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verb
Please  v. t.  (past & past part. pleased; pres. part. pleasing)  
1.
To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy. "I pray to God that it may plesen you." "What next I bring shall please thee, be assured."
2.
To have or take pleasure in; hence, to choose; to wish; to desire; to will. "Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he." "A man doing as he wills, and doing as he pleases, are the same things in common speech."
3.
To be the will or pleasure of; to seem good to; used impersonally. "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." "To-morrow, may it please you."
To be pleased in or To be pleased with, to have complacency in; to take pleasure in.
To be pleased to do a thing, to take pleasure in doing it; to have the will to do it; to think proper to do it.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Please" Quotes from Famous Books



... want to corrupt you, grandpa—live honestly," he would jest in a somewhat unbecoming familiar tone, which I tolerated simply because I wished to please the Warden of the prison, having learned from the prisoner the real cause of his sufferings, which sometimes assumed an acute form of violence and threats. During one of these painful minutes, when K.'s will power was weak, as a result of insomnia, from which he was suffering, I seated ...
— The Crushed Flower and Other Stories • Leonid Andreyev

... now. I'm sure he is a man of compliments. He tells me grand things about my disinterestedness, and the creditors and they have promised to let us stay unmolested as long as I please, which will be only till my uncle can move, for I must get rid of all these servants and paraphernalia, and in the meantime they are concocting the amicable adjustment, and Mr. Morrison said he should try to stipulate for ...
— Dynevor Terrace (Vol. II) • Charlotte M. Yonge

... the Popess with frigidity. "You remember that we have lived many years without seeing each other, and we can go on in the same way for the rest of our lives. Do as you please. Henceforward you and I will be like people of different blood; we think along different lines; we cannot ...
— The Dead Command - From the Spanish Los Muertos Mandan • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... in a low, earnest voice, at the same time shaking his finger slowly and fixing his eyes on the plethoric creature before him—"frog, you may believe it or not as you please, but I do solemnly assure you that I never did behold such a great, big, fat monster as you are in all—my—life! What do you mean ...
— The Gorilla Hunters • R.M. Ballantyne

... I can't love him. I will do anything else that you please. He may have the house if he wants it. I will promise;—promise never to go away again or to see anybody." But she might as well have addressed such prayers to a figure of stone. On such a matter as this Madame Staubach could ...
— Linda Tressel • Anthony Trollope

... Why should I and the Count murder poor Mark, if you please? He was a fool and a bore, but I wished him no harm. I was sorry as any one when I heard of his death, and I offered a good reward for the catching of the mean skunk that killed him. If I had done so myself I wouldn't have been such a fool as to sharpen the scent of the ...
— The Silent House • Fergus Hume

... No, please be seated. [With rising excitement.] When the hour of my restoration strikes—when they see that they cannot get on without me—when they come to me, here in the gallery, and crawl to my feet, and beseech me to take the reins of the bank again——! The new bank, that they have founded ...
— John Gabriel Borkman • Henrik Ibsen

... beautiful place; [Says-Court, the well-known residence of John Evelyn, Esq.] but it being dark and late, I staid not; but Dean Wilkins and Mr. Hooke and I, walked to Redriffe; and noble discourse all day long did please me. ...
— The Diary of Samuel Pepys • Samuel Pepys

... open the box if you please," she said, indicating her command to Winthrop; "and I will take out a few, till I get ...
— Hills of the Shatemuc • Susan Warner

... to the ordinary trip-tickets, monthly time-tickets are issued to travellers, allowing the holders to travel when and where they please within the limits of the state on all roads and lake-steamers. These are sold to the traveller for about two-thirds the price of the 1,000-mile book of the American railway. The carriage roads have no superiors, and they ...
— Commercial Geography - A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges • Jacques W. Redway

... you say, we are both women of the same noble House; you would reject the suit of my brother, yet you have seen him; his the form to please the eye, his the arts that allure the fancy. He offers to you rank, wealth, your father's pardon and recall. If I could remove the objections which your father entertains, prove that the count has less wronged him ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... word!" she cried rapturously. "What does it mean? Something nice, or I'm sure you wouldn't have said it about me. Would you?" The eyes suddenly became grave. "Oh, please ...
— The Claim Jumpers • Stewart Edward White

... this, if you please, and it will always be agreeable to me that, when I receive a letter from you, I shall know you still remember me. I have your picture in my room. I never pass it without stopping to look at it. If a picture, which is but a mute representation of an object, can give such ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol IX. • Edited by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton

... too invertebrate a type to survive the trial of actual contact with affairs. The practical difficulty of the constitutional problem gave the "court parson''—as Gneisenau had contemptuously called him—excuse enough for a change of front which, incidentally, would please his exalted patrons. He covered his defection from Hardenberg's liberal constitutionalism by a series of "philosophical'' treatises on the nature of the state and of man, and became the soul of the reactionary movement at the Berlin court, and the faithful henchman ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... doe expect that he should excuse himselfe, and I will take the least excuse, without any further inquirie, as lovingly as if he had given the greatest gift." He was tender-hearted to his curates, for he says, "Neither doe I write this to Curates or Lecturers, unlesse themselves please to bestow; only I do expect from them that they acquaint the parsons and vicars, and ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.] • H. J. L. J. Masse

... "Please yourself, my dear fellow," he answered. "I know it is hard to believe ill of a woman whom one loves so devotedly as you've loved Ethelwynn. But be brave, bear up, and face the situation ...
— The Seven Secrets • William Le Queux

... well suited to please an Eastern audience: it was followed by a proceeding of equal barbarity and still more thoroughly Oriental. The Parthians, in derision of the motive which was supposed to have led Crassus to make his attack, had a quantity of gold melted and poured ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia • George Rawlinson

... "Please yourself!" the Maluka laughed, and with a flash of white teeth and an infectious chuckle Cheon laughed and nodded back; then, still chuckling, he waddled away to the kitchen and took possession there, ...
— We of the Never-Never • Jeanie "Mrs. Aeneas" Gunn

... reached my headquarters when your humble servant was busily engaged elsewhere. Thy father, the Senior B. Day, is safe. He has never for a moment been in danger. The embargo is now lifted and he may write to thee, sweet senorita, as he may please. The enemy has been driven from this fair section of my troubled land, and the smile of peace rests upon us as it rests ...
— How Janice Day Won • Helen Beecher Long

... for this month and year of the North American Review was duly received, and for which please accept my thanks. Of course I am not the most impartial judge; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article entitled "The President's Policy" will be of value to the country. I fear I am not worthy of all ...
— The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Complete - Constitutional Edition • Abraham Lincoln

... The bitterness was at himself of course. "If—if you'll sit tight I have a fighting chance to make a man of myself; and after it's over we'll fix this thing for you so you will forget it ever happened. And I—— Don't take your hand away. Please!" ...
— Love Stories • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... the copyright on this book was | | not renewed. | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | This e-book contains archaic spelling. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this ...
— Patrician and Plebeian - Or The Origin and Development of the Social Classes of the Old Dominion • Thomas J. Wertenbaker

... looked much better, she was exceedingly beautiful. For her nature reached down to the perennial, and she had kept a child's capacity to be happy in small, everyday pleasures. It was always such an easy thing to please her and so difficult for little frets to annoy her. Harry's inconsequent, thoughtless ways would have worried and tried some women to the uttermost, for he was frequently less thoughtful and less helpful than he should have been. ...
— The Measure of a Man • Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

... had been thinking how strange it was that the English boy should know so much of Holland. According to Lambert's account, he knew more about it than the Dutch did. This did not quite please our young Hollander. Suddenly he thought of something that he believed would make the "Shon Pull" open his eyes; he drew near Lambert with a triumphant "Tell ...
— Hans Brinker - or The Silver Skates • Mary Mapes Dodge

... not expected that his treason would have produced such fatal results. He had been anxious to obtain the promised reward, and to please the Pharisees by delivering up Jesus into their hands, but he had never calculated on things going so far, or thought that the enemies of his Master would actually bring him to judgment and crucify him; his mind was engrossed ...
— The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ • Anna Catherine Emmerich

... beside him, Edmund Howard, whose name was a by-word for cynicism, who had never, until he had met Stafford Orme, gone an inch out of his self-contained way to please or benefit a fellow-man, was the slave of the young fellow's imperious will, and though he made burlesque complaint of his bondage, did not in his heart ...
— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice

... says she pleadin'. With that the others breaks loose. "Picture, Meester! Please-a, Meester? Picture, picture!" They says it in all sorts of dialects, with all sorts of variations, all beggin' for the same thing. "Picture, picture!" They reaches out, grabbin' at our coat sleeves. Three of 'em had hold of J. Q. at once ...
— Shorty McCabe on the Job • Sewell Ford

... It is on this principle that St. Paul sets forth his own example, "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." And again he teaches, "We, then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." ...
— The American Woman's Home • Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe

... is Benedetta, at your eccellenza's command-Benedittina if it please the vice-governatore; but not Bettina. We think much of our names, down here at ...
— The Wing-and-Wing - Le Feu-Follet • J. Fenimore Cooper

... was repeated several times. The heads of the two hosts had begun to swim, but Poland was not moved. At last they saw him take the waiter aside and heard him tell him in a loud whisper: "The next time, make mine a little stronger, if you please." They concluded on the whole that Vermont brain would hold its own with Michigan ...
— Autobiography of Seventy Years, Vol. 1-2 • George Hoar

... there was no more trouble about that program, for as luck would have it, the very next day a letter came from Joel, saying that Dr. Marks had given them a holiday of a week on account of the illness of two boys in their dormitory, and, "May I bring home Tom Beresford? He's no-end fine!" and, "Please, Mamsie, let me fetch ...
— Five Little Peppers at School • Margaret Sidney

... returned Pedro, with a laugh, in which exasperation slightly mingled, "but do me the justice to tell your father when you meet that I fairly remonstrated with and warned you. After all, nothing would please me better,—if it ...
— The Rover of the Andes - A Tale of Adventure on South America • R.M. Ballantyne

... so please don't talk as though you thought I was a fool. For your own sake, for the sake of your reputation and your family, you've got to come back with ...
— The Prodigal Father • J. Storer Clouston

... usually are dry but here I am going to quote directly from them because they tell the story in the most vivid way. Fancy between the lines, please, dozens of cheers, a couple of rebel yells, a great deal of talking and shouting for "T.R.!" "T.R.!" and a Babelous babble that ebbed or flowed according to the strength Colonel Roosevelt used ...
— The Story of The American Legion • George Seay Wheat

... English steamer. It has a horrid name, it is called a kiss-me-quick. It is so far back on her head, she is afraid people will think she is bare-faced, so she casts her eyes down, as much as to say, "Don't look at me, please, I am so pretty I am afraid you will stare, and if you do I shall faint, as sure as the world, and if you want to look at my bonnet, do pray go behind me, for what there is of it is all there. It's a great trial to me to walk alone, when I am so pretty." So she compresses ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton

... was no record of any prohibition, but that the United States declared so, and it was possible Mr. Canning may have intimated a similar disposition on our part. This is to keep open to us the faculty of interfering if we please. ...
— A Political Diary 1828-1830, Volume II • Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough)

... its prime, or to prepare an artistic pleasure for a select circle, as our theatres endeavour to do. The character of the managers and spectators in Rome is illustrated by a scene at the triumphal games in 587, where the first Greek flute-players, on their melodies failing to please, were instructed by the director to box with one another instead of playing, upon which the delight would ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... have not been into a house, except the fat country one, but something new is being done to it, and the hammerings are clattering in the passage, or a wall or steps are down, or the family is going to move. Nobody is quiet here, nor am I. The rush and restlessness please me, and I like, for a little, the dash of the stream. I am not received as a god, which I like too. There is one paper which goes on every morning saying I am a snob, and I don't say no. Six people were reading it at breakfast this morning, and the man opposite me this morning popped ...
— Stories of Authors, British and American • Edwin Watts Chubb

... must please me also, madame," he answered, in a tone so cold that it belied his words. "That it please you, is reason enough why you should marry... Whom did your ...
— The Historical Nights Entertainment, Second Series • Rafael Sabatini

... restrainable; resigned, passive; submissive &c. 725; henpecked; pliant &c. (soft) 324. unresisted[obs3]. Adv. obediently &c. adj.; in compliance with, in obedience to. Phr. to hear is to obey; as you please, if you please; your wish is my command; as you wish; no ...
— Roget's Thesaurus • Peter Mark Roget

... shanty to help the same process along in Canada. He never had the faintest shadow of a doubt of his hopes materializing. He had gambled on the gold and he had lost; and behold him casting another throw of the dice in the face of Fate, and gambling on the land; and please note—he won out. He was one of the multitude who won out of the land what they had lost on gold—who plowed out of the prairie what they had sunk in a hole in ...
— The Canadian Commonwealth • Agnes C. Laut

... of completion. For it seems to me that the peculiarity of patriotism in America is that it is not a mere sentiment. It is an active principle of conduct. It is something that was born into the world, not to please it but to regenerate it. It is something that was born into the world to replace systems that had preceded it and to bring men out upon a new plane of privilege. The glory of the men whose memories you honor and perpetuate is that they ...
— America First - Patriotic Readings • Various

... can charm, And Fate's severest rage disarm; Music can soften pain to ease, And make despair and madness please; Our joys below it can improve, ...
— Music and Some Highly Musical People • James M. Trotter

... "Oh, I haven't slept very well. May I have my coffee with you? I want to tell you something; I want you to make me. But I can't speak till the coffee comes. Fraulein!" he besought a waitress going off with a tray near them. "Tell Lili, please, to bring me ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... nothing weaker than vitriol in his cellar, so I begged to be excused. 'It is not my habit, sir, to drink early mornings; and indeed I must not let my wife wait dinner. We will have a little gossip, if you please, and then you will let one of your servants light me out, perhaps. I merely dropped in, as you are aware, my dear sir.' 'Quite aware of that, my dear Phil. And very glad I am to get your company. Of course you are anxious to be up above in good time; and if you can ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 • Various

... said thus much because it is my wish that the principles which have guided me in the composition of these Memoirs may be understood. I am aware that they will not please every reader; that is a success to which I cannot pretend. Some merit, however, may be allowed me on account of the labour I have undergone. It has neither been of a slight nor an agreeable kind. I made it a rule to read everything that has been written respecting ...
— Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Complete • Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

... artistic instinct allowed her to play at being in love, and she carried the comedy through with dexterity. The unequal companionship grew closer and closer, and Desborough was drawn deeper and deeper into forgetting himself, and forgetting all finer ambitions. He only sought to please the creature to whom he was slave, and the recognition which the girl now gave him made his ...
— The Romance of the Coast • James Runciman

... her to the edge of the little bed of husks and found her kerchief. Ah, she was of breeding and courage! Presently, her voice rose steady and clear as ever. "Threlka!" she called. "Please!" ...
— 54-40 or Fight • Emerson Hough

... realise what they have done it is almost necessary to read several of the many treatises devoted to this subject, and to inspect the animals. Breeders habitually speak of an animal's organisation as something plastic, which they can model almost as they please. If I had space I could quote numerous passages to this effect from highly competent authorities. Youatt, who was probably better acquainted with the works of agriculturalists than almost any other individual, and who was himself a very good judge of animals, ...
— On the Origin of Species - 6th Edition • Charles Darwin

... and as we made our way into the passage we were literally carried along in the stream of young men, newcomers in their lounge suits, the others mostly in flannels. On we swept, down the stairs into the large dining-hall. Sit where you please, act as if you had been here all your life and treat everyone as an old pal, seemed to be the order of the day, and in that atmosphere it was impossible to feel anything but quite at home. Before tea was over we new arrivals were ...
— One Young Man • Sir John Ernest Hodder-Williams

... and this is what you would say to me, "Am I not bewitching and delicious? Do you not think me voluptuous? and regard me as your mistress, holding you under my entire subjection? I am very happy to please you this way." And I should answer, "Yes, I am your slave; you give me the greatest enjoyment that can be had; there is not a woman in the world who possesses the attractions you have; you make me do anything, you are the queen of voluptuousness, of enjoyment. No one knows how to ...
— The Romance of Lust - A classic Victorian erotic novel • Anonymous

... ill-regulated life, in part to his ignorance of French habits, gathered round him. He fell into disfavour with Madame d'Estampes, the mistress of the King; and here it may be mentioned that many of his troubles arose from his inability to please noble women.[385] Proud, self-confident, overbearing, and unable to command his words or actions, Cellini was unfitted to pay court to princes. Then again he quarrelled with his brother artists, and ...
— Renaissance in Italy Vol. 3 - The Fine Arts • John Addington Symonds

... I will get my things together. One word—please do not tell them I am going; I will do ...
— Doctor Claudius, A True Story • F. Marion Crawford

... aye i' the gait! When we part for ever in America, we are able to stay parted, if we wish.' Then he will say, 'Quite so, quite so; but I suppose even you, Miss Monroe, will allow that a minister may not move his church to please a lady.' 'Certainly not,' I shall reply, 'especially when it is Estaiblished!' Then he will laugh, and we shall be better friends for a few moments; and then I shall tell him my latest story about the ...
— Penelope's Experiences in Scotland • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... greatest Benefit he can receive or wish for; and I am persuaded, that, speaking of Things Spiritual, the Word is very proper in that Sense; the same may be said of the Words Profit, Gain, and, if you please, Lucre; but I deny, that without any Addition, this is the common Acceptation of them; in which, I hope, I may have the Liberty to make use of Words with the Rest of my Fellow-Subjects. All temporal Privileges and worldly Advantages whatever, are call'd Benefits, and ...
— A Letter to Dion • Bernard Mandeville

... "Please come in! You must be tired out. The gardener told me he'd seen you about. We've got some coffee ...
— The Case of Richard Meynell • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... on the side of "Nature" please ourselves with the idea that we are in the great current in which the true intelligence of the time is moving. We believe that some who oppose, or fear, or denounce our movement are themselves caught in various eddies that set back against the truth. And we do ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... John's and Paul's, is altered from the fact, they being in St. Mark's. Make a note of this, and put Editor as the subscription to it. As I make such pretensions to accuracy, I should not like to be twitted even with such trifles on that score. Of the play they may say what they please, but not so of my costume and dram. pers.—they having been real existences."—Letter to Murray, October 12, 1820, Letters, 1901, v. 95. Byron's injunction was not ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 • Lord Byron

... said relieved Serge of a great weight. He felt so happy that he resolved to do everything in his power to please the mother of ...
— Serge Panine, Complete • Georges Ohnet

... humiliations, Soeur Therese sought them eagerly, and for that reason she offered herself as "aid" to a Sister who, she well knew, was difficult to please, and her generous proposal was accepted. One day, when she had suffered much from this Sister, a novice asked her why she looked so happy. Great was her surprise on receiving the reply: "It is because Sister N. has just been saying disagreeable things to me. What pleasure she has ...
— The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Ame): The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux • Therese Martin (of Lisieux)

... was not by vile loitering in ease That Greece obtained the brighter palm of art, That soft yet ardent Athens learnt to please, To keen the wit, and to sublime the heart, In all supreme! complete in every part! It was not thence majestic Rome arose, And o'er the nations shook her conquering dart: For sluggard's brow the laurel never grows; Renown is ...
— The World's Best Poetry — Volume 10 • Various

... done in his prime, to shrink from exerting his talent, such as it is, now that he has outlived the period of his greatest vigor? A singer who is no longer equal to the trials of opera on the stage may yet please at a chamber concert or in the drawing-room. There is one gratification an old author can afford a certain class of critics: that, namely, of comparing him as he is with what he was. It is a pleasure to mediocrity to have its superiors ...
— Over the Teacups • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... trembly just now," he admitted, panting with his exertion; "but, Lloyd, listen. I know how you must dislike me now, but will you please go—go, go ...
— A Man's Woman • Frank Norris

... And then, to please her, he held up his hand and hailed a hansom. Getting in he gave the direction of his rooms, loud enough for her to hear. She stood at the edge of the pavement and nodded at ...
— Flames • Robert Smythe Hichens

... he stretched his hand out with a franc in it. "It is folly, as I say, and evil waste of time; nevertheless, it is like Alois, and will please the house-mother. Take this silver bit for it and leave it ...
— Stories By English Authors: Germany • Various

... things by which the convent would lose in the long run. And besides, she had let the roof of the church get into such ill repair that rain came through the holes on to their heads when they were singing; and would my lord bishop please to look at the holes in their clothes and tell her to provide them with new ones? Other wicked prioresses used sometimes even to pawn the plate and jewels of the convent, to get money for their own private purposes. But Eglentyne was not at all wicked ...
— Medieval People • Eileen Edna Power

... a little, 'let me ask a favor of you. I have a brother who is just crazy to go out firing. I don't want him to go unless it's with a man I can trust; he is young and inexperienced, you know. Won't you take him? Please do.' ...
— Danger Signals • John A. Hill and Jasper Ewing Brady

... me with a most angelic look: "I've just been makin' tea," she sez, "I 'opes as you will try These little scones wot I 'ave baked;" and to myself sez I: "It was Polly this, an' Polly that, an' 'Polly, scrub the floor,' But it's 'If you please, Miss Perkins,' since we won the bloomin' War; We won the bloomin' War, my girls, we won the bloomin' War, It's 'If you please, Miss Perkins,' since we ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, April 16, 1919 • Various

... December 23d, 1864.—Hon. Jas. A. Seddon, Secretary of War: Will you please send me, through the post-office, a passport to leave the city? I wish to depart in a few ...
— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones

... "And please don't consume time which is reasonably valuable to me, however lightly you may regard it, by telling me now about slim men who eat more than you do and yet keep their figures. The woods are full of them; also the owl wagons. The difference between such men as those you have described ...
— One Third Off • Irvin S. Cobb

... a rich man care for five dollars when he wanted to please his children? He had watched his mice day after day, and week after week, by the hour at a time, and had never failed to be amused at their gambols. Everybody that came to the house was delighted with them. If the man in Court Street could sell them, he could. ...
— Make or Break - or, The Rich Man's Daughter • Oliver Optic

... told you, Sir Victor. You will believe as you please," his wife answers, a little sullenly, turning ...
— A Terrible Secret • May Agnes Fleming

... first not to give it to you till I went away; but I may as well give it now, on one condition—that you let me use it whenever I please." ...
— Herbert Carter's Legacy • Horatio Alger

... crying a minute ago." Judith gave no further signs of either laughing or crying. "Judith, what does he say to you? When you went with him to look at that night-blooming flower with the queer name, last week, and were gone so long, what did he talk to you about? You heard me. Please answer." ...
— The Wishing Moon • Louise Elizabeth Dutton

... reservation," which provided that if the head of an ecclesiastical state should become a Lutheran, he should resign his benefice. He also declared that the Lutheran subjects of ecclesiastical princes were not to be disturbed. The "reservation" was to please the Catholics: the additional provision was to meet the wishes of the Protestants. Neither stood on the same basis as the other part of ...
— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher

... to please you. Be reasonable. They have turned me out like a vagabond. If I went back with you, you would always be fighting for my sake, and I don't ...
— The Fortune of the Rougons • Emile Zola

... whose eyes I hoped to find favor, first for myself and then for Max. By her help I hoped Max might be brought to meet the Princess of Burgundy when we should reach Peronne. I had little doubt of Max's success in pleasing Antoinette; I was not at all anxious that he should please the smaller maid. There was a saucy glance in her dark eyes, and a tremulous little smile constantly playing about her red, bedimpled mouth, that boded trouble to a susceptible masculine heart. Max, with all his simplicity, though not susceptible, had ...
— Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy • Charles Major

... dined, they always spread a table, thinking we never could eat enough after what we had suffered; and we were much of the same opinion. They are, in general, a charitable, good sort of people, but very ignorant, and governed by their priests, who make them believe just what they please. ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 • Robert Kerr

... "Oh, please not to say that," said Mirah, the tears gathering. "It is the first unkind thing you ever said. I will not begin that. I will never separate myself from my mother's people. I was forced to fly from my father; but ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot

... "Please, sir," he said mockingly, "it wasn't me. Answer me first," he cried. "Why do you talk about feeling like an impostor? Why," continued the young man warmly, "I feel as if through my plan I am going to heap blessings upon mine enemy's head. I am taking you through this country, amongst these ...
— In the Mahdi's Grasp • George Manville Fenn

... charming air! To me What an honour! From this day I may well be vain, as they May without presumption be, Who, despite their numerous slips, Find their words can please the ear, Who their rugged verses hear Turn to music on ...
— The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria - A Drama of Early Christian Rome • Pedro Calderon de la Barca

... no great scholar, Margery," returned her husband, scratching his full, curling head of hair, out of pure awkwardness; "to please YOU, however, I'd undertake even a harder job. It was so with the bees, when I began; I thought I should never succeed in lining the first bee to his hive; but, since that time, I think I've lined ...
— Oak Openings • James Fenimore Cooper

... cheerfulness never falls: no matter what troubles may come,—storm or fire, flood or earthquake,—the laughter of greeting voices, the bright smile and graceful bow, the kindly inquiry and the wish to please, continue to make existence beautiful. Religion brings no gloom into this sunshine: before the Buddhas and the gods folk smile as they pray; the temple-courts are playgrounds for the children; and within the enclosure of the great public ...
— Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation • Lafcadio Hearn

... apologized. "I have been ill and am rather nervous. I thought you said something you could not possibly have said. I almost frightened you. And you were only speaking of a little playmate. Please go on." ...
— The White People • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... his wish to regenerate public education, which he thought was ill managed. The central schools did not please him; but he could not withhold his admiration from the Polytechnic School, the finest establishment of education that was ever founded, but which he afterwards spoiled by giving it a military organisation. In only one college of Paris the old system of study was preserved: this was the Louis-le-Grand, ...
— The Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte • Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

... your wish, to lose all sense In dull lethargic ease, And wrapt in cold indifference, But half be pleased or please? ... It never shall be my desire To bear a heart unmov'd, To feel by halves the gen'rous fire, Or ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol. 1 • Lord Byron, Edited by Rowland E. Prothero

... that anybody did tell me that in so many words. Somehow it was my impression. But no matter. Please listen a moment." She smiled on him, checking his attempt at a statement regarding himself; she had conned her little speech and used her best vocabulary to impress this woodsman. "No doubt you have something very important in the ...
— Joan of Arc of the North Woods • Holman Day

... Oh! its Mrs Prance, is it? Father, put down Mrs Prance for a peck of flour. I'll have order here. You think the last bacon a little too fat: oh! you do, ma'am, do you? I'll take care you shan't complain in futur; I likes to please my customers. There's a very nice flitch hanging up in the engine-room; the men wanted some rust for the machinery; you shall have a slice of that; and we'll say ten-pence a pound, high-dried, and wery lean—will that ...
— Sybil - or the Two Nations • Benjamin Disraeli

... would really have enjoyed haycocks, were left sternly at home. She invited the whole party to supper at her flat, and drove home in the dog-cart of the richest of the young men, making immense efforts to please him, and feeling that she must be looking very picturesque and sweet in her flower-trimmed straw hat and muslin dress, silhouetted against the pale ...
— The Benefactress • Elizabeth Beauchamp

... bono this same high crown of ours, that looks more like a watering-pot deprived of its spout and handle than a reasonable article of human apparel? Down with the crowns, say we! If you will wear a hat, down with your crown. You may put down your half-sovereign or sovereign, or whatever you please, for your new hat first of all, but down with your crown too. Here, gentle reader, you will exclaim against our taste, and will protest that we would sacrifice every thing to that horrid utilitarian principle, which opposes all ideas of beauty ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845 • Various

... from Whitehall to-morrow," said Malcolm Sage, after a pause. "Please keep them waiting until they show signs of impatience. It is important. Whatever happens here, it would be better not to acquaint the police—whatever happens," he added with emphasis. "And now, sir"—he turned to Mr. Llewellyn ...
— Malcolm Sage, Detective • Herbert George Jenkins

... complain of the regularity in itself, though she did cavil at the actual arrangements, and they were altered all round to please her, and she showed a certain contempt for her teacher in the studies she resumed with her mother; but after the dictionary, encyclopaedia and other authorities, including Mr. Ogilvie, proved almost uniformly to be ...
— Magnum Bonum • Charlotte M. Yonge

... themselves disagreeable about it at first ... they were disagreeable about it, certainly. They wanted this ... and they wanted that ... and God knows what they didn't want! but they're a set of fools, your honour!—an ignorant lot. But we, your honour, graciously please you, gave an earnest of our gratitude, and satisfied Nikolai Nikolaitch, the mediator; we acted in everything according to your orders, your honour; as you graciously ordered, so we did, and nothing did we do unbeknown to ...
— A Sportsman's Sketches - Works of Ivan Turgenev, Vol. I • Ivan Turgenev

... for a long time after this, but I never saw them quarrel again. I took my part in many a game, and was sometimes a Princess to please the Queen, and sometimes a Prince because the King liked it best. I have even been dressed up as the Lord Chamberlain before now, and sometimes I have taken the part of the scullery-maid. But neither the King nor the Queen nor I have ever lost our temper again, and ...
— Little Folks - A Magazine for the Young (Date of issue unknown) • Various

... "Please do," begged Bunny. "We want to see the animals. We were in a circus once, Sue and I were. Our dog was a blue striped tiger, and we had a green painted ...
— Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home • Laura Lee Hope

... she slipped some dainty between his teeth. Then she would give him a kiss, sweet and long, which would make chills run up and down his spine. And then, in his turn, he would not have enough caresses to please his wife from morning to night and from night ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant

... from the hand which lets it go; that light and heat come and go with the sun; that sticks burn away to a fire; that plants and animals grow and die; that if he struck his fellow-savage a blow he would make him angry, and perhaps get a blow in return, while if he offered him a fruit he would please him, and perhaps receive a fish in exchange. When men had acquired this much knowledge, the outlines, rude though they were, of mathematics, of physics, of chemistry, of biology, of moral, economical, and political science, were sketched. Nor ...
— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

... the knock-out, blown to chops. T'other was hurt, like, losin' both 'is props. An' one, to use the word of 'ypocrites, 'Ad the misfortoon to be took by Fritz. Now me, I wasn't scratched, praise God Almighty (Though next time please I'll thank 'im for a blighty), But poor young Jim, 'e's livin' an' 'e's not; 'E reckoned 'e'd five chances, an' 'e's 'ad; 'E's wounded, killed, and pris'ner, all the lot— The ruddy lot all rolled ...
— Poems • Wilfred Owen

... fresh air can by possibility enter into that room, nor any ray of sun. The air is as stagnant, musty, and corrupt as it can by possibility be made. It is quite ripe to breed small-pox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, or anything else you please.[2] ...
— Notes on Nursing - What It Is, and What It Is Not • Florence Nightingale

... March, 1876, the telephone art was born, when, over a wire extending between two rooms on the top floor of a building in Boston, Alexander Graham Bell spoke to his associate, Thomas A. Watson, saying: "Mr. Watson, please come here. I want you." These words, then heard by Mr. Watson in the instrument at his ear, constitute the first sentence ever received by the electric telephone. The instrument into which Doctor Bell spoke was a crude apparatus, and the current which it generated was so feeble that, although ...
— Masters of Space - Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty • Walter Kellogg Towers

... gave the order. "Face to the rear. Forward. March!" Discretion was at last entirely the better part of valour. Strasburg was fourteen miles away; over hill and dale rose and fell the road that ran that way. Off, off! and some might yet escape—or it might please the gods to let him meet with reinforcements! His guns ceased with their canister and limbering up thundered away toward the sun, now low and red in the heavens. The infantry followed; the small cavalry force bringing up the rear, now deployed as skirmishers, ...
— The Long Roll • Mary Johnston

... Deliberate revolt or deliberate attempts to deceive others may result. But the more frequent outcome is a confused and divided state of interest in which one is fooled as to one's own real intent. One tries to serve two masters at once. Social instincts, the strong desire to please others and get their approval, social training, the general sense of duty and of authority, apprehension of penalty, all lead to a half-hearted effort to conform, to "pay attention to the lesson," or whatever the requirement is. Amiable individuals want to do what they are expected to do. ...
— Democracy and Education • John Dewey

... a fight already, and with nobody knows how many million people looking on! You know as well as I do that we may have to spend the rest of our lives together, so act like civilized beings—please—both ...
— The Galaxy Primes • Edward Elmer Smith

... Wordley," he said. "Will you therefore be good enough to give her Lady Bannerdale's love, and to tell her that, as Lady Bannerdale has written to her, we shall be more than pleased if she will come to us at the Court. She is to consider it her home for just as long as she should please; and we shall feel it a pleasure and an honour to have her amongst us as one of our own. Of course she cannot remain alone here, ...
— At Love's Cost • Charles Garvice

... would serve the purpose. But it does not please me that you should be in the dark; I would rather ...
— Paul Patoff • F. Marion Crawford

... oppressed By the odour of myrrh on the breeze; In the isles of the East and the West That are sweet with the cinnamon trees Let the sandal-wood perfume the seas; Give the roses to Rhodes and to Crete, We are more than content, if you please, With the smell of bog-myrtle ...
— Rhymes a la Mode • Andrew Lang

... lady next him, "we have been kept in an agony of suspense by Sir Henry and Captain Good, who have persistently refused to tell us a word of this story about the hidden treasure till you came, and we simply can bear it no longer; so, please, begin at once." ...
— Hunter Quatermain's Story • H. Rider Haggard

... would you mind coming to see me here in my shop? I think you must know it—it used to be Turnbull and Marston—the Marston was my father. You will see my name over the door. Any hour from morning to night will do for me; only please let it be as soon as ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald

... ye, Randy, the money's yer own ter do as ye please with, but fer my own opinion, ye well know I've always said 'twas' better ter give than receive.' This time ye have both. Ye've known the joy of receiving the prize, and now ye plan ter use it ter make another happy. I'm proud of yer ...
— Randy and Her Friends • Amy Brooks

... greatly wearied. Taking her hand, he said: "Miss Ludolph, it is my turn to take care of you again. See, our friends are preparing a place there for the ladies to sleep. Please go to rest at once, for ...
— Barriers Burned Away • E. P. Roe

... impressed than he had hoped; and thinking that he had made himself sufficiently interesting, he began to speak about her own affairs, supposing they would please her better. ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall

... hope, Mr. Brenchfield?" she returned lightly, for she at least had never acknowledged any submission to those searching eyes of his. "And please remember, it is past midnight. My ...
— The Spoilers of the Valley • Robert Watson

... piano while the grandmother is alive. She thinks that all music, except the bagpipes, perhaps, is positively wicked; so we try not to think about it. We spoke about it to father once, and he felt so badly that he could not please us and the grandmother too. Of course she comes first; but he has put the money in the bank to buy an instrument—sometime. I hate to think about it, though I long for it more than I can tell. It makes me feel as if I was such a wicked creature; for just think ...
— Miss Dexie - A Romance of the Provinces • Stanford Eveleth

... the general angrily. "Am I the man to make a statement without authority? I tell you he's a scamp, ma'am—a regular scamp! If you please ...
— The Voice of the People • Ellen Glasgow

... soft, was still richly colored by the wealth of vitality that found expression in her splendid body. "I am not at all indifferent to your condition—quite the contrary. I am intensely interested. As for the amusement you afford me—please consider—for three years I have amused you. Can ...
— The Eyes of the World • Harold Bell Wright

... and he were drowned in the depths of the sea." Will you, then, however safe yourself, be the means, by your example, of bringing weaker brethren into such dangers? "We, then, that are strong ought to bear the burdens of the weak, and not please ourselves." "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended [caused to sin] or is made weak." These words are not ours; they ...
— Secret Societies • David MacDill, Jonathan Blanchard, and Edward Beecher

... child to be laughed at, and, in fact, they did openly make sport of Marat's divinity, Robespierre's sacerdoce and the magistracy of Fouquier. They seemed to say to all these bloody menials: 'You may slaughter us when you please, but you cannot hinder us in being aimable'"-Archives Nationales, F.7, 31167. (Report by the watchman, Charmont, Nivose 29, year II.) "The people attending the executions are very much surprised at ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 4 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 3 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... purpose in His provision for us. We are set down on His domains, and we enjoy His presence and providing in order that, set free from carking cares and low ends, we may, with free and joyous hearts, yield ourselves to His joyful service. The law of our life should be that we please not ourselves, nor consult our own will in choosing our tasks, nor seek our own profit or gratification in doing them, but ever ask of Him: 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' and when the answer comes, as come it will to all who ask with real desire ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... trouble, it may make Hal's departure easier for us. It must be right for her to come, else it would not have happened. You are growing so like a careful woman, I doubt not you will be the very one to please her." ...
— The Harvest of Years • Martha Lewis Beckwith Ewell

... thou wilt: When death itself draws nigh, To thy dear wounded side I would for refuge fly. Leaning on thee, to go Where thou before hast gone; The rest as thou shalt please. My Lord, thy will ...
— Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul • Various

... tall, dark, grave man, plainly though handsomely dressed, and in a gentlemanly way making it evident that visits to his wife were not welcome. He said that her health never permitted her to go abroad, and that his poor house contained nothing that could please a Court lady. Mrs. Oakshott shrank into herself, and became shy and silent, and Mrs. Woodford felt constrained to take leave, courteously conducted to the ...
— A Reputed Changeling • Charlotte M. Yonge

... only child, she had never spoiled him; but now she was very solicitous for him. Had he suffered from the cold? Was he to be assigned to some particularly hard duty? She insisted, too, upon giving him the best of food, and Prescott, wishing to please her, quietly acquiesced, but watched her covertly ...
— Before the Dawn - A Story of the Fall of Richmond • Joseph Alexander Altsheler

... breath in awful suspense. Juliana quietly disengaged her waist, and looking at him, said, 'Poor Harry! You need not lie any more to please me.' ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... you this news," said Don Philip, "as I thought it would please you; the sooner you are now well the better. I mean to propose your being both removed to my father's palazzo, and then you can recover your lost ground ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Frederick Marryat

... And, in that case, my childhood would have escaped the deadliest blight of mortification and despondency that could have been incident to a most morbid temperament concurring with a situation of visionary (yes! if you please, of fantastic) but still of most ...
— Autobiographic Sketches • Thomas de Quincey

... going to relate the fortuitous circumstance which led Murat to the moat of Pizzo, then we will leave it to fatalists to draw from this strange story whatever philosophical deduction may please them. We, as humble annalists, can only vouch for the truth of the facts we have already related and of those ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... the Champion go to flitters before I will die to please it! I will not give in to it driving me out of the world before my hour is spent! It would hardly ask that of a man would be of no use and no account, or even of a beast of ...
— New Irish Comedies • Lady Augusta Gregory

... to do what I want now, not what he wants me. That's the only way when you love. Oh, don't smile like that, please; you do make me ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... begged Babe, slightly sarcastic of the other's cultured accent and words. "We aim to please, an' be neighborly." ...
— The Boy Ranchers - or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X • Willard F. Baker

... gratified look. "I taught you to swim when you wasn't much bigger than a marlinespike, an' to make boats a'most before you could handle a clasp-knife without cuttin' your fingers, an' now that you've come to man's estate nothin'll please me more than to make a diver of you. But," continued Baldwin, while a shade clouded his wrinkled and weatherbeaten visage, "I can't let you go down in the dress without leave. I'm under authority, you ...
— Under the Waves - Diving in Deep Waters • R M Ballantyne

... paid,—as he shouldn't lay hold o' the chance for want o' money. An' when there's the Laceham goods,—lors! they're made o' purpose for folks as want to send out a little carguy; light, an' take up no room,—you may pack twenty pound so as you can't see the passill; an' they're manifacturs as please fools, so I reckon they aren't like to want a market. An' I'd go to Laceham an' buy in the goods for Mr. Tom along wi' my own. An' there's the shupercargo o' the bit of a vessel as is goin' to take 'em out. ...
— The Mill on the Floss • George Eliot

... did not scold Kathleen, but drew her close and whispered: "Do you want to please me? Do you want me ...
— The Desert of Wheat • Zane Grey

... you do." And the big, white fellow's head had nodded a little, she was sure. She put out her loving little brown hand and caressed it. "I knew you did, dear. Oh, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson, don't die! PLEASE don't—think of the good times we'll have if you won't! Think of the—the grasshoppers—the bugs, Thomas Jefferson—the cookies! Won't you think?—won't you try to be a ...
— Rebecca Mary • Annie Hamilton Donnell

... in a strained voice, "please don't try to show me all that I shall miss! I want to go so very much, but it's impossible. If I went, I should neglect a duty that has a ...
— The Lure of the North • Harold Bindloss

... ship-masters and traders gave to them.(1) These were the first to discover and to trade to them, even before they had names, as the English themselves well know; but as long as they can manage it and matters go as they please, they are willing not to know it. And those of them who are at the Fresh River have desired to enter into an agreement and to make a yearly acknowledgement or an absolute purchase, which indeed is proof positive that our right was well known to ...
— Narrative of New Netherland • Various

... "Please let us sit down," I said; "it is so beautiful here; and then tell me all about yourself, how you have lived your childhood, and what your problems are. It may be that I ...
— City of Endless Night • Milo Hastings

... officers of the royal navy were loaned, under certain conditions, to private firms, or to companies who wished to undertake privateering enterprises, in which even the cabinet ministers did not disdain to take shares;" indeed, they were urged to do so to please the king. The conditions generally provided that a certain proportion of the profits should go to the king, in return for the use of the ships. Such employment would be demoralizing to any military service, ...
— The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 • A. T. Mahan

... Government meant well, but at the least it was a fool, and it always will be a fool with its Secretaries of State, who know nothing sitting far away there in London, and its Governors, whose only business is to please the Secretaries of State, that when the country they are sent to rule grows sick of them, they may win another post ...
— Swallow • H. Rider Haggard

... Simon swung back to his desk, a grim smile on his lips. "It always boils down to the same thing—they don't know what they're going to do about it. Let 'em rant all they please, in the end what ...
— The Monk of Hambleton • Armstrong Livingston

... a little longer, as if to please his entertainer, he at length laid down his knife and fork, and declared that he was now satisfied, and could take no more. On his ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 17 • Alexander Leighton

... country home were models. No sanitarium could have been more punctilious. He lived what one of his friends called an antiseptic life. Maybe I am foolish, but it keeps getting closer and closer to me now, and—well, I wish you'd look into the case. Please set my mind at rest and assure me that nothing is wrong, that it is ...
— The Silent Bullet • Arthur B. Reeve

... which is a mark of the greatest honor to him who hath it; nay, Domitia, the wife of Caesar, continued to do me kindnesses. And this is the account of the actions of my whole life; and let others judge of my character by them as they please. But to thee, O Epaphroditus, [28] thou most excellent of men! do I dedicate all this treatise of our Antiquities; and so, for the present, I ...
— The Life of Flavius Josephus • Flavius Josephus

... please, we had an accident—I mean, we went for a walk—oh, may we have a drink of water?" she floundered, fairly blinking before the sharply piercing eyes of ...
— Red-Robin • Jane Abbott

... it up.' He got up then, his face very red again, and I could see that he was trying to put on his dignity as fast as he had put down his cassock—he looked better with both in place. 'My son,' he said,'the day is warm and I am very tired, and, I fear, a little ill. These rocks are nothing. They please my eye, and I pick them up sometimes as I walk among the hills. Leave them there. I do not want them. We will return to the Mission.' 'If you do not want them, then may I have them?' I asked—the blood flew all over my body, my friends. ...
— The Valiant Runaways • Gertrude Atherton

... the other, he poured all his contempt on the scheme as concocted by damned enthusiasts for the ruin of businessmen of both countries. Such persons, Mr Winter said, if they could have their way, would be happy and satisfied; but in his opinion neither England nor the colonies could afford to please them as much as that. He professed loud contempt for the opinions of the Conservative party organs at Toronto, and stood boldly for his own views. That was what would happen, he declared, in every manufacturing division in the country, ...
— The Imperialist • (a.k.a. Mrs. Everard Cotes) Sara Jeannette Duncan

... he was at the station with Dixon. Dixon is sure to have a bottle in his pocket. They will be roaring a song presently. But in the meantime—there is that son business. Blethers, the whole thing, of course—or mostly blethers. But it's the way to please her. ...
— Echoes of the War • J. M. Barrie

... and I implored him not to go to the Subby, for quite ten minutes during that damp and shivery afternoon we besought him to leave things as they were. And at last with great reluctance he gave way, and to please us he said that he would forgive Ward for having done rather a mean thing, and he pardoned me for having been so rude. Of course we were most properly taken in, but that was the fate of most men who had much to do with Dennison, and I was so glad to be at peace once more that ...
— Godfrey Marten, Undergraduate • Charles Turley

... favourable construction you have made of my former endeavours to do you good offices did not engage me to continue them, though in a way which (in my poor apprehension) tends very directly to serve you, whether I do or no to please you; and as I presume you will receive, both from his Majesty and my Lord Chancellor, express assurances that there is nothing intended in violation to your Charter, so if the Commissioners should break their instructions and endeavour to frustrate his Majesty's just and ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 1 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Egerton Ryerson

... have one whom I must please, to whom I must be subject, whom I must obey:—God, and those who come next to Him. He hath entrusted me with myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me rules ...
— The Golden Sayings of Epictetus • Epictetus



Words linked to "Please" :   pleaser, enrapture, care, gratify, wish, hard to please, endear, pleasant, delight, satisfy, enchant, pleasure, displease, hard-to-please, like, go-as-you-please



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