devouring flame; and in a few moments, like flame, may bring down a temple to dust and ashes, but it is earnest as flame, ...
— The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford • Mark Rutherford
... the original of his "Zuleika," in the Bride of Abydos. I don't think he had much appetite for his dinner that day, or for many days, and never forgave the man who, so far from wishing to offend, intended to pay him a compliment. ...
— Stories of Authors, British and American • Edwin Watts Chubb
... of his ward and had sat down on a bench by the wall. Now it came from an old man six feet high, with snow-white hair. He sat near them, and worked assiduously at a piece of tapestry. "It'll be better when it's cut," he said to one of the nurses, who had stopped to compliment him on his work; "it'll be better when it's cut." Then the cough came from one of the wards, and Esther thought of the fearsome boy sitting bolt up, his huge tallow-like face staring through the silence of the room. A moment after the cough came from her husband's ...
— Esther Waters • George Moore
... with his dazzling diamond snuff-box and equally dazzling smile, stopped in the middle of the aisle, bowed, replied, "With pleasure—certainly!" and walked inside the communion rail, as if believing that his presence there conveyed the highest compliment he ...
— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
... so touched by this compliment, and so proud that his father had heard it, and could go home and tell it to ...
— The Drummer Boy • John Trowbridge
... "Thank you for the compliment, Aunt Rachel, if you mean me. But, mother, I didn't tell you of my good luck. See this," and he displayed the ...
— Jack's Ward • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... a kiss in acknowledgment of this compliment and smiled on her partner. "Amico!" she said. "It is nice to see you again. How ...
— Queen Lucia • E. F. Benson
... of antiquity, his character sketched from a hostile point of view, a request of his complied with, appointed at a public meeting in Jaalam, confesses ignorance, in one minute particular, of propriety, his opinion of cocked hats, letter to, called 'Dear Sir,' by a general, probably receives same compliment from two hundred and nine, picks his apples, his crop of Baldwins conjecturally large, his labors in writing autographs, visits the Judge and has a pleasant time, born in Middlesex County, his favorite walks, his gifted pen, born and bred in the country, feels ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell • James Lowell
... Elsie said, with a gratified look; "I appreciate the compliment; but if I had the naming of my little granddaughter, she should be another Violet; there is already an Elsie in the family besides myself, you know, and it makes a little confusion to have too many of ...
— Elsie at Nantucket • Martha Finley
... that if we held our line till one o'clock, we won. It was past the hour, and our victory was complete. We marched to camp in good spirits, being especially pleased to hear the major (the opposing major!) compliment Captain Kirby on the excellence of his trench. Our trench! We finished two hundred and fifty feet in an hour and twenty minutes. We are told that the trench was quite invisible, even after we had begun firing, and that we were betrayed only by the ...
— At Plattsburg • Allen French
... slip of wood, and so produce a rasping sound when drawn smartly against a person's back. The ladies draw their rattles against the backs of their male friends, (and everybody passes for a friend at Greenwich Fair,) and the young men return the compliment on the broad British backs of the ladies; and all are bound by immemorial custom to take it in good part and be merry at the joke. As it was one of my prescribed official duties to give an account ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 65, March, 1863 • Various
... ceremonies, Michael Angelo was behind him and did not lose a word of Messer Biaggio's compliment. The Pope had scarcely gone before the irritated artist, wishing to make an example as a warning for all future critics, placed this Messer Biaggio in his hell, well and duly, under the scarcely flattering guise of Minos. That was always Dante's way when ...
— Great Pictures, As Seen and Described by Famous Writers • Esther Singleton
... seen efery day doze children work und sing so nize togedder yust like leetle mans und ladies, so I come yust to eggsbress my t'anks for de compliment, und to make de acquaintance off doze nize y'ung neighbors." This with a courtly bow to each one of the children separately. And he added in a moment: "De dinner iss very fine, but for me one dinner iss yust like ...
— Solomon Crow's Christmas Pockets and Other Tales • Ruth McEnery Stuart
... same business. No doubt he attributes Chatellerault's failure to clumsiness, and he has decided this time to choose a man famed for courtly address and gifted with such arts of dalliance that he cannot fail but enmesh my daughter in them. It is a great compliment that he pays us in sending hither the handsomest and most accomplished gentleman of all his Court—so fame has it—yet it is a compliment of whose flattery I am not sensible. Bardelys goes hence as empty-handed as went Chatellerault. Let him but show his ...
— Bardelys the Magnificent • Rafael Sabatini
... among themselves. Sometimes they have a shucking, which is a great affair, even among the little farmers in Upper Georgia, where, only, corn-shuckings are kept up with all the spice of old custom, and invitations are extended to those at a distance of ten or fifteen miles, who repay the compliment with their presence, and join in the revelry. There are two classes of the cracker in Georgia, according to our observation, differing somewhat in their dialect, but not in their habits. One is the upper, and the other the low country, or rather what some call the "co-u-n-try-b-o-r-n" cracker. ...
— Manuel Pereira • F. C. Adams
... This compliment—from Lord Orville—so surprised me that I could not speak, but stood silent and looking down, till recollecting my situation I withdrew my hand, and told him I would see if Mrs. ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books - Vol. II: Fiction • Arthur Mee, J. A. Hammerton, Eds.
... Prussia Road have petitioned the Urban District Council for a change of name—and it is rumoured that the Council, with a view to saving the ratepayers' pockets, have hit upon the ingenious idea of obliterating the first letter only of the present name—thereby also paying a well-deserved compliment to a ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, September 2nd, 1914 • Various
... the first child of English parentage born in America. Her father was Ananias Dare. She was named Virginia after the colony which had already received the name in compliment to ...
— Great Epochs in American History, Vol. II - The Planting Of The First Colonies: 1562—1733 • Various
... only to observe; you exaggerate my importance. The school owes its flourishing condition only to you, my honoured friend, Fyodor Lukitch. But for you it would be in no way distinguished from other schools! You think the German is paying a compliment, the German is saying something polite. Ha-ha! No, my dear Fyodor Lukitch, I am an honest man and never make complimentary speeches. If we pay you five hundred roubles a year it is because you are valued by us. Isn't that so? ...
— The Schoolmaster and Other Stories • Anton Chekhov
... music, but in reality to feast his eyes on beauty which daily bound him in stronger chains of fascination. Her head drooped under his words, but only as the flowers bend under the dew and rain that give them life. His passing compliment was a trifle, but it seemed like the delicate touch to which the subtle electric current responds. From a credulous, joyous heart a crimson tide welled up into her face and neck; she could not repress a smile, though she bowed her head in girlish ...
— Without a Home • E. P. Roe
... as Mr. Baird was hastening to catch a train at Rochester Bridge Station, a stout elderly lady, handsomely dressed, supposed to be Dean Scott's wife,—but to whom he was unknown,—bowed very politely to him, and in slackening his pace to return the compliment, which he naturally did not understand, he ...
— A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land • William R. Hughes
... glory in the tented field; To minds of ruder texture these be given— Thy soul shall nearer soar its native heaven. Haply, in polish'd courts might be thy seat, But that thy tongue could never forge deceit: The courtier's supple bow and sneering smile, The flow of compliment, the slippery wile. Would make that breast with indignation burn, And all the glittering snares to tempt thee spurn. Domestic happiness will stamp thy fate; Sacred to love, unclouded e'er by hate; The ...
— My Recollections of Lord Byron • Teresa Guiccioli
... compliment (he knew by his title that he must be the brother of De Warenne), and, resigning the child into the arms of Graham, with a graceful welcome he conducted the ...
— The Scottish Chiefs • Miss Jane Porter
... law was a degree of Doctor of Divinity [Footnote: Sept. 5, 1692. Quincy's History of Harvard, i. 71.] which he gave himself between the approval of the bill by Phips and its rejection at London. The compliment was the more flattering, however, as it was the first ever granted in New England. But the clouds were fast gathering over the head of this good man. Like many another benefactor of his race, he was doomed to experience the pangs ...
— The Emancipation of Massachusetts • Brooks Adams
... important was their corporation, that, on the birth of the dauphin, in 1781, they were admitted in a body to compliment the king, to whom they were formally presented by the Duc de Cosse, Governor of Paris. The spokeswoman had her discourse written out on her fan, and read it to his Majesty. They were all dressed in black, and they were all, to the number of a hundred and fifty, invited by him to dinner ...
— Paris from the Earliest Period to the Present Day; Volume 1 • William Walton
... is sufficient guarantee for that!" he answered simply; and the implied compliment to her brother quickened ...
— Captain Desmond, V.C. • Maud Diver
... appointed to read a dedicatory ode before the emperor and in honor of that occasion? I will give you a pleasure, now. I will forestall your joy, and let you hear what I have written. And be assured that this is no small compliment to your intelligence, since no eye hath yet looked upon a ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 6, No 5, November 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... thought the doctor's wife, not propitiated by the compliment. "Herbert," she said, "here are a couple of handkerchiefs I bought in the village yesterday. I hope you will find ...
— Try and Trust • Horatio Alger
... don't know that it is any great compliment to be elected in this way; but I will take the chair, for the sole reason of enabling the meeting to proceed to business. (Takes his place on the platform, and raps on the table with a mallet.) I declare ...
— Three Dramas - The Editor—The Bankrupt—The King • Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson
... to say, Mr. Meyer, except that I do not love you or any living man, and I never shall. I thank you for the compliment you have paid me, and there ...
— Benita, An African Romance • H. Rider Haggard
... had, and hulled him with every shot; but his huge side stood silent as the grave. He had not wherewithal to return the compliment. ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley
... admirable temper of the blade. "His Majesty has given me a trenchant weapon," said he: "I trust a time will come when I may show him that I know how to use his royal present." The reply was considered a compliment, of course: the bystanders little knew the bitter hostility ...
— Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada • Washington Irving
... foreign Court. The reports which, as Russian agent, he sent to St. Petersburg were doubtless as offensive as the attacks on the Universities which he published in his journal; but it was an extravagant compliment to the man to imagine that he was the real author of the Czar's desertion from Liberalism to reaction. This, however, was the common belief, and it cost Kotzebue dear. A student from Erlangen, Carl Sand, who had accompanied the standard at the Wartburg festival, formed ...
— History of Modern Europe 1792-1878 • C. A. Fyffe
... a caution, not 'arf." A shrill girlish giggle, a playful jerk of the "caution's" arm, a deprecating noise from his manly lips, which may have been caused by bashfulness at the compliment, or more probably by the unconsumed portion of the morning Woodbine, and the couple moved ...
— No Man's Land • H. C. McNeile
... performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the public, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be found in a character, without impairing the most ...
— She Stoops to Conquer - or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. • Oliver Goldsmith
... Princess Estradina exclaimed in her brutally frank fashion: "My dear, it's what I always say when people talk to me about fast Americans: you're the only innocent women left in the world...." This is far from being a compliment. No, Undine is voluble, vulgar, and "catty," but she isn't wicked. It takes brains to be wicked in the grand manner. She is only disagreeable and fashionable; and she is as impersonal and monotonous as ...
— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker
... ——- "Swinging', great, huge. 'Bishop Lowth has just finished the Dramas, and sent me word, that although I have paid him the most 'swinging' compliment he ever received, he likes the whole book more than he can say.' ('Memoirs of Hannah More', ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith • Oliver Goldsmith
... conversation, and the capitalist was quick to seize the chance of talking to her. Soon she was surprised to notice that he was trying hard to be agreeable, and before they had exchanged a dozen sentences, he had turned an awkward compliment. She guessed by his manner that paying attention to young girls was for him a thing altogether unusual. Intuitively she divined that she, on this, the very first night of their acquaintance, ...
— The Pit • Frank Norris
... pretty; a picture worth looking at—all of it," he said, and there was a faint smile on Helen's lips as she recognized that the general tribute to the picturesque was as far as Bransome dared venture in the direction of a compliment. He was not a diffident person, but he felt a wholesome ...
— Thurston of Orchard Valley • Harold Bindloss
... with delight at the compliment. Fandor then conducted him to the door, whispering advice as to the best way of ...
— A Royal Prisoner • Pierre Souvestre
... "You compliment me, Mistress Stair, in thinking I have the power to undo that which was settled by the law of your country and a jury tried and true. I took no part in the affair; the prosecution was not mine; in a word, the thing is perhaps beyond my power, ...
— Nancy Stair - A Novel • Elinor Macartney Lane
... her it was but a poor compliment to her conversation to say I longed for her company, since now my curiosity might occasion that impatience, which I should nevertheless have felt, had I not been left in painful suspense by the interruption we had received the day before, in the ...
— A Description of Millenium Hall • Sarah Scott
... the compliment paid him, the German youth took up the letter and scanned it by the light of the swinging lamp. As he did so, Sack Todd closed the cabin door and motioned to Gasper Pold and Dan Baxter, who stood behind an angle of ...
— The Rover Boys in Southern Waters - or The Deserted Steam Yacht • Arthur M. Winfield
... know that I want you. But to return your compliment, the place seems dull when you ...
— The King's Esquires - The Jewel of France • George Manville Fenn
... All-Souls for fifteen years of his life, how is a man to know all at once how to accost his parishioners? especially when these curious unknown specimens of natural life happen to be female creatures, doubtless accustomed to compliment and civility. If ever any one was thankful to hear the sound of another man's voice, that person was the new Rector of Carlingford, standing in the bewildering garden-scene into which the green door had so suddenly admitted him, all ...
— The Rector • Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant
... Allardyce meant his compliment to fetch Gourlay. But Gourlay knew his Allardyce, and was cautious. It was well to be on your guard when the Deacon was complimentary. When his language was most flowery there was sure to be a serpent hidden in it somewhere. He would lisp out an innocent ...
— The House with the Green Shutters • George Douglas Brown
... remember and carry away with them. No—no, put them Italics in, as I have always done. They show there is truth at the bottom. I like it, for it's what I call sense on the short-cards—do you take? Recollect always, you are not Sam Slick, and I am not you. The greatest compliment a Britisher would think he could pay you, would be to say, 'I should have taken you for an Englishman.' Now the greatest compliment he can pay me is to take me for a Connecticut Clockmaker, who hoed his way up to the Embassy to London, and preserved so much of his nationality, after ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton
... faculties, such as all writers are supposed to possess in abounding measure. While I fell short of his ideal in this respect, he was pleased to say that he found me by no means the remote and inaccessible personage he had imagined, and that I had nothing of the dandy about me, which last compliment I had a modest consciousness ...
— Pages From an Old Volume of Life - A Collection Of Essays • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
... greatest compliment I've ever received in my life,' she said evenly. 'I hope you mean it, ...
— Paradise Garden - The Satirical Narrative of a Great Experiment • George Gibbs
... The round and grape passed between the masts of the Phlegethon and beyond the Spiteful, without striking. The guns having been pointed at the stakes, the Phlegethon immediately returned the compliment with rockets and her pivot-guns. After an hour's cannonade, Captain Mundy shoved off in the gunboats, Lieutenant Patey being ordered to pull for the shore and to storm the batteries which were erected on a precipice nearly a hundred feet in height from the bank ...
— How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves - Updated to 1900 • W.H.G. Kingston
... forced to pay internal high compliment to Mr. Piper as well as to Mrs. Severance. The pitiful grey image, its knees rumpled from the floor, its features streaked like a cheap paper mask with ludicrous dreadful tears, had turned back into the President ...
— Young People's Pride • Stephen Vincent Benet
... lover of old names, so I thought I'd go back to the Pharaohs. Not a bad idea, was it? though no compliment, I daresay, to the ...
— The Heiress of Wyvern Court • Emilie Searchfield
... addition to the theory of evolution since the publication of the 'Origin of Species.'" Considering that the Times has just implied the main thesis of the "Origin of Species" to be one which does not stand examination, this is rather a doubtful compliment. ...
— Luck or Cunning? • Samuel Butler
... came Worth was a captain in the line and a major by brevet, with which rank he was assigned to the military command of the corps of Cadets at West Point. This appointment, ever conferred on men of talent, is the highest compliment an officer of the service of the United States can receive in time of peace. To Worth it was doubly grateful, because he was not an eleve of the institution. Ten years after the battle of Niagara, Major Worth was breveted ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May 1848 • Various
... distinguished him in all his social relationships. I was introduced to him by our host across the dinner-table, and he immediately plunged into a discussion about newspapers and distinguished journalists who were known to me personally. I remember he paid a great compliment to the Standard, saying that it was a newspaper he always liked to read because he always found it to be fair and honest. "When I read a bad leader in the Standard," he said, "I say to myself, Mr. Mudford must be ...
— Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 • Stuart J. Reid, ed.
... young woman's reserve ungracious, or was it only natural that in her particular situation she should not have a flow of compliment at her command? I noticed that Mrs. Nettlepoint looked at her often, and certainly though she was undemonstrative Miss Mavis was interesting. The candle-light enabled me to see that if she was not in the very first flower of her youth she was still a handsome girl. Her eyes and hair were ...
— A London Life; The Patagonia; The Liar; Mrs. Temperly • Henry James
... continued, "on account it would be a poor compliment to a lot of people which could easy be good customers of your husband. For instance, this house was decorated by Robitscher, Smith & Company, which Robitscher lives across the street already; and his wife is Joel Ribnik's—the ...
— Elkan Lubliner, American • Montague Glass
... skilfully dodging Miss Susan, he had retired to the side yard, to finish licking his chops. Truly, it was a red-letter day for him. He wagged affably at the eloquent Miss Susan; surely he had paid her the highest compliment in his power. ...
— Patricia • Emilia Elliott
... Mr. SCUDDER fancied that thus collected they would prove a valuable addition to the history of the times. The series stopped at the third number and the book was never published. Whilst I did not concur in Mr. SCUDDER'S view, I accepted the compliment and began to write with a lighter heart than I bore as I went on. At the end I was dipping my pen into something red, into something briny, that was not ink. The feeling seems to have been contagious, for some years afterwards (1899) Mr. ...
— The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915 • Basil L. Gildersleeve
... women are very voluble; they speak earlier, more readily, and more agreeably than the men; they are accused also of speaking much more: but so it ought to be, and I should be very ready to convert this reproach into a compliment; their lips and eyes have the same activity, and for the same reason. A man speaks of what he knows, a woman of what pleases her; the one requires knowledge, the other taste; the principal object of a man's discourse ...
— A Vindication of the Rights of Woman - Title: Vindication of the Rights of Women • Mary Wollstonecraft [Godwin]
... pleasant face your sailor friend has, Mr. Rankin! He has been so frank and truthful with us. You know I don't think anybody can pay me a greater compliment than to be quite sincere with me at first sight. It's the perfection ...
— Captain Brassbound's Conversion • George Bernard Shaw
... Wellington-street. I had just got to the coach-stand at Hyde Park Corner, when who should I see labelled as a waterman but the one-eyed chap we once had as a orchestra—he as could only play "Jim Crow" and the "Soldier Tired." Thinks I, I may as well pass the compliment of the day with him; so I creeps under the hackney-coach he was standing alongside on, intending to surprise him; but just as I was about to pop out he ran off the stand to un-nosebag a cab-horse. Whilst I was waiting ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various
... frigate, built under the supervision of the American Marine Committee, and which had come to European waters, bringing as a passenger the distinguished Gen. Lafayette. As has been stated, she was under the command of a French naval officer, to whom the command had been offered as a compliment to France. Unfortunately the jack tars of America were not so anxious to compliment France, and looked with much disfavor upon the prospect of serving under a Frenchman. Capt. Landais, therefore, found great difficulty in getting a ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 1 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot
... or any of the officers present, hastening directly on deck. Okotook, indeed, as he followed her out of the cabin, turned round and said "Good-by," of which expression he had learned the meaning, and then, without giving us time to return the compliment, they both hurried out of the ship, leaving us in some astonishment at this singular leave-taking, which we then supposed to ...
— Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the • Sir William Edward Parry
... reconciliation, when she was fatigued with punishing; this is certainly very pretty, but I will appeal to common sense, whether there was aught of fact to support such an assertion? Even those who were the most enthusiastic admirers of the martial genius of Bonaparte, could not participate in the fulsome compliment paid to their hero by M. Chateaubriand; but when strictly scrutinized, all his works will generally be found of the same tissue; yet, as there is so often a wild grandeur in his conceptions and in his mode of expressing them, whilst they are arrayed in all ...
— How to Enjoy Paris in 1842 • F. Herve
... morrow I mean to take advantage of suitable opportunity to address Miss Hamm upon the project with a view to enlisting her sympathies and co-operation, as no doubt I shall succeed in doing. My powers of persuasion frequently have been the subject of compliment. ...
— Fibble, D. D. • Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb
... much gratified at this compliment, although (to one used to natives) it seemed rather a hollow one. It meant only that I should have to lay out a good deal of money on tools and food and to give wages under the guise of presents to some workmen who were most of them old ...
— Vailima Letters • Robert Louis Stevenson
... at the delicate compliment; and Matt, observing this, decided that a few more of the same from time to time would do much to alleviate a diet ...
— Cappy Ricks • Peter B. Kyne
... was ever known to give away was a contribution to aid the election to the Presidency of his old friend Henry Clay. The old man was always fond of a compliment, and seldom averse to a joke. It was the timely application of a jocular compliment that won from him this last effort of generosity. When the committee were presented to him, he began to excuse himself, evidently intending to ...
— Famous Americans of Recent Times • James Parton
... Blande!" said The Mackhai sternly; and then his severe face underwent a change. He was about to burst out laughing, but he bit his lip, frowned, and then in a changed tone of voice said, "Thank you for the compliment, Mr Blande." ...
— Three Boys - or the Chiefs of the Clan Mackhai • George Manville Fenn
... life, when as the farcial old governor in the play exclaims, "Every day is ladies' day to me." Such a state of mind—or body, rather—is common enough, harmless enough, perhaps, for a few light, ineffectual years; but it is a poor compliment to call it Love, to let this state of shuffling indecision, this weather-cock period, this blindfold chance-shot game of hit or miss, hold such ...
— The Forerunner, Volume 1 (1909-1910) • Charlotte Perkins Gilman
... Your ink is your poison, your pen is what not; Your ink is your drink, your pen is your pot. To my goddess Melpomene, pride of her sex, I gave, as you beg, your most humble respects: The rest of your compliment I dare not tell her, For she never descends so low as the cellar; But before you can put yourself under her banners, She declares from her throne you must learn better manners. If once in your cellar my Phoebus ...
— Poems (Volume II.) • Jonathan Swift
... only woman I have ever met who has any claim to brains," he answered, paying the compliment in his blunt, rough fashion. "Don't you know me well enough to realise that I don't ask people to set my standards for me? Don't you know a man, when you see him, big enough to set ...
— The Short Cut • Jackson Gregory
... utility in beauty, surely I am a benefit to every one. One day I heard a lady say that she never saw my head pop up from behind an old stump without bursting into laughter, I looked so funny. Now I took that as a compliment; for to give pleasure to those around us, I have heard, is one of ...
— Birds Illustrated by Colour Photography, Vol II. No. 4, October, 1897 • Various
... where Trotti had been sent to meet her, and crowds shouting Moro! Moro! had everywhere hailed her arrival. Three days later, she reached Milan in time to make the last preparations before the birth of her grandson. The child, a fine healthy boy, received the name of Ercole, in compliment to his grandfather, the Duke of Ferrara, but was afterwards called Maximilian, when the emperor became his godfather after his marriage to Bianca Sforza. The auspicious event was hailed with public rejoicings. The bells rang for six days, and ...
— Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497 • Julia Mary Cartwright
... 1825. To-day, at Quincy, with my brother, by invitation of Mr. Adams's family. The old President sat in a large stuffed arm-chair, dressed in a blue coat, black small-clothes, white stockings, and a cotton cap covered his bald head. We made our compliment, told him he must let us join our congratulations to those of the nation on the happiness of his house. He thanked us, and said, "I am rejoiced, because the nation is happy. The time of gratulation and congratulations is nearly over with me: I am astonished that I have lived to ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various
... Denzil, turning to Lilian, "his appearance is a compliment to Miss Mumbray. When did you see him looking ...
— Denzil Quarrier • George Gissing
... In compliment to the occasion, the band struck up a lively English air, and in the general enthusiasm which followed there was a rush for the cart. Clifford was lifted bodily to their shoulders and borne, amid boisterous ...
— Peggy Owen and Liberty • Lucy Foster Madison
... "foolish and senseless prattle," "idle talk," etc.; and from Dodel he copies the words with which the latter once sought to annihilate me: Job, verse 10, "Thou hast spoken like one of the foolish women." And he ventures to express indignation at Loofs' "invectives." As a compliment to Lasson he declares that he could easily conceive of the possibility of an ape ascending the professor's chair and speaking as intelligently as he (Lasson); which remark he probably intended as a witticism. He informs his readers ...
— At the Deathbed of Darwinism - A Series of Papers • Eberhard Dennert
... who came to wait upon him, and he demanded that, out of respect for the King of France, they should drive out Pandolfo Petrucci from Siena. For, to use his own words, "having deprived his enemies of their weapons, he would now deprive them of their brain," by which he paid Petrucci the compliment of accounting him the "brain" of all that had been attempted against him. To show the Siennese how much he was in earnest, he leaves all baggage and stores at Assisi, and, unhampered, makes one of his sudden swoops towards Siena, pausing on January 13 at Castel della ...
— The Life of Cesare Borgia • Raphael Sabatini
... The proof of it is that you can keep your factory open in a district where furs are rather scarce and have had very few mishaps. You can take that as a compliment." ...
— Blake's Burden • Harold Bindloss
... graciously acknowledged the compliment, and the guest flushed with pleasure. To perception less fine, there would have been food for unseemly mirth in his attire. Never in all her life before had Dorothy seen rough cow-hide boots, and grey striped trousers worn with a rusty and moth-eaten dress-coat in the middle of the afternoon. ...
— At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern • Myrtle Reed
... He bowed to the compliment, he demurred as to the smallness of his head, and he enjoyed the quotation immensely. With the same opponent he once tried a competition in verse-making. Both showed considerable skill, but the umpire decided that Louis ...
— Robert Louis Stevenson • Margaret Moyes Black
... the witch-doctoress say anything; she only fixed her beady eyes upon his face. Hadden returned the compliment, staring at her with all his might, till suddenly he became aware that he was vanquished in this curious duel. His brain grew confused, and to his fancy it seemed that the woman before him had shifted ...
— Black Heart and White Heart • H. Rider Haggard
... table, with a Foreign Office interpreter, all gold lace and decorations, on his other side. As soon as dinner began, the pasha conceived it incumbent on him to address my mother with a fine Turkish compliment, which, judging by the way he turned up his eyes, and laid his hands on his heart, and the bows he made her, must have been adorned with every flower of Oriental poetry. When his speech was finished, ...
— Memoirs • Prince De Joinville
... was said to have been the founder of a great many English churches, turned the temple into a Christian sanctuary. Then we hear that in 616 A.D., Sebert, King of Essex, founded an Abbey here, and dedicated it to St. Peter, "in order to balance the compliment he had made to St. Paul on Ludgate Hill." All this is very doubtful, but from the earliest times in history there has been shown a grave of Sebert as that of the founder ...
— Little Folks (July 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various
... would have been easier to bear, but, without exception, every declined manuscript had been accompanied with a warm commendation of the art that the critic chose to think was so misapplied. Often, walking up and down the length of that study with these letters of empty compliment crowding the mantelpiece, I felt like a captured tiger in a cage, being goaded and thrust at through the bars. And, together with this excessive longing of the brain to employ its power raged the useless, vehement desire for the woman, until in those moments of silent solitude, it seemed ...
— To-morrow? • Victoria Cross
... was whirred away, over streams, below great hanging rocks; but I thought not of the grandeur of the rocks nor of the beauty of the streams, for through my mind was running the delicious music of the first compliment that had ever been paid me. And I realized that I had outgrown the age of my awkwardness, that strength was of itself a grace to be admired, that I should feel thankful rather than remember with bitterness the days of my humiliation. I observed a woman looking at ...
— The Jucklins - A Novel • Opie Read
... send representatives from among their best musicians, England sent the Band of the Grenadier Guards; Germany, its great Prussian Band; France, the brilliant French Republic Band. King William of Prussia sent also, as a special compliment, his classical Court Cornet Quartet; and Ireland sent its best band. To this galaxy of star military bands, perhaps the greatest ever assembled, the United States added its own favorite Marine Band of Washington. At this second ...
— Music and Some Highly Musical People • James M. Trotter
... Ministers could well be advanced than that which Mr. Oppenheim puts forward as a corroboration of the accusation against them. He says that the victualling officials 'found no difficulty in arranging for 13,000 men in 1596 and 9200 in 1597 after timely notice.' This is really a high compliment, as it proves that the authorities were quite ready to, and in fact did, learn from experience. Mr. Oppenheim, however, is not an undiscriminating assailant of the Queen; for he remarks, as has been already said, that, 'how ...
— Sea-Power and Other Studies • Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge
... to his feet at once and took her hand in the usual Southern fashion, making a compliment upon her appearance, also in the usual Southern fashion. Then he realized that she had ceased to be a little girl in all other respects as well as in ...
— Before the Dawn - A Story of the Fall of Richmond • Joseph Alexander Altsheler
... was beforehand with us, and came here at seven o'clock to wish us a 'Happy New Year,' addressing each of the Fathers one after another. I returned his visit after Mass. (Another time we must be beforehand with him.) M. Giffard also came to see us. The hospital nuns sent us a letter of compliment early in the morning; the Ursulines also, with beautiful presents, wax candles, rosaries, a crucifix, and, at dinner, two excellent pigeon-pies. I sent them two images, in enamel, of St. Ignatius and St Francois Xavier. We gave to M. Giffard the 'Life of Our Lord,' by F. Bonnet; to M. des Chatelets, ...
— Picturesque Quebec • James MacPherson Le Moine
... the "orders" or decorations distributed in Europe. Thus in 671 the new King of Ts'u who had just murdered his predecessor, which predecessor had for the first time set the bad example of annexing petty orthodox Chinese principalities, received this compliment of sacrificial meat from the Emperor, together with a mild hint to "attack the barbarians such as Yiieh, but always to let the Chinese princes alone." Ts'i, Lu, Ts'in, and Yiieh on different occasions between ...
— Ancient China Simplified • Edward Harper Parker
... a boy—sacrebleu!" cried my uncle, in a voice of thunder. "Do you wish to dishonour yourself? And it is that old Mag there that you want! Well, I must compliment you, my young fellow! If you grow up with such tastes as that, you will never have any pleasure in life; and your comrades will call you a precious ninny. If you asked me for a sword or a gun, my boy, ...
— The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard • Anatole France
... the extraordinary compliment," said Sharlee, "of talking to you as others might talk about you behind your back—in fact, as everybody does talk about you behind your back. I do this on the theory that you are a serious and honest-minded man, sincerely interested in learning the truth about ...
— Queed • Henry Sydnor Harrison
... out of her. "Thank you very much for the compliment," says she. "I may say that the inquisition is over. However, I should like to have you remain a little longer, if you care to. Won't you leave your things in the hall there? Your ...
— Torchy • Sewell Ford
... flure so hard that his nose fell off an' rowled down on Mike Finnegan. 'I don't like th' play,' says Finnegan, 'an' I'll break ye'er nose,' he says; an' he done it. He's a wild divvle. Hogan thried to rayturn th' compliment on th' sidewalk afterward; but he cudden't think iv a pome, ...
— Mr. Dooley: In the Hearts of His Countrymen • Finley Peter Dunne
... by the voice of the people to declare publicly that "the capture of Valdivia was the happy result of an admirably-arranged plan and of the most daring execution," they refused to award either to him or to his comrades any other recompense than was contained in the verbal compliment; and, on his refusing to give up his prizes until the seamen had been paid their arrears of wages, he was threatened with prosecution for detention ...
— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B., Admiral of the Red, Rear-Admiral of the Fleet, Etc., Etc. • Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald
... saw such a girl! You don't know a compliment when you get it," said Meg, with the air of a young lady who ...
— Little Women • Louisa May Alcott
... entered the parlour and made his bow to Mrs. Dods, who, seeing what she called a decent, purpose-like body, and aware that his pocket was replenished with English and Scottish paper currency, returned the compliment ...
— St. Ronan's Well • Sir Walter Scott
... and forth alone through her long drawing-room. She was revolving in her mind a compliment, breathed into her ear by her friend Mrs. Talbot that day. Mrs. Talbot had heard from the mouth of one of Mrs. Dillingham's admirers the statement, confirmed with a hearty, good-natured oath, that he considered the fascinating ...
— Sevenoaks • J. G. Holland
... Perhaps you saw in The Times—I think it was in May last—the letter of an eminent American publisher, who not only resented the impeachment of his professional species, as "the Fagins of literature," but adroitly retorted the compliment upon divers respectable houses in London. You must have noticed his declaration, that the commercial house of which he is a member has uniformly exerted its influence on the side of right. With some qualification, I am happy to say that I believe ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. • Various
... point, and the American commissioner, after several months' delay, had a ship of 40 guns placed under the command of Jones. Her original name was the Duras, but at Jones's request it was changed to the Bonhomme Richard. This was in compliment to Franklin, who was often called "Poor Richard" by his admiring countrymen, because for many years he had published "Poor Richard's Almanac," filled ...
— Dewey and Other Naval Commanders • Edward S. Ellis
... having accomplished it I was especially indebted to the English officials, who afforded me both advice and assistance; their humanity, their cordial friendliness I shall ever remember. I again offer them my most sincere and warmest thanks; and the greatest compliment which I can pay them is the wish that my own countrymen, the Austrian consuls and ambassadors, ...
— A Woman's Journey Round the World • Ida Pfeiffer
... did they suspect each other's reserved knowledge, till the stranger came by. In Bolton, while we rested on the rails of a cottage fence, the strains of music which issued from within, probably in compliment to us, sojourners, reminded us that thus far men were fed by the accustomed pleasures. So soon did we, wayfarers, begin to learn that man's life is rounded with the same few facts, the same simple relations everywhere, and ...
— Excursions • Henry D. Thoreau
... heart was no longer soft. What a fool he had been, that day in the train, not to connect the girl's change of colour with his mention of O'Reilly! She might have blurted out her compliment to excuse the blush, instead of the blush having followed the compliment. Good heavens! could Justin O'Reilly have been the man from whom she wished ...
— The Lion's Mouse • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
... almost a smile stole over the Mayor's lip, as he received this compliment to his consummate craft, ...
— The Old Homestead • Ann S. Stephens
... American origin, among which were portraits of all the Presidents of the United States, previous to General Harrison. These, perhaps, were the gift of some merchant-captain to his hospitable landlady; or, more probably, they had been hung up in compliment to the national sensibilities of Madam Domingo's most frequent guests. Tawdry mirrors and chandeliers completed the decoration of the apartment. A supper of coffee and hard-boiled eggs, beds harder than the eggs, and ...
— Journal of an African Cruiser • Horatio Bridge
... courteous. recrimination &c. (accusation) 938; revenge &c. 919; compensation &c. 30; reaction &c. (recoil) 277. V. retaliate, retort, turn upon; pay, pay off, pay back; pay in one's own coin, pay in the same coin; cap; reciprocate &c. 148; turn the tables upon, return the compliment; give a quid pro quo &c. n., give as much as one takes, give as good as one gets; give and take, exchange fisticuffs; be quits, be even with; pay off old scores. serve one right, be hoist on one's own petard, throw a stone in one's own garden, catch a Tartar. Adj. retaliating ...
— Roget's Thesaurus • Peter Mark Roget
... to his bailiff, and built himself a lordly barrack on the ridge, commanding views that stretch from the moors to the sea. For this nine out of ten would commend him; but no true a Cleeve would ever have owned so much of audacity or disowned so much of tradition, and he has wasted a compliment on the perished family ...
— Two Sides of the Face - Midwinter Tales • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... Glascock was quite conscious of the advantages of his own position, and that his powers of talking about other matters than those with which he was immediately connected were limited. She did believe that he had in truth paid her the compliment of falling in love with her, and this is a compliment to which few girls are indifferent. Nora might perhaps have tried to fall in love with Mr. Glascock, had she not been forced to make comparisons ...
— He Knew He Was Right • Anthony Trollope
... snuffed the candle, and raised his spectacles on his brow. But I said to him, "Excuse freedoms, James, and be so good as resume your discourse." Then wishing to smooth him down, I added, by way of compliment—"Do go on; for you really are a prime reader. Nature surely intended ye for ...
— The Life of Mansie Wauch - tailor in Dalkeith • D. M. Moir
... one. A boy who can dodge over the roofs of Lahore city on a moonlight night, using every little patch and corner of darkness to discomfit his pursuer, is not likely to be checked by a line of well-trained soldiers. He paid them the compliment of crawling between a couple, and, running and halting, crouching and dropping flat, worked his way toward the lighted Mess-tent where, close pressed behind the mango-tree, he waited till some chance word should give him a ...
— Kim • Rudyard Kipling
... was like asking McLaughlin to make good on a ploughed field. But in spite of the fact that the whitewash fell off in flakes, there grew upon the wall a tall, gaunt figure with gleaming eyes and teeth. Chocolat paid it the highest compliment. He gave a wild howl and fled into the night. Then in quick succession, while the Frenchmen applauded each swift stroke, appeared the faces of the song writer, the comedian, the wounded man, and the commanding officer. It was ...
— With the French in France and Salonika • Richard Harding Davis
... Princess with a gay laugh. "I am sure that is a compliment a mon adresse. I know what you mean when you say that very quiet women are charming. Let us go away, Moricourt; we are ...
— The Arbiter - A Novel • Lady F. E. E. Bell |
