Then the earth for you is only a standing place – and whether to be like this is your loss or your gain I won’t pretend to say.
Those who tow’rds Acheron do not descend.
The real evils, indeed, of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments.
It was, in the night, as though I had been faced by my own reflection in the depths of a somber and immense mirror.
The word “ivory” rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.
L’atmosfera di burocrazia ucciderebbe qualsiasi cosa respirasse aria di sforzo umano, estinguerebbe parimenti speranza e timore sotto la supremazia di carta e inchiostro.
Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel, To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, Which of salvation’s way is the beginning.
It was unreal as everything else – as the philanthropic pretense of the whole concern, as their government, as their show of work.
Envy and Arrogance and Avarice Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.
It was only when it dawned upon me that the purloiner of the treasure need not necessarily be a confirmed rogue, that he could be even a man of character, an actor and possibly a victim in the changing scenes of a revolution, it was only then that I had the first vision of a twilight country which was to become the province of Sulaco, with its high shadowy Sierra and its misty campo for mute witnesses of events flowing from the passions of men short-sighted in good and evil.
It was unreal as everything else – as the philanthropic pretense of the whole concern, as their talk, as their government, as their show of work. The only real feeling was a desire to get appointed to a trading post where ivory was to be had, so that they could earn percentages.
He had a good healthy sense of meum, and as little of tuum as he could help.
And Mrs Verloc, in her varied experience, had come to the conclusion that some foreigners could speak better English than the natives.
I didn’t know what he was playing up to – if he was playing up to anything at all – and I suspect he did not know either; for it is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge.
But at the corner I stopped to take my last look at the crew of the Narcissus. They were swaying irresolute and noisy on the broad flagstones before the Mint. They were bound for the Black Horse, where men, in fur caps with brutal faces and in shirt sleeves, dispense out of varnished barrels the illusions of strength, mirth, happiness; the illusion of splendor and poetry of life, to the paid-off crews of southern-going ships.
I don’t know why we behaved like lunatics.
Now who art thou, that on the bench wouldst sit In judgment at a thousand miles away, With the short vision of a single span?
Is any man so foolish as to fear change, to which all things that once were not owe their being?
Gli idealismi impoveriscono la vita. Il renderla bella significa toglierle il suo carattere complesso; significa rovinarla.
His feelings were too much for speech, and suddenly he broke down.