The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Every quotation a nineteenth-century speaker or writer might want, grouped under its subject, with the author, the date and the source given as exactly as Hoyt could manage.

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Circumstance: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

The fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms.— RICHARD BENTLEY — Sermons, VII. Works, Vol. III., p. 147. 1692.
See also SIR ROBERT PEEL'S Address. Quarterly Review. Vol. LIII. p. 270. 1835. I am the very slave of circumstance And impulse-borne away with every breath!— BYRON — Sardanapalus. Act IV. Sc. 1.
Men are the sport of circumstances, when The circumstances seem the sport of men.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto V. St. 17.
Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.— COWPER — Letter to Mr. Newton.
Man is not the creature of circumstances, Circumstances are the creatures of men.— BENJ. DISRAELI — Vivian Grey. Vol. II. Bk. VI. Ch. 7.
It is circumstances (difficulties) which show what men are.— EPICTETUS — Ch. XXIV. Quoted
from Ovid-Tristia. IV. 3. 79. Sc. 1. Long's trans. To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.— GOLDSMITH — The Vicar of Wakefield. Ch. XXI.
Circumstances alter cases.— HALIBURTON — The Old Judge. Ch. XV.
Thus we see, too, in the world that some persons assimilate only what is ugly and evil from the same moral circumstances which supply good and beautiful results-the fragrance of celestial flowers-to the daily life of others.— S. NATH. HAWTHORNE — Mosses from an
Old Manse. The Old Manse. For these attacks do not contribute to make us frail but rather show us to be what we are.— THOS. À KEMPIS — Imitation of Christ. Dibdin's trans. Bk. I. Ch. XVI.
Condition, circumstance is not the thing.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 57.
The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.— SCOTT — Answer of the Author of Waverly
to the Letter of Captain Clutterbuck. The Monastery. Leave frivolous circumstances.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 27.
My circumstances Being so near the truth as I will make them, Must first induce you to believe.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 62.
The Lie with Circumstance.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act V. Sc. 4. L. 100.
And grasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the blows of circumstance.— TENNYSON — In Memoriam. Pt. LXIII, St. 2
So runs the round of life from hour to hour.— TENNYSON — Circumstance.
aa. This fearful concatenation of circumstances.— DAN'L WEBSTER — Argument. The
Murder of Captain Joseph White. 1830. Vol. VI. P. 88. Circumstances over which I have no control. WELLINGTON (Duke of)-Letters. About 1839 or 1840. Who does the best that circumstance allows, Does well, acts nobly, angels could no more.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night II. L. 90.
Seven cities vied for Homer's birth with emulation pious: Salamis, Samos, Calophon, Rhodes, Argos, Athens, Chios, Greek Anthology. I live not in myself, but I become Portion of that around me; and to me High mountains are a feeling, but the hum Of human cities torture.— BYRON — Childe Harold. Canto III. St. 72.
In the busy haunts of men.— MRS. HEMANS — Tale of the Secret Tribunal. Pt. 1. L. 2.
The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city.— O. W. HOLMES — The Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table. VI. Far from gay cities, and the ways of men.— HOMER — The Odyssey. Bk. 14. L. 410.
Pope's trans. Even cities have their graves!— LONGFELLOW — Amalfi. St. 6.
Towered cities please us then, And the busy hum of men.— MILTON — L'Allegro. L. 117.
The people are the city.— Shakespeare — Coriolanus. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 200.
The city of dreadful night.— JAMES THOMSON — Current Literature for
1889. P. 492. Athens. Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone-glimmering through the dream of things that were; First in the race that led to glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away-Is this the whole?— BYRON — Childe Harold. Canto II. St. 2.
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