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Defend   /dɪfˈɛnd/   Listen
Defend

verb
(past & past part. defended; pres. part. defending)
1.
Argue or speak in defense of.  Synonyms: fend for, support.
2.
Be on the defensive; act against an attack.
3.
Protect against a challenge or attack.  Synonyms: guard, hold.  "Hold the bridge against the enemy's attacks"
4.
Fight against or resist strongly.  Synonyms: fight, fight back, fight down, oppose.  "Don't fight it!"
5.
Protect or fight for as a champion.  Synonym: champion.
6.
Be the defense counsel for someone in a trial.  Synonym: represent.
7.
State or assert.  Synonym: maintain.



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"Defend" Quotes from Famous Books



... too adroit a fencer to yield readily to such a fate. Careful, at first, only to defend himself, he met each thrust and pass with a parry which deepened the frown on Winter's brow, and having retreated to the edge of the duelling ground, he there held his position despite the fierceness ...
— The Fifth of November - A Romance of the Stuarts • Charles S. Bentley

... necessary, as their conduct has been bad in this campaign, and their licentious ferocity seems pretty well tamed by the public contempt. Such of them as return in straggling and fugitive parties to the metropolis, have not spirit nor credit enough to defend themselves from the insults of the mob; the very children taunt them, and the populace spit in their faces as they pass. They refused, during the battle, to lend their assistance to save the baggage and the military ...
— Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M—y W—y M—e • Lady Mary Wortley Montague

... son of the Vrishni race, O thou irrepressible one, in thy absence today Salwa, coming to Dwaraka, hath by main force killed Vasudeva! Therefore, no need of battle any more. Cease, O Janardana! Do thou defend Dwaraka! This is thy principal duty!—Hearing these words of his, my heart became heavy, and I could not ascertain what I should do and what I should not. And, O hero, hearing of that great misfortune, I mentally censured Satyaki, and Baladeva, and also that mighty pradyumna. ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... (ROK) was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in the north (the DPRK). During the Korean War (1950-53), US troops and UN forces fought alongside soldiers from the ROK to defend South Korea from DPRK attacks supported by China and the Soviet Union. An armistice was signed in 1953, splitting the peninsula along a demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter, South Korea achieved rapid economic growth with per capita income rising to roughly ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... to you when I have refused two sisters? Princes! think you that you could defend me against heaven? To surrender yourselves to the serpent, whose coming I must await here, is but a despair ill-becoming great hearts; and to die when I die is to overwhelm a sensitive, soul, that already has ...
— Psyche • Moliere

... Courtenay and Christobal and Tollemache need not have striven to couch their warnings in ambiguous words. Elsie could have told them all that was left unsaid at breakfast. The ship had fought her own enemies; now the human beings she had saved must defend themselves from a foe against whom the ...
— The Captain of the Kansas • Louis Tracy

... heart entirely on eternity, and to aspire with the greatest ardor and most languishing desires to the enjoyment of God in perfect love. Pope Gregory X. had called a general council, the second of Lyons, with the view of extinguishing the Greek schism, and raising succors to defend the holy land against the Saracens. The ambassadors of the emperor Michael Palaeologus, together with the Greek prelates, were to assist at it. The council was to meet on the 1st of May, in 1274. His holiness, ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler

... mention this fact because it is notorious that Germany is engaged in a defensive war, and in a war for the upholding of the highest civilisation. The Germans came all the way across Belgium, and thus far into France, in order to defend themselves against attack. They defaced and destroyed all the beauties of Arras, and transformed it into a scene of desolation unsurpassed in France, so that the highest civilisation might remain secure and their own hearths intact. One wonders what the ...
— Over There • Arnold Bennett

... him, some foolish grief Should bring to light my secret with my tears. But, above all, I have believed it good To consecrate three days and nights entire To tears and prayers. However, may I ask Of you to-day, What friends have you prepared To second you? Will Abner, the brave Abner, Come to defend us? Has he taken oath To show ...
— Athaliah • J. Donkersley

... Indian, professing with all, to be an apostle of Christianity; he stirs them up to sedition, riot, treason! Instigates them to declare their independence of the laws of Massachusetts, and to arm themselves to defend it. ...
— Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts - Relative to the Marshpee Tribe: or, The Pretended Riot Explained • William Apes

... to defend the breach in the wall he fully realized the necessity of giving the alarm quickly, and did not stop to light his lamp until after scrambling over the ...
— Down the Slope • James Otis

... was always provided; that is, if he could blot out one remembrance: when he thought of the unjust punishment that had driven him forth, his pride rose, and his determination became as stubborn as ever. I do not defend Ben in this. He was clearly wrong. The best of parents may be unintentionally unjust at times, and this is far from affording an adequate excuse for a boy to leave home. But Ben had a great deal of pride, and I am only telling you ...
— Ben, the Luggage Boy; - or, Among the Wharves • Horatio Alger

... endeavoured to pluck up a great piece of stony earth by the roots. "Ho, ho!" cried Orlando, "you too are for throwing stones, are you?" Then Alabastro took his sling, and flung at him so large a fragment as forced Orlando to defend himself, for if it had struck him, he would no more have needed a surgeon;[1] but collecting his strength, he thrust his sword into the giant's breast, ...
— Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Volume 1 • Leigh Hunt

... gathered together at the Conference at Paris.... Let me, boys, my dear friends, express the hope that you may speedily be cured of your wounds, ready again to do willing service in the ranks of the glorious army that must be vigilant for some time yet, I fear, to defend, as Americans and Christians, the civilization you have so nobly saved from a ruthless foe.... Let us all join together in singing the hymn, 'Stand up, stand up for Jesus,' which I am ...
— Three Soldiers • John Dos Passos

... both for and against the pastor. His naturally inclined business habits contended against the proposition to give up the parsonage; his feelings of gratitude to the minister for his personal help the night of the attack by the mob rose up to defend him. There was with it all an under-current of self-administered rebuke that the pastor had set the whole church an example of usefulness. He wondered how many of the members would voluntarily give up half their incomes ...
— The Crucifixion of Philip Strong • Charles M. Sheldon

... notice of a star-predicated cataclysm, this cumulative evidence convinced, and doubtless the number and rank of the accusers alarmed the Emperor, then only in his seventeenth year. Michizane was not invited to defend himself. In the first year (901) of the Engi era, a decree went out stripping him of all his high offices, and banishing him to Dazai-fu in Kyushu as vice-governor. Many other officials were degraded as his partisans. The ex-Emperor, to whose pity he pleaded in a plaintive couplet, ...
— A History of the Japanese People - From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era • Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi

... of mankind! sustain The balanced world, and open all the main; Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend, At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend; How shall the Muse, from such a monarch, steal An hour, and ...
— The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 • Alexander Pope et al

... / that will I now declare. Instead of silken tunic / shall ye good hauberks wear, And for embroidered mantle / a trusty shield and wide, That ye may well defend you, / if ye must ...
— The Nibelungenlied - Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original • trans. by George Henry Needler

... for the Island of Elba, Monsieur Frere was by no means the last to blame my conduct, the motive of which he could not possibly know; but I am not willing to believe this, for it seems to me that in his place, if I thought I could not defend an absent friend, I should at least ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... the Valley campaign, Jackson handled his horsemen with more skill than any other commander, Confederate or Federal. A cavalry that could defend itself on foot as well as charge in the saddle was practically a new arm, of far greater efficiency than cavalry of the old type, and Jackson at once recognised, not only its value; but the manner in which it could be most effectively employed. He was not led away by the specious advantages, ...
— Stonewall Jackson And The American Civil War • G. F. R. Henderson

... about to attack or defend this impulse. I want you only to feel how it lies at the root of effort; especially of all modern effort. It is the gratification of vanity which is, with us, the stimulus of toil, and balm of repose; so closely does it touch the very springs of life that the wounding of ...
— Harvard Classics Volume 28 - Essays English and American • Various

... is what I have to defend. The truth of an idea is not a stagnant property inherent in it. Truth HAPPENS to an idea. It BECOMES true, is MADE true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its verifying itself, its veri-FICATION. Its validity is the ...
— Pragmatism - A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking • William James

... remaining in its right mind, it needs repression and control as much as the latter. If it is proper for the Assembly to restrain the King by refusing him subsidies, it is proper for him to be able to defend himself by appealing to the electors.—But, besides these extreme measures, which are dangerous and rarely resorted to, there is another which is ordinarily employed and is safe, that is, the right ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... their authenticity. Notwithstanding the erudition of the forger, these monuments of antiquity betrayed their modern condiment.[215] There were uncial letters which no one knew; but these were said to be undiscovered ancient Etruscan characters; it was more difficult to defend the small italic letters, for they were not used in the age assigned to them; besides that, there were dots on the letter i, a custom not practised till the eleventh century. The style was copied from the Latin of the Psalms and the Breviary; ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli

... my smaller revolver. "Hand that to me when I want it," I said. "If I'm killed, get up the stairs and defend yourself with it. Don't fire unless you have to. We are short of ammunition." I had but three shots in ...
— Blindfolded • Earle Ashley Walcott

... it—so furiously do the Jesuits drive, and even compel Princes to violent courses, and destruction of an excellent government both in Church and State. God of his infinite mercy open our eyes and turn our hearts, and establish his truth with peace! The Lord Jesus defend his little flock, and preserve ...
— Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) - Or A Discourse of Forest Trees • John Evelyn

... warmed within him and he said to himself, "The Swedish King is not in such poor circumstances as some of his enemies would believe. As long as my subjects remain as fine and wholesome as these are, I shall be able to defend successfully my crown and ...
— Short Stories of Various Types • Various

... about Sir Edwin Landseer's father. What did he do? Why were engravers not allowed to exhibit their work? What did Edwin's father do to defend his art? What did Edwin's brother, Thomas, accomplish? Why are we so indebted to him? Who taught Edwin how to draw? Tell about his brothers and their walks in the fields. What animal did Edwin draw first? Where was "Edwin's studio"? Which ...
— Stories Pictures Tell - Book Four • Flora L. Carpenter

... Germany and Italy, faced on their own borders with a democratic France allied with the Soviet Union in a military defense pact, would face a powerful enemy in the event of war. But if France were torn by a bloody civil war, she would be virtually unable even to defend her borders. Consequently, it is essential for Germany and Italy to weaken and if ...
— Secret Armies - The New Technique of Nazi Warfare • John L. Spivak

... all attempts at impairing the Union between Great Britain and Ireland can be made unimpeachable without reference to the Irish Land Question. It would be our duty to defend the Union as a bulwark of national safety, an instalment of Imperial consolidation, and a protection to the freedom of minorities in Ireland, even if it could be shown that agriculture, the chief ...
— Against Home Rule (1912) - The Case for the Union • Various

... to fall back on: if there is a principle of right in the world, which finally prevails, and I believe that there is; if there is a merciful but justice-loving God in heaven, and I believe that there is, we shall win; for we have right on our side, while those who oppose us can defend themselves by nothing in the moral law, nor even by anything in the enlightened ...
— The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man • James Weldon Johnson

... Mrs. Fazakerly was studying the Colonel, that it was her business to expound and defend him. She had implied, if it were only by the motion of an eyelid, that all they had heard hitherto was by way of prologue; that the Colonel had not yet put forth his full powers. Her effervescent remark was, as it were, the breaking of the champagne bottle, the signal ...
— The Return of the Prodigal • May Sinclair

... has an importance which we to-day might easily miss. It is not likely that any modern nation will soon again stand in the place that Rome then held. Our culture to-day seems firmly planted in three continents and our task is rather to diffuse it further and to develop its good qualities than to defend it. But the Roman Empire was the civilized world; the safety of Rome was the safety of all civilization. Outside was the wild chaos of barbarism. Rome kept it back from end to end of Europe and across a thousand miles of western ...
— The Romanization of Roman Britain • F. Haverfield

... wars, and established an enduring alliance between militarism and religion. The military profession became surrounded with all the ceremonies and paraphernalia of religion, without being in the least humanised by the alliance. The knight received his arms blessed by the Church, he was sworn to defend the Church, and he was as ready to turn his weapons against heretics in Europe as against infidels in Syria. Military persecutions of heretics assumed the form of a mania. There were crusades against the Moors in Spain, against ...
— Religion & Sex - Studies in the Pathology of Religious Development • Chapman Cohen

... endeavouring to force the passage of the stream somewhere in the neighbourhood of the ruined bridge: apparently they were unaware of the existence of the still weaker position which Carlos had undertaken to defend. Through some strange oversight or carelessness on the part of their commander, they were advancing in close order, and Jack felt that now was the moment when his twelve-pounder was likely to prove useful. He intended to captain ...
— The Cruise of the Thetis - A Tale of the Cuban Insurrection • Harry Collingwood

... it was instantly made clear that the sole idea controlling King, Cabinet, and the majority of Members was to bring the Massachusetts colonists to their senses by severe punitive legislation. The Whig opposition did not attempt to defend the destruction of the tea; but it spared no effort to make the Ministers see the folly of striking at effects and ignoring causes. In a masterly speech of April 19, 1774, Burke showed that the insistence on submission regardless of the grievances and of the nature {53} of the ...
— The Wars Between England and America • T. C. Smith

... whole city. Every eye, every shaft of ridicule is bent against me. 'Twere a stain which time could never efface should a subject of the prince reject my hand! Appease your father if you have the power! Defend yourself as you best may! my resolution is taken. The mine is fired and I abide ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... Those who defend theater-going say that if Christian people would patronize the theater that it would be made more respectable. But over a thousand years of history proves that this principle fails here as it does elsewhere. A Christian woman marries an unchristian man with the ...
— Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes • J. M. Judy

... in cages, worship them as divinities, and ask them to defend the people from evil. Yet they offer the bird in sacrifice, and when they are about to do so they pray to him, saying: "O precious divinity, O thou divine bird, pray listen to my words. Thou dost not belong to this world, for thy home is ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer

... explain the Gospel so clearly to us? Aid me, all pious Christians, to bewail this man of heavenly mind, and pray God for some other as divinely enlightened." He then exhorts Erasmus to "come forth, defend the truth, and deserve the martyr's crown, for thou art already an old man." Duerer had painted Erasmus's portrait at Brussels in 1520, and appears to have been intimate with that great man as he was with Melancthon, who said of Duerer, that "his least merit ...
— Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places • Frederick William Fairholt

... and winged heels, the essence of strength and sunny power; Jimsy King, collapsed in the arms of Yaqui Juan, failing her in the hour of her direst need. Jimsy, her lover, who had promised her she should never go alive into those dark and terrible hands ... Jimsy, who could not lift a finger now to defend her, or to put her beyond their grasp. It became intolerable to sit still. She sprang up and began to walk swiftly from wall to wall of the big room, her heels tapping sharply on the smooth red tiles. Josita lifted mournful eyes to stare at her for an instant and then ...
— Play the Game! • Ruth Comfort Mitchell

... the idea. I was merely supposing a dealing between friends, and in that sense I ventured to name the extreme limit to which I could go. Little more than five per cent, for my money, if I insure—and possibly to defend an action before I've been six months in possession. I think my offer will strike you as a great one, considering the posture of affairs. Indeed, I apprehend, my friends will hardly think me justified ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... fair Hesperian tree, Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard Of dragon watch with unenchanted eye To save her blossoms, or defend her fruit."—MILTON. ...
— Murad the Unlucky and Other Tales • Maria Edgeworth

... levied some forces which he designed against Hamburg,—pretending injuries done to him by that city in relation to his pretensions of dominion there, which probably might occasion a war between Denmark and that free city, which had strength and riches and people and wisdom to defend themselves; and Schuett advised Whitelocke that if this should be so, that then he should take his voyage some other way, and that it would be a great disturbance and danger to him to go by Hamburg and those quarters, which would be infested with soldiers, and ...
— A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol II. • Bulstrode Whitelocke

... Logan. The man feels for something to lay hand upon by which to defend himself. "I will not be taken alive; I will die here!" He clutches at last, above the bed, a gun. "Saved, saved!" He holds it tenderly, as if a child, or something dearly loved. He takes it to the light and looks at the lock; he blows in the barrel; ...
— Shadows of Shasta • Joaquin Miller

... the enemy had successfully held these defences against half the Army of the Potomac; and an attack without careful dispositions seemed to be mere waste of life. It would appear to be almost supererogatory to defend Sedgwick against reasonable ...
— The Campaign of Chancellorsville • Theodore A. Dodge

... affected her. She had done what she could. She had employed an attorney at the recommendation of a person who had come to interview her. She did not know who the person was nor why she should have employed this attorney at his suggestion, except that some one must be had to defend her husband, and uncertain what to do, she had gone to ...
— The Sleuth of St. James's Square • Melville Davisson Post

... defend us from the evil one, and deliver us all from temptation!" ejaculated the tailor: "Heroic Rover, I have a dread of the law. Should any evil overcome you, in the shape of a King's cruiser, or a tempest cast you on the land, there might be danger in being contaminated too closely with ...
— The Red Rover • James Fenimore Cooper

... soothed him into a more reasonable temper. Egil Olafsson was mad; there could be no question of that. Undoubtedly it was best to follow Valbrand's advice and keep out of his way,—at least until he could secure a weapon with which to defend himself. He stretched himself comfortably in the soft, dewy grass and waited until the revellers, splendid in shining mail and gay-hued mantles, clanked out to their horses and rode away. When the last of them shouted his farewell to Sigurd and disappeared amid the shadows of the wood-path, ...
— The Thrall of Leif the Lucky • Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

... forth to me, for lo, I'm come to you I May he who's wronged the victory get and God defend ...
— Tales from the Arabic Volumes 1-3 • John Payne

... enduring and no less wholesome in the province of Biblical exegesis. An idea of the impression he made may be gained from the fact that more than fifty super- commentaries were written on his commentary on the Pentateuch, to explain or to complete it, to defend it, and occasionally to combat it. But Rashi's influence was productive of still more than this. It called into being original works superior even to his own. His disciples shook off the yoke of Talmudic and Midrashic tradition that had rested upon him. But even when they surpassed him, it was ...
— Rashi • Maurice Liber

... guards which protect us from disaster, defect, and enmity, defend us, if we will, from selfishness and fraud. Bolts and bars are not the best of our institutions, nor is shrewdness in trade a mark of wisdom. Men suffer all their life long, under the foolish superstition that they can be cheated. But it is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... But as it is absolutely impossible to find in experience any example in accordance with this idea, because amongst the causes of things as phenomena it would be impossible to meet with any absolutely unconditioned determination of causality, we were only able to defend our supposition that a freely acting cause might be a being in the world of sense, in so far as it is considered in the other point of view as a noumenon, showing that there is no contradiction in regarding ...
— The Critique of Practical Reason • Immanuel Kant

... half eagerly, as she looked quickly round at me; and suddenly I saw her eyes fill. "Oh, why will you speak about him?" she burst out. "Why must you defend him, unless it's to go against me, as you always did and always will! I never knew anybody like you—never! I want you to take me away from these wretches, and all you do ...
— Dead Men Tell No Tales • E. W. Hornung

... to guard the palace had recovered quickly enough from their panic. They were lining up in the middle of the courtyard, ready to defend their honor, even if the palace should be lost. It was barely probable that Jaimihr's temper would permit them the privilege of dying quickly should he come and find his palace looted; a Rangar's sword seemed better, and they made ready to ...
— Rung Ho! • Talbot Mundy

... you in the instance of loue and peace, to conuey me to speake with the King, for I desire greatly to see him: or else yee that be his Vncles, if ye haue authoritie, to giue me answere to all my demaunds. Then the Earle of Buckingham sayd, syr king of Armenia, we be ordayned here to keepe and defend this passage, and the frontiers of England, by the King and his Counsell, and wee haue no charge to meddle any further with the businesse of the Realme, without we be otherwise commanded by the King. But sith ye be ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, v5 - Central and Southern Europe • Richard Hakluyt

... fighting just now, Bangs. But don't forget that I can defend myself if it's necessary," answered the young captain quickly. And then he added: "Now say what you've got to say or ...
— The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch - The Cowboys' Double Round-Up • Edward Stratemeyer

... things, their motions, tendencies, and power of resistance, from which he ascended, step by step, to the sublime science of astronomy. Being of an honest and frank, as well as benevolent disposition, he shunned not to state and defend theories at war with the then received opinions. All learning was, at that time, in the hands or under the supervision of the ecclesiastics, who were content to follow blindly the aristotelian philosophy, which, in many respects, was not unlike that still embraced ...
— Lectures on Language - As Particularly Connected with English Grammar. • William S. Balch

... Lord Baron of Hungerford Hath thee ouerseene, and verely he saith That thou art true, and thus he doeth record, Next the Gospel: God wotte it was his worde, When hee thee redde all ouer in a night. Goe forth trew booke, and Christ defend ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries - of the English Nation, v. 1, Northern Europe • Richard Hakluyt

... would await the French attack behind the fortresses on the Rhine. The French intended to cross the Rhine at once, at and below Strassburg, thus avoiding the great fortresses; and also, at the start, preventing the South-German army, which was destined to defend the Black Forest, from uniting with the North-Germans. To execute this plan it would have been imperative to assemble the main forces of the French army in Alsace. Railway accommodation, however, was so ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. X. • Kuno Francke

... is not lauchfull to feght, or to defend the fayth. (We translait according to the barbarousnes of ...
— The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6) • John Knox

... came back in reply: it put the finishing touch—his last doubts vanished. She did not attempt to defend herself; her only desire was to see him; she besought him ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VIII • Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.

... to their religion, are necessarily prone to defend any of the details in its ceremonials that age and practice have sanctioned, and even some of the later writings of Israelism seem to make the mezizah, or suction, a necessary and ceremonial detail. In the "Guimara," composed in the fifth century, ...
— History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present - Moral and Physical Reasons for its Performance • Peter Charles Remondino

... before the breaking out of the South African War, and the young fellow was one of many who were drafted from India, after a few months' service there, to help to defend their Queen's possessions and their countrymen's lives ...
— Seen and Unseen • E. Katharine Bates

... away all their honey, and often destroy their queens. In order to prevent this havoc, contract the entrance or entrances of the hive attempted to be robbed, so that a few bees only can enter at a time, by which means the old stocks will be better able to defend themselves. If, notwithstanding this narrowness of the passage, robbers attack a hive, the entrance should be instantly closed and kept so till the thieves are gone, and it will be advisable in the evening to examine the state of the hive, especially as to weight, and ...
— A Description of the Bar-and-Frame-Hive • W. Augustus Munn

... severity, and the most vexatious and grievous fact of all is, that the strong arm of the law of the land loses its power when it comes our turn to receive justice. The law either plays truant, or openly acknowledges that it has no power to defend us. But the God of law and {pg 199} justice, who broke down one form of slavery, will break down this, too. Still, there is a part for us to do. On this line, as on others, the man who needs help must help himself while he asks ...
— The American Missionary, Volume XLII. No. 7. July 1888 • Various

... God pilot me, may the power of God preserve me, may the wisdom of God instruct me, may the eye of God view me, may the ear of God hear me, may the word of God render me eloquent, may the hand of God protect me, may the way of God direct me, may the shield of God defend ...
— Irish Race in the Past and the Present • Aug. J. Thebaud

... have no right to dictate to you. He who is incapable of fighting has no right to decide when the fighting shall cease; nay, I have hardly a right to tell you my views, because I fear that they may influence your high-hearted minds; besides which, unfortunately, I do not know the men who defend me; I can not judge of their mood or of their strength. I confidently leave every thing to you, and place the fate of my nearest and dearest in your hands. May Heaven reward you for what you do for me. Yet not for me—for ...
— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag

... communion, heartily devoted the day to the extermination of Jews. To judge them by a fixed standard, to call them sacrilegious fanatics or furious hypocrites, was to yield a gratuitous victory to Voltaire. It became a rule of policy to praise the spirit when you could not defend the deed. So that we have no common code; our moral notions are always fluid; and you must consider the times, the class from which men sprang, the surrounding influences, the masters in their schools, the preachers in their pulpits, the movement they obscurely obeyed, and so on, until ...
— A Lecture on the Study of History • Lord Acton

... also sent military help for Serbia. It was dictated to Great Britain by the highest strategic reasons to send troops to Serbia, to the Danube, in order to stop the Germans there, to hinder their junction with the Bulgars, to annihilate all their plans and dreams regarding the East, to defend Serbia not only as Serbia, but as the gate of Egypt and India, and so to protect in the proper place and in the most efficacious manner her oriental Dominions. But seemingly England sent her troops to Serbia more to protect her honour than her Dominions, more to ...
— Serbia in Light and Darkness - With Preface by the Archbishop of Canterbury, (1916) • Nikolaj Velimirovic

... that when a hyena is forced to kill for himself, he invariably hunts for a dog. It has become very important to me that dog flesh is their first choice. And dogs never fight hyenas; never even to defend their own lives. They may bark or howl while the hyena is some distance away, but as soon as it comes near they are silent; and when it approaches them, they simply cower and submit. Not only that, but it is beyond question that hyenas have the power to call dogs to ...
— Son of Power • Will Levington Comfort and Zamin Ki Dost

... external and internal; the external are such as all can comprehend; as: 1. That a widow cannot provide for herself and her family the necessaries of life, nor dispose of them when acquired, as a man can and as she previously did by and with her husband. 2. That neither can she defend herself and her family as is expedient; for, while she was a wife, her husband was her defence, and as it were her arm; and while she herself was her own (defence and arm), she still trusted to her husband. 3. That of herself she is deficient of counsel in such ...
— The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love • Emanuel Swedenborg

... Dublin Castle James determines to go to Ulster Journey of James to Ulster The Fall of Londonderry expected Succours arrive from England Treachery of Lundy; the Inhabitants of Londonderry resolve to defend themselves Their Character Londonderry besieged The Siege turned into a Blockade Naval Skirmish in Bantry Bay A Parliament summoned by James sits at Dublin A Toleration Act passed; Acts passed for the Confiscation of the Property of Protestants ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 3 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... why? Because from the hour when he first tastes the splendid reality of living he forgets more and more his individual self. No longer does he fight for it, or pit its strength against the strength of others. No longer does he care to defend or to feed it. Yet when he is thus indifferent to its welfare, the individual self grows more stalwart and robust, like the prairie grasses and the trees of untrodden forests. It is a matter of indifference to him whether ...
— Light On The Path and Through the Gates of Gold • Mabel Collins

... mean your comfortable rich—seem to have taken a kind of oath of self-preservation. To do what is expected of one, to succeed, you must take the oath. You must defend their institutions, and ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... seeking shelter and safety in their peninsula, and upon fortifying themselves by a wall across the Corinthian isthmus. On the approach of the danger the Athenians had sent to Delphi to consult the oracle about the means they should employ for their safety, and the god had commanded Athens to defend herself behind wooden walls. This oracle, which probably had been given at the suggestion of Themistocles, was now also interpreted by him as referring to the fleet, and his advice to seek safety in the fleet was followed. He ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 3 of 8 • Various

... that wild hogs will not attack a man unless hunted or enraged; but as they are not only daring, but also very cautious and watchful, they suspect the least approach to be offensive, and proceed to defend themselves. ...
— Harper's Young People, February 17, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... which now inhabit or have lately inhabited several oceanic islands, tenanted by no beast of prey, has been caused by disuse. The ostrich indeed inhabits continents and is exposed to danger from which it cannot escape by flight, but by kicking it can defend itself from enemies, as well as any of the smaller {135} quadrupeds. We may imagine that the early progenitor of the ostrich had habits like those of a bustard, and that as natural selection increased in successive generations the size and weight of its body, its legs ...
— On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection • Charles Darwin

... Spanish, and to cork up the river again, whenever the whim may take her. The United States are not a German Confederation, but a unitary and indivisible nation, with a national life to protect, a national power to maintain, and national rights to defend against any and every assailant, at all hazards. Our national existence is all that gives value to American citizenship. Without the respect which nothing but our consolidated character could inspire, we might as well be citizens of the toy-republic ...
— The Writings of James Russell Lowell in Prose and Poetry, Volume V - Political Essays • James Russell Lowell

... makes Christianity what it is, and which makes it different from all other religions which have flung their clouds or their rainbows over human spirits. It is the religion of love: and a man may speak with a seraph's burning tongue to defend Christianity; he may give his goods to feed the poor in obedience to the precepts of Christianity; he may even burn at the stake rather than renounce Christianity as his intellectual creed; but if he does not love, he is no Christian. ...
— Love to the Uttermost - Expositions of John XIII.-XXI. • F. B. Meyer

... advanced age, ought to take an interest in new ideas, and to accept them, if he finds them true. 'That was very strongly the opinion of my friend Lyell,' he said; 'but he pushed it so far as sometimes to yield to the first objection, and I was then obliged to defend him against himself.' Darwin had more firmness in his opinions, whether from temperament, or because he had ...
— Life of Charles Darwin • G. T. (George Thomas) Bettany

... flashes, that, unless he went to Wendover, he could never meet Squire MUREWELL, whose powerful arguments were to drive him from positions he had never qualified himself, except by an irrational enthusiasm, to defend. Of CATHERINE a word must be said. Cold, with the delicate but austere firmness of a Westmoreland daisy, gifted with fatally sharp lines about the chin and mouth, and habitually wearing loose grey gowns, with bodices to match, she was admirably calculated, with her narrow, meat-tea ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 99., October 25, 1890 • Various

... "I'll defend her nevertheless, and see to it that you come to grief if you attempt to harm her in any way whatever. Did he hurt you much, my child?" And Mr. Travilla's tone changed to one of tender concern as he turned and addressed Elsie, who had sunk ...
— Elsie's Girlhood • Martha Finley

... guests at that quilting was the wife of Farmer Green, Maddy's warmest friend in Honedale, and the one who did her best to defend her against the attacks of those whose remarks she well knew were caused more by envy than any personal dislike to Maddy, who used to be so much of a pet until her superior advantages separated her in ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes

... artful oration, in which, while affecting to condemn what he dared not defend openly, he had more than insinuated a doubt of the legality of sentencing the traitors, was listened to by all present, with deep attention; and by the secret partizans of the conspiracy with joy and exultation. ...
— The Roman Traitor (Vol. 2 of 2) • Henry William Herbert

... that he thought my offer was based on a misunderstanding; and, as far as I can make out, Sir E. Grey never took my offer into serious consideration. He never answered it. Instead, he declared England had to defend Belgian neutrality, which had to be violated by Germany on strategical grounds, news having been received that France was already preparing to enter Belgium, and the King of Belgians having refused my petition for a free passage under guarantee of his country's ...
— My Four Years in Germany • James W. Gerard

... be mere presumption on my part either to attack or defend Darwin, but my indignation was roused at seeing him misrepresented and treated disdainfully. I would wish, too, that the "Savoyard" would have condescended to notice that little matter of the bear. I have searched my copy of Darwin again and again to find anything relating ...
— Samuel Butler's Canterbury Pieces • Samuel Butler

... with just those occasional leaps to the surface of passionate, or scornful, or chivalrous feeling which made her interesting. Her devotion to her mother was plain. She espoused all her mother's opinions with vehemence, and would defend her actions, in the family or out of it, through thick and thin. But there were those who wondered how long the subservience would last, supposing the ...
— The Coryston Family • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... the Marquis de Caranen, "that the three great trades of the world are, the lawyers, who govern the world; the Churchmen who enjoy the world; and a sort of fellows whom they call soldiers, who make it their work to defend ...
— Among Famous Books • John Kelman

... suddenly conscious of a great outflow of gratitude to Sidonie. She said to herself that, after all, it was to her generosity that she owed this semblance of happiness, and that thought gave her courage to defend ...
— Fromont and Risler, Complete • Alphonse Daudet

... yourself. My wife and I will, a week hence, give out that we are going to fetch a cousin of my wife's to stay here with her; and when we return no suspicion will be excited that she is other than she seems. Should it be otherwise, I need not say that Sir Baldwin of Bethune will defend his castle against any of the minions of Prince John. But I have no fear that her presence here will be discovered. What think you of doing in ...
— The Boy Knight • G.A. Henty

... paragraphs about him in grave reviews, and flattering references to him in speeches made at learned conventions. He had friends whose names he had never heard, and enemies, too, ready to attack him on the one side and to defend him on the other. Some praised his modesty, and others called it affectation. His experience of the wider world was short, so far, and he did not understand that it had taken people a year to appreciate his success. He had hoped for immediate recognition of his great services to archaeology, ...
— The Heart of Rome • Francis Marion Crawford

... sort of forks I have." Rothenstein said "yes, I did not know you dined here that often." Some one asked him why he wore his hair long, "To test your manners" he answered. He is a disciple of Whistler's and Wilde's and said "yes, I defend them at the risk of their lives." Did I tell you of his saying "It is much easier to love one's family than to like them." And when some one said "Did you hear how Mrs. B. treated Mr. C., (a man he dislikes) he said, "no, but I'm ...
— Adventures and Letters • Richard Harding Davis

... by the time we land see through the whole thing, and will thrust aside anyone who endeavours to prevent them from resisting the invader on the frontier. I only hope that we may be there in time to prevent any act of violence. What Gloria has to do now is to defend and to maintain her national existence; we have no time for the trial or the punishment of worthless or ...
— The Dictator • Justin McCarthy

... by all means, even by force of arms, to defend itself both by land and sea, against all who should attempt injury to the plantation or its inhabitants, and that in their opinion, any imposition prejudicial to the country, contrary to any just law of theirs, (not ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 (of 5) • John Marshall

... glorious, her waterfalls grand, And her songs still proclaim, as they ring through the glen, The charms of her maids and the worth of her men. Her thistle shall cease in the breezes to wave, And the floweret to bloom on the patriot's grave, Ere we cease to defend, with our heart and our hand, The freedom and faith of our ain ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume IV. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various

... several causes. In Europe there are numerous parties so diametrically opposed to the majority, that they can never hope to acquire its support, and at the same time they think that they are sufficiently strong in themselves to struggle and to defend their cause. When a party of this kind forms an association, its object is, not to conquer, but to fight. In America, the individuals who hold opinions very much opposed to those of the majority, are no sort of impediment to its power; and all other parties hope ...
— American Institutions and Their Influence • Alexis de Tocqueville et al

... into it?" said Frances. She was thinking of the Royal Navy turning out to the last destroyer to save England from invasion; of the British Army most superfluously prepared to defend England from the invader, who, after all, could not invade; of Indian troops pouring into England if the worst came to the worst. She had the healthy British mind that refuses and always has refused to acknowledge the possibility of disaster. ...
— The Tree of Heaven • May Sinclair

... have several reasons,—one, that if you say anything about the Act of 1844, it is little matter what else you say, for few will attend to it. Most critics will seize on the passage as to the Act, either to attack it or defend it, as if it were the main point. There has been so much fierce controversy as to this Act of Parliament—and there is still so much animosity—that a single sentence respecting it is far more interesting ...
— Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market • Walter Bagehot

... bear it: for myself, I never was so much enticed with the glorious name of a king, or the royal authority of a queen, as delighted that God hath made me his instrument to maintain his truth and glory, and to defend this kingdom from dishonour, damage, tyranny, and oppression. But should I ascribe any of these things to myself or my sexly weakness, I were not worthy to live, and of all most unworthy of the mercies I have received at God's hands, but ...
— A Book of English Prose - Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools • Percy Lubbock

... that fine spirit of his which had ever prompted him to defend the weak against the oppressor, stirred him now, and stirred him to such purpose that, in the end, from taking up the burden of his task reluctantly, he came to bear it zestfully and almost gladly. He was ...
— St. Martin's Summer • Rafael Sabatini

... Holt, to see you gathered into the fold. I know our great High Priest would make much of a man like you. The Saints have many enemies; and need strong arms and stout hearts such as yours, Hickman Holt. The Lord has given to his Prophet the right to defend the true faith—even with carnal weapons, if others fail; and woe be to them who make war on us! Let them dread ...
— The Wild Huntress - Love in the Wilderness • Mayne Reid

... same time taking away Pascoe's wife, Lander lost all command over himself, and was determined to sell his life as dearly as he could. He encouraged his men to arm themselves with their paddles, and defend themselves to the last. He instantly seized hold of Pascoe's wife, and with the assistance of another of his men dragged her from the fellow's grasp. Pascoe at the same time levelled a blow at his head with one of their iron-wood ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish

... good lawyer himself, and he employed an able man to defend the will. We determined that in this crisis we would stand by Poppas, believing it would be Cressida's wish. Out of the lot of them, he was the only one who had helped her to make one penny of the money that ...
— Youth and the Bright Medusa • Willa Cather

... no duty more certain or fixed in the world than that which calls upon a brother to defend his sister from ill-usage; but, at the same time, in the way we live now, no duty is more difficult, and we may say generally more indistinct. The ill-usage to which men's sisters are most generally exposed is ...
— The Way We Live Now • Anthony Trollope

... superhuman effort it had been to her to overcome her shrinking from mentioning, not her previous poverty, but her personal experience. She had sacrificed her natural reserve, which he could see was great; she had even set good taste at defiance to defend Hester Gresley's book. Hugh had shuddered as he heard her speak. He felt that he could not have obtruded himself on so mixed an assembly. Yet he saw that it had cost her more to do so than ...
— Red Pottage • Mary Cholmondeley

... partly protective, partly beneficent, like the chaff and grain of the corn; but none without their use, none without nobleness when seen in balanced unity with the rest of the spirit which they are charged to defend. The passions of which the end is the continuance of the race; the indignation which is to arm it against injustice, or strengthen it to resist wanton injury; and the fear[63] which lies at the root of ...
— The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3) • John Ruskin

... say the lyric is larded with passionate sonnets. The elegiac weeps the want of his mistress. And that even to the heroical, Cupid hath ambitiously climbed. Alas, Love! I would thou couldst as well defend thyself as thou canst offend others. I would those on whom thou dost attend could either put thee away or yield good reason why they keep thee. But grant love of beauty to be a beastly fault, although it be very hard, sith only man ...
— English literary criticism • Various

... straight when I knew her," remarked the other, in the tone of one who wishes to defend a memory. "Straight as ...
— Cavanaugh: Forest Ranger - A Romance of the Mountain West • Hamlin Garland

... ripe for profiting by precious time that could not last long. Everybody smiled upon the project of M. du Maine and Madame de Maintenon. They had rendered M. d'Orleans odious in the eyes of the King and of the whole country, by the most execrable calumnies. How could he defend himself? shut up as the King was, how oppose them? how interfere with their dark designs? M. du Maine wished not only to be made prince of the blood, but to be made guardian of the heir to the throne, ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... probably some active co-operation in the western country as soon as the armies of the Republic appeared on Canadian soil and won, as they confidently expected, an easy victory over the small force which could be brought to check invasion and defend the province. General Hull's proclamation, when he crossed the Detroit River at the commencement of hostilities, was so much evidence of the belief that was entertained in the United States with regard to the fealty of the Canadians. Willcocks proved himself ...
— Canada • J. G. Bourinot

... tragically dominant over them. There were many things that they could not say to each other,—from pride, from shame, from the inadequacy of words. Neither could utter the name of Gerald Scales. And Aunt Harriet could not stoop to defend herself from a possible charge of neglect; nor could Mrs. Baines stoop to assure her sister that she was incapable of preferring such a charge. And the sheer, immense criminal folly of Sophia could not even be referred to: it was unspeakable. So the ...
— The Old Wives' Tale • Arnold Bennett

... not pretend to defend Carrie, whose conduct was hardly respectful enough to her mother; but with all her faults she had a warm heart, while her mother had always been cold ...
— Adrift in New York - Tom and Florence Braving the World • Horatio Alger

... remain passive,' she resumed, while he charges me before the proper court, with infidelity, and gains a divorce through failure on my part to stand forth and defend myself. This, or a public trial of the case, at which he pledges himself to have witnesses who will prove me criminal, is my dreadful alternative. If he gains a divorce quietly on the charge of infidelity, ...
— The Allen House - or Twenty Years Ago and Now • T. S. Arthur

... also detected one such case with birds, but we have none with the larger quadrupeds. The much greater frequency of imitation with insects than with other animals, is probably the consequence of their small size; insects cannot defend themselves, excepting indeed the kinds furnished with a sting, and I have never heard of an instance of such kinds mocking other insects, though they are mocked; insects cannot easily escape by ...
— On the Origin of Species - 6th Edition • Charles Darwin

... suggested to Mr Robarts, the parson of Framley, that he should endeavour to induce his old acquaintance, Mr Crawley, to employ a lawyer to defend him at his trial, and Mr Robarts had not forgotten the commission which he had undertaken. But there were difficulties in the matter of which he was well aware. In the first place Mr Crawley was a man whom it had not at any time been ...
— The Last Chronicle of Barset • Anthony Trollope

... reflections, I wished to show that somnambulism must not be rejected a priori, especially by those who have kept well up with the recent progress of the physical sciences. I have indicated some facts, some resemblances, by which magnetizers might defend themselves against those who would think it superfluous to attempt new experiments, or even to see them performed. For my part, I hesitate not to acknowledge it, although, notwithstanding the possibilities that I have pointed out, ...
— Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men • Francois Arago

... frequently desire that they should forget their former errours, and absolutely change their manner of thinking. They should feel no interest in adhering to former bad habits or false opinions; therefore, their pride should not be roused to defend these by our making them a part of their standing character. The character of children is to be formed—we should never speak of it as positively fixed. Man has been defined to be a bundle of habits; till the bundle is made up, we may continually increase or diminish ...
— Practical Education, Volume I • Maria Edgeworth

... loyalty with which they had supported the cause of Constantius. The rest of his servants were protected by a general act of oblivion; and they were left to enjoy with impunity the bribes which they had accepted, either to defend the oppressed, or to oppress the friendless. This measure, which, on the soundest principles of policy, may deserve our approbation, was executed in a manner which seemed to degrade the majesty of the throne. Julian was tormented by the importunities ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon

... rattlesnakes, the copperhead, moccasin, and coral snakes. All these, however, are remarkably pacific. Without exception they are non-aggressive, and they attack only when they think they are exposed to danger, and must defend themselves or die. Hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of our people have tramped through the woods and slept in the sage-brush and creosote bushes of the rattlesnake, and waded through swamps full of moccasins, with never a bite. In America only about two persons per year are ...
— The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals • William T. Hornaday

... to defend myself, thinking it too bad to be blamed for another's wicked waywardness. 'I knew Mrs. Linton's nature to be headstrong and domineering,' cried I: 'but I didn't know that you wished to foster her ...
— Wuthering Heights • Emily Bronte

... the enemy of his country. Even in war he does not fight to defend it, but to prevent his power of preying on it from passing to a foreigner. Such combatants are patriots in the same sense as two dogs fighting for a ...
— Maxims for Revolutionists • George Bernard Shaw

... persisted Mr. Bolingbroke, who was now come to such a pass, that he would defend his opinion in opposition to hers, stoutly and warmly. "Yes, polite, my dear, I maintain it; the most polite people pronounce ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. 6 • Maria Edgeworth

... so varied, so original, so animated. Every corporation, every society was ambitious of the honour of assisting in the erection of the altar of the country: all wished to contribute, by individual labour, to the arrangement of the place where they were to swear to defend the constitution. Not a man, woman, or child remained an idle spectator. On this occasion, the aged seemed to have recovered the vigour of youth, and women and children to have acquired the strength ...
— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon

... "To defend the ship," said I; "to give warning of approaching danger; to prevent men going out of the ship without leave; but never to take away the life of a man unless in defence of their own, or when the safety of the king's ...
— Frank Mildmay • Captain Frederick Marryat

... ministers as to the determination now being formed in the palace. By the very statement of the question it was resolved upon. Guizot and Duchatel thus expressed it to the King: "It is for your Majesty to decide. The Cabinet is ready either to defend to the last the King and conservative policy which we profess, or to accept without a murmur the King's determination to call other men to power. At present, more than ever, in order to continue the struggle successfully, the Cabinet has need of the King's decided support. ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 17 • Charles Francis Horne

... they should dare to utter such abominations!" ejaculated the cavaliere. "Why, Enrica lives the life of a nun! I doubt if she has ever seen Nobili—certainly she has never spoken to him. Let Malatesta, and the young scoundrels at the club, attack the married women. They can defend themselves. But, to calumniate an innocent girl!—it is horrible!—it is unmanly! His highness the Duke of Lucca would have banished the wretch forthwith. Ah! Italy is going to the devil!—Now, Baldassare," he ...
— The Italians • Frances Elliot

... upon it I must suppose that my conduct during the next week or so would be condemned by most right-thinking people as ungentlemanly and even dishonourable. I have no inclination to defend it; and I could not affirm that, at the time, I loved honour more than Cynthia Lane. To speak the naked truth, I believe I would have committed forgery, if by doing so I could have won Cynthia for my wife. The one and only way in which I showed ...
— The Record of Nicholas Freydon - An Autobiography • A. J. (Alec John) Dawson

... be pretty well fixed to defend themselves," said Ben, who was lying flat on the rocky edge of the canon wall, ...
— Ted Strong in Montana - With Lariat and Spur • Edward C. Taylor

... seek the favor of the men of this world he will be trampled down and slain. Will the God in whom he trusts defend him?" ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 52, February, 1862 • Various

... responsibilities and those of the Southern leaders who are organising for war. "You," he says, "have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy this government, while I have the most solemn oath to preserve, direct, and defend it." ...
— Abraham Lincoln • George Haven Putnam



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