A great oration may be a sedative A male devotee is within an inch of a miracle Above Nature, I tell him, or, we shall be very much below As in all great oratory! The key of it is the pathos Back from the altar to discover that she has chained herself Cupid clipped of wing is a destructive parasite Excess of a merit is a capital offence in morality His idea of marriage is, the taking of the woman into custody I am a discordant instrument I do not readily vibrate I like him, I like him, of course, but I want to breathe I who respect the state of marriage by refusing Love and war have been compared--Both require strategy Peace, I do pray, for the husband-haunted wife Period of his life a man becomes too voraciously constant Pitiful conceit in men Rejoicing they have in their common agreement Self-worship, which is often self-distrust Suspects all young men and most young women Their idol pitched before them on the floor Were I chained, For liberty I would sell liberty Woman descending from her ideal to the gross reality of man Your devotion craves an enormous exchange MISCELLANEOUS PROSE [GM#104][GN04V10.TXT]4498 A very doubtful benefit Americans forgivingly remember, without mentioning As becomes them, they do not look ahead Charges of cynicism are common against all satirists Fourth of the Georges Here and there a plain good soul to whom he was affectionate Holy images, and other miraculous objects are sold It is well to learn manners without having them imposed on us Men overweeningly in love with their creations Must be the moralist in the satirist if satire is to strike Not a page of his books reveals malevolence or a sneer Petty concessions are signs of weakness to the unsatisfied Statesman who stooped to conquer fact through fiction The social world he looked at did not show him heroes The exhaustion ensuing we named tranquillity Utterance of generous and patriotic cries is not sufficient We trust them or we crush them We grew accustomed to periods of Irish fever THE ENTIRE SHORT WORKS OF GEORGE MEREDITH [GM#105][GN05V10.TXT]4499