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Decision   Listen
noun
Decision  n.  
1.
Cutting off; division; detachment of a part. (Obs.)
2.
The act of deciding; act of settling or terminating, as a controversy, by giving judgment on the matter at issue; determination, as of a question or doubt; settlement; conclusion. "The decision of some dispute."
3.
An account or report of a conclusion, especially of a legal adjudication or judicial determination of a question or cause; as, a decision of arbitrators; a decision of the Supreme Court.
4.
The quality of being decided; prompt and fixed determination; unwavering firmness; as, to manifest great decision.
Synonyms: Decision, Determination, Resolution. Each of these words has two meanings, one implying the act of deciding, determining, or resolving; and the other a habit of mind as to doing. It is in the last sense that the words are here compared. Decision is a cutting short. It implies that several courses of action have been presented to the mind, and that the choice is now finally made. It supposes, therefore, a union of promptitude and energy. Determination is the natural consequence of decision. It is the settling of a thing with a fixed purpose to adhere. Resolution is the necessary result in a mind which is characterized by firmness. It is a spirit which scatters (resolves) all doubt, and is ready to face danger or suffering in carrying out one's determinations. Martin Luther was equally distinguished for his prompt decision, his steadfast determination, and his inflexible resolution.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Decision" Quotes from Famous Books



... evening could never really come, he had told himself that this was the last time; but now, standing on the dim outskirts of the crowd, the photographs that he hadn't been able to fit into his pockets held fast in his burning hands, he saw how impossible, how even wrong and faithless that decision had been. So long as a shilling remained to him he had to go, he had to take his place among her loyal people. It meant being "found out" hopelessly and violently. They—the mysterious "they" of authority—might destroy him utterly. That would be the most splendid thing ...
— The Dark House • I. A. R. Wylie

... and 4 of Act I? Is it strange that Macbeth had often wished that he might be king in place of Duncan? Why? Show how the prophecies of the witches became his temptations. From his soliloquies in Act I, scenes 3 and 4, what do you judge of his moral sense? What decision has he reached, if any, before he returns to his wife? In his soliloquy in Act I, scene 7, what two considerations are keeping him from the murder? What argument of Lady Macbeth was effective in bringing him to a decision? How do you account for the ...
— Teachers' Outlines for Studies in English - Based on the Requirements for Admission to College • Gilbert Sykes Blakely

... Captain Lockett's decision, to be off without any delay, was fully justified by the appearance of a Spanish squadron in the bay, three days after his departure. It consisted of two seventy-fours, two frigates, five xebecs, and a number of galleys and small armed ...
— Held Fast For England - A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) • G. A. Henty

... words, and seeing that Jonas was actually going, seemed to come to a final decision. He leaped off the steps, and bounded down the road, through the gate, and jumped up into Jonas's sleigh. Mr. Edwards continued to call him, but he paid no attention to it. He curled down before Jonas a moment, then he raised himself up a little, so as to look ...
— Jonas on a Farm in Winter • Jacob Abbott

... when thundering in their pulpits on my own sins and those of my house, took the freedom to call me to my face Jeroboam, or Rehoboam, or some such name, for following the advice of young counsellors— Oddsfish, I will take that of the grey beard for once, for never saw I more sharpness and decision than in the countenance of ...
— Woodstock; or, The Cavalier • Sir Walter Scott

... tall, stout determined, with a loud voice, a woman of quick decision, represented order and arithmetic in the business house which her husband enlivened by ...
— Mademoiselle Fifi • Guy de Maupassant

... moor and rejoined the St. Renny track with the sense of relief that we all get when one of two ways has been definitely discarded. He had even ceased to worry over what decision Old Tring had come to, though when he made out the Parson's figure coming towards him his heart gave a leap and then beat more quickly than its wont. He hastened his steps ...
— Secret Bread • F. Tennyson Jesse

... was a man of about five-and-thirty, tall, broad, and of muscular build. He had a strong, clean-shaven face, a kindly though direct manner, and there was about him a SUGGESTION of decision and efficiency which inspired the confidence of those with whom he came ...
— The Pit Prop Syndicate • Freeman Wills Crofts

... some maiden with a heart On me should venture to bestow it, Pray should I act the wiser part To take the treasure or forego it? Quoth Echo, with decision,—'Go it!' ...
— Poems Teachers Ask For • Various

... employing competent help to take charge of our office, we were ready to start out. Soon after our decision to travel I traded a diamond ring for a horse, harness and buggy, and not being able to buy a mate to the animal in Chicago at a satisfactory price, we shipped our stock of goods and horse and buggy to Grand Haven, Michigan, by boat. I also bought a double harness in ...
— Twenty Years of Hus'ling • J. P. Johnston

... however, and he was sitting in his library alone, he said with a subdued glee, "That is the way to do it,—the one I see first!" And Mr. Denner went to bed with a quiet mind, and the peace which follows the decision of a ...
— John Ward, Preacher • Margaret Deland

... on resistance, and by his superior skill succeeded in ousting the brave Prussian soldier, but inexpert strategist, Bluecher, as well as the Austrian general Schwartzenberg (Jan. and Feb. 1814). But the preponderance of numbers on the side of the allies was too great. Their bold decision to march on Paris secured their triumph. The city surrendered (March 30). Napoleon had lost his hold on the ruling bodies. The senate, through the influence of the astute Talleyrand, once his minister, declared that he and his family ...
— Outline of Universal History • George Park Fisher

... any trouble, Gray. We're not giving the Interplanetary Prison Authority any excuse to revoke its decision and give Caron of Mars a free hand here. We'll see to anyone who ...
— A World is Born • Leigh Douglass Brackett

... practically all other masonry for the Illinois & Mississippi Canal are of concrete. The following account of the methods and cost of doing this concrete work is taken from information published by Mr. J. W. Woermann in 1894 and special information furnished by letter. The decision to use concrete was induced by the fact that no suitable stone for masonry was readily available (the local stone was a flinty limestone, usually without bed, or, at best, in thin irregular strata, and cracked in all directions with the cracks filled with fire clay) while ...
— Concrete Construction - Methods and Costs • Halbert P. Gillette

... This decision I duly communicated to my host on the following morning over the breakfast table, and thereupon we proceeded forthwith to discuss details. The major was of opinion that I ought to begin my preparations forthwith, for the season was rapidly advancing; it was then precisely the right time ...
— Through Veld and Forest - An African Story • Harry Collingwood

... collected, so different from the careless, thoughtless midshipman he had appeared on board the frigate. He had evidently risen to the difficulties of his position. He well knew, indeed, that the lives of all the party would depend in a great measure on his firmness and decision; at the same time, he knew that all he could do might avail them nothing. He also felt compassion for Paul, who was the youngest person on the raft. He had brought him away from the frigate, and it was very probable that he would be one of the first to sink under the hardships to which ...
— Paul Gerrard - The Cabin Boy • W.H.G. Kingston

... really somewhat hectoring in this matter, and I shall no doubt have a hard tussle with her practical sense if I tell her bluntly that I do not wish to write an opera for Paris. True, she would shake her head and accept that decision, too, were it not so closely related to our means of subsistence; there lies the critical knot, which it will be painful to cut. Already my wife is ashamed of our presence in Zurich, and thinks we ought to make everybody believe ...
— The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 2 • Rupert Hughes

... asked Josie, trying to hide a sly little smile. One of her quiet jokes was that Captain Lonsdale always labored under the impression that he gave her advice. Of course, his habit was to applaud her decision, but the kindly police officer really thought Josie's plans of campaign originated with him. She always came to him and he always backed her up. She declared the moral support he gave her was better than the good advice he ...
— Mary Louise and Josie O'Gorman • Emma Speed Sampson

... the table he made a decision in the flash of an eye. He would join Rose in Denver at once. Already dozens of cars were taking the road. There would be a vacant place in some one ...
— Tangled Trails - A Western Detective Story • William MacLeod Raine

... taking such a vital step? Then Dr. Winters expressed in words one of the underlying principles of his life. "A man's first duty is to his country and his God," he said, "and even if you had objected, it would not have changed my decision." ...
— The Next of Kin - Those who Wait and Wonder • Nellie L. McClung

... "It is the decision of the E's that a Junior will handle this problem," McGinnis said, and turned his back as if ...
— Eight Keys to Eden • Mark Irvin Clifton

... spot in his heart for little Gertrude, and he knew that he should miss her sorely when she went, and think of her much. Would it have been a sweet or a bitter thing to have felt himself pledged to a daughter of England? He felt that he could not tell; but at least the decision was made now, and his words ...
— The Lord of Dynevor • Evelyn Everett-Green

... know a Miners' Meetin' to make a decision that didn't become law, with the whole community ready to enforce it ...
— The Magnetic North • Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)

... The British Secretary was further irritated by the tone of the American replies to Erskine's notes; but he "forbore to trouble"[292] Pinkney with any comment upon them. That would be made through Erskine's successor; an unhappy decision, as it proved. No explanation of the disavowal was given; but the instructions sent were read to Pinkney by Canning, and a letter followed saying that Erskine's action had been in direct contradiction to them. Things ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 1 • Alfred Thayer Mahan

... and if succeeding French writers can see and admit the claims of other navigators as clearly and readily as a late most able man of that nation* has pointed out their own in some other instances, I shall not fear to leave it even to their decision. ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis • Matthew Flinders

... along the footways: "Special edition. Shocking murder of an M. P." That was the funeral oration of one friend and client; and he could not help a certain apprehension lest the good name of another should be sucked down in the eddy of the scandal. It was, at least, a ticklish decision that he had to make; and self-reliant as he was by habit, he began to cherish a longing for advice. It was not to be had directly; but perhaps, he thought, it might be ...
— Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde • ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

... children are unusually well behaved. They seldom quarrel or cry, and a spoiled child cannot be found among them. The Moquis love peace, and never fight among themselves. If a dispute occurs it is submitted to a peace council of old men, whose decision is final and obeyed without ...
— Arizona Sketches • Joseph A. Munk

... the animus of the Court, nor yet the quality of the law which the Chief Justice there laid down. It suffices that in the decade which preceded hostilities no event, in all probability, so exasperated passions, and so shook the faith of the people of the northern states in the judiciary, as this decision. Faith, whether in the priest or the magistrate, is of slow growth, and if once impaired is seldom fully restored. I doubt whether the Supreme Court has ever recovered from the shock it then received, and, considered from this point of view, the careless attitude of the ...
— The Theory of Social Revolutions • Brooks Adams

... about accepting this proposal; she had the advantage over my uncle of understanding my disposition. While she was still doubting, while my uncle was still impatiently waiting for her decision, I settled the question for my elders ...
— The Two Destinies • Wilkie Collins

... could a search be undertaken, and there was small chance of finding the body until later spring melted the snow. It was to be an especially bad winter, all agreed, and no pleas, bribes or threats of the men could move the natives from their decision. ...
— The Come Back • Carolyn Wells

... it would be useless to plead with Panda against Cetchwayo's decision, having answered his questions, simply expressed his pleasure at seeing the king look ...
— Hendricks the Hunter - The Border Farm, a Tale of Zululand • W.H.G. Kingston

... will stay, Elsie," she said with quiet decision. "You tried to make trouble between Jane and me. We've found you out. Now, you'll listen to what Jane has to say to you. If you ...
— Jane Allen: Right Guard • Edith Bancroft

... wondering how my chance of having Lorna could depend upon my power to carry pig's wash, and how Betty could have any voice in the matter (which seemed to depend upon her decision), and in short, while I was all abroad as to her knowledge and everything, the pigs, who had been fast asleep and dreaming in their emptiness, awoke with one accord at the goodness of the smell around them. They had resigned themselves, as even pigs ...
— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

... him, that he might make choice of an heir, he had announced to them that they were to have a probation of six months, during which time he designed to judge of their merits, without making any announcement of his decision, till the ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various

... to make his voyage. "Get up steam, make the heart right, keep the furnace fires going, and drive ahead through the darkness regardless of a lowering tempest or of the swift rushing current which sweeps you from your course." This book proclaims his decision in favour of adopting a less reckless and more practical mode of navigation. While his reliance is still placed on the inner central fire he will not disdain to utilise the currents, the tides, and the winds which will make it easier for his straining boilers and untiring screw to forge ...
— Darkest India - A Supplement to General Booth's "In Darkest England, and the Way Out" • Commissioner Booth-Tucker

... cried, Quarter? 4. What, when the Tory told him he had a wife and child? 5. What proposal was made to him? 6. How was his fate to be decided? 7. Was his life spared? 8. What proved the justice of the decision? ...
— Sanders' Union Fourth Reader • Charles W. Sanders

... Another decision of the Court, which could not be announced by an edict, was that all ecclesiastical benefices, from the humblest priory up to the richest abbey, should in future be appanages of the nobility. Being the son of a village surgeon, the Abbe de Vermond, who had great ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... melting tub, both of them—but it isn't for myself I want the property. I have a grandchild, sir; a grandson—but that has nothing to do with it. Will you let me have your answer soon? I will call on you, to hear your decision, to-morrow." ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845 • Various

... very close touch with modern psychic research, and greatly support the close accuracy of some of the New Testament narrative. One which appeals to me greatly is the action of Christ when He was asked a question which called for a sudden decision, namely the fate of the woman who had been taken in sin. What did He do? The very last thing that one would have expected or invented. He stooped down before answering and wrote with his finger in the sand. This he did a second time ...
— The Vital Message • Arthur Conan Doyle

... finished, the women went to her hut to bid her come and hear the decision her father was about to render. The consternation caused by her disappearance lasted until the rosy dawn tinged the Washoe peaks and disclosed to the astounded tribe the body of the ong floating on the waters above its nest, ...
— The Lake of the Sky • George Wharton James

... impassive externally, she had said to herself: "My father has settled the question of the marriage without reference to me; I shall settle the question of the inheritance without consulting him." She was rich, in fact, and her father was not. She had reserved her decision on this point. It is probable that, had the match been a poor one, she would have left him poor. "So much the worse for my nephew! he is wedding a beggar, let him be a beggar himself!" But Cosette's half-million pleased the aunt, and altered her inward situation so far as ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... the only samples of the human brain worth noticing,' as she would, in that case, 'beg to differ.' Whereat there ensued a lively discussion, which ended, so far as the general experience went, in the decision that clever men were always born or discovered in the country, but that after a while they invariably went up to town, and there ...
— God's Good Man • Marie Corelli

... while the council deliberates. Our decision will be made known to the parties concerned, ...
— The Lion of Saint Mark - A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century • G. A. Henty

... enemy's house after dusk even with notice. One should not at night lurk in the yard of another's premises, nor should one seek to enjoy a woman to whom the king himself might make love. Never set thyself against the decision to which a person hath arrived who keepeth low company and who is in the habit of consulting all he meeteth. Never tell him,—"I do not believe thee,"—but assigning some reason send him away on a pretext. ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... Phyllis's sake. It was too late for her to go to him at that hour, or even send a note, as I saw by her eye she thought of doing. I stayed with her till after twelve, on purpose. And the last thing I said was, that I thought her decision not to accept Mr. van Buren so wise, as such an intelligent woman as she might marry any one. It showed, said I, how undeserving he was, that the minute she took herself from him, he asked another girl to be his wife. 'Has he?' she almost screamed. 'Yes,' said I. 'Didn't you know? He ...
— The Chauffeur and the Chaperon • C. N. Williamson

... at New Bedford in June, 1844, applied to Mr. Justice Story to carry into effect a decision made by him between the captain and crew of the Prussian ship Borussia, but the request was refused on the ground that without previous legislation by Congress the judiciary did not possess the power to give effect to this article of the treaty. The Prussian Government, through their minister ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Polk - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 4: James Knox Polk • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... him some time to make up his mind; but when he had come to a decision he opened his door softly, listened, and stole ...
— Quicksilver - The Boy With No Skid To His Wheel • George Manville Fenn

... The decision, which really involved a sacrifice and a certain sense of risk on the part of these good people, was conveyed in a note, together with a recipe for the preservation of magnum bonums, and a very liberal cheque in advance for the first quarter of her three pupils, stipulating that no others should ...
— Magnum Bonum • Charlotte M. Yonge

... call to mind that any momentous innovation which rests on popular sentiment will take time; that consequently anything like a plebiscite on the question today would scarcely give a safe index of what the decision is likely to be when presently put to the test; and that as things go just now, swiftly and urgent, any time-allowance counts at something more than its ordinary workday coefficient. What can apparently be said with some degree of confidence is that just ...
— An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Peace And The Terms Of Its Perpetuation • Thorstein Veblen

... larger than the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean). The Kiel Canal (Germany), Oresund (Denmark-Sweden), Bosporus (Turkey), Strait of Gibraltar (Morocco-Spain), and the Saint Lawrence Seaway (Canada-US) are important strategic access waterways. The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth world ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Atlantic Ocean south of ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... a political decision! You have no authority to make promises like that; that is a matter for ...
— Ullr Uprising • Henry Beam Piper

... republic. The belief that they are generally boss-governed is a mistake. The party leader, sometimes designated as boss, invariably consults with the strongest men there are in the convention before he arrives at a decision. He is generally successful, because he has so well prepared the way, and his own judgment is always modified and frequently changed ...
— My Memories of Eighty Years • Chauncey M. Depew

... Either John's decision, or Mrs. Tod's reasoning, was successful; we received a message to the effect that Miss March would not refuse our "kindness." So we vacated; and all that long Sunday we sat in the parlour lately our neighbour's, heard the rain come ...
— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

... commanded by Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers. The newcomers, who already had passed through a harrowing experience, faced a forlorn situation in the land of their destination; and so their leaders concurred in a decision to return to England. But, Lord De La Warr's timely arrival, with three ships exceedingly well furnished with all necessaries, changed the outlook. Here were not only the means of survival but resources for some stable home life. Several of the women who had sailed ...
— Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century - Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 17 • Annie Lash Jester

... "I accept your decision in the presence of these witnesses," said Philip Ammon. "Where is my father?" The elder Ammon with a distressed face hurried to him. "Father, take my place," said Philip. "Excuse me to my guests. Ask all my friends to forgive me. I ...
— A Girl Of The Limberlost • Gene Stratton Porter

... to know what you're doing, Farnum. I control millions. I also have some influence—in Washington," and the man strode from the room, leaving Jacob Farnum a bit shaken but not repenting his decision not to deal ...
— The Submarine Boys' Trial Trip - "Making Good" as Young Experts • Victor G. Durham

... has been fighting this decision, on the ground that the question was not a proper one to ask, and that he had been right in refusing ...
— The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 30, June 3, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls • Various

... Fates had decided what the lot of any being, whether god or man, was to be, Jupiter himself could not alter their decision. ...
— Young Folks Treasury, Volume 2 (of 12) • Various

... Kolderup, since he had arrived at a decision, he had become very uncommunicative, especially to his nephew. The closed lips, and eyes half hidden beneath their lids, showed that there was some fixed idea in the head where generally floated ...
— Godfrey Morgan - A Californian Mystery • Jules Verne

... the decision, he made his way across the basin to where he had slid down the embankment and slowly and laboriously climbed to the top, followed ...
— The Broncho Rider Boys with Funston at Vera Cruz - Or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes • Frank Fowler

... minute, with a pucker in her white brow. Then she slid from her father's knee and snatched up a shabby, battered doll that was lying on the grass beside the bench, and clasping it tightly to her breast, she delivered her decision,— ...
— Two Little Travellers - A Story for Girls • Frances Browne Arthur

... bailiffs, and that of a freedwoman who had been repudiated by a night watchman, after she had been caught in bed with a bath attendant, that of a porter banished to Baioe, a steward who was standing trial, and lastly the report of a decision rendered in the matter of a lawsuit, between some valets. When this was over with, some rope dancers came in and a very boresome fool stood holding a ladder, ordering his boy to dance from rung to rung, and finally at the top, all this to the music of popular airs; then the ...
— The Satyricon, Complete • Petronius Arbiter

... just; that the nature of the offence of those who signed it was such, and established by evidence of such a kind, making so imperious an exception to the ordinary course of action, that there was no need to wait here for the decision of a Court of Judicature, but that the People were compelled by a necessity involved in the very constitution of man as a moral Being to pass sentence upon them. And this I shall prove by trying this act of their's by principles ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth

... sought to apply very stringent rules:—(1) Carefully distinguish between original authority and historical memorials or aids; for example, between a fact recorded at first- or second-hand knowledge, and a decision of principle by authority. (2) Represent every man from his own standpoint; judge him from your own. His collections of original materials were vast; beginning with his residence in England, he brought together ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 - "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" • Various

... might moralize here," said King. "Here is the parting of the ways for the young man; here is a moment of calm in which he can decide which course he will take. See, with my hand I can turn the water to Canada or to America! So momentous is the easy decision of ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... declared Faith with unusual decision. "That is no excuse at all, for if it makes you do and say things to regret later. Why don't you ...
— All Aboard - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry

... km, Guatemala 203 km, Honduras 342 km Coastline: 307 km Maritime claims: territorial sea: 200 nm; overflight and navigation permitted beyond 12 nm International disputes: land boundary dispute with Honduras mostly resolved by 11 September 1992 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision; ICJ referred the maritime boundary in the Golfo de Fonseca to an earlier agreement in this century and advised that some tripartite resolution among El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua likely would be required Climate: tropical; rainy season (May to October); dry season (November to ...
— The 1993 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... his absence, as she was too much fatigued to accompany him. In this case, any interference of mine would be impertinent. What should I do? I leaned out of my window, as if in the hope of seeing some object, which should help me to a decision. Such an object was just before me, in the person of an old fisherman, a next-door neighbour, and very honest friend of mine. "Come hither, John," said I; and I stated the case to him. He thought we need not fear any danger. The mountain ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 279, October 20, 1827 • Various

... at. He sat down and drank deliberately some coffee, emptying the small cup to the last drop. "That does not mean I admit for a moment the cap fitted," he declared distinctly. "No?" I said. "No," he affirmed with quiet decision. "Do you know what you would have done? Do you? And you don't think yourself" . . . he gulped something . . . ...
— Lord Jim • Joseph Conrad

... decision. He was afraid to appear to hesitate, so he laughed his quiet little chuckle while he scrambled ...
— The Quirt • B.M. Bower

... Lady Rowardennan of the Castle had promised the orphans, en bloc, that those who passed through an entire year without once falling into falsehood should have a treat or festival of their own choosing. On the eventful day of decision, those orphans, male and female, who had not for a twelve-month deviated from the truth by a hair's-breadth, raised their little white hands (emblematic of their pure hearts and lips), and were solemnly counted. Then came the unhappy moment when ...
— Penelope's Irish Experiences • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... was far from popular in Jerusalem that night. There were many who thought he had been too severe, too narrow, too particular. And doubtless there were many who, if they had dared, would have rebelled against his decision. But Nehemiah had done everything; he had taken all these strong measures, not to please men, but to please God. If the Master praised him, he cared not what others might say of him. 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' was the constant prayer of Nehemiah's ...
— The King's Cup-Bearer • Amy Catherine Walton

... majority of eleven (including six Senators from free States). A motion to make the admission of Maine a separate question was also defeated. The two Houses now stood directly opposed to each other. The Representatives would not retreat from their decision to prohibit slavery in Missouri; the Senate was equally determined that Missouri should be admitted as a slave State. Had the House maintained its ground, the United States for the next half century ...
— A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year - Volume Two (of Three) • Edwin Emerson

... touch her decision—sweet and gentle and kindly as ever, but perfectly determined to ...
— The Heart of Una Sackville • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... refused institution by Dr. Philpotts, the bishop of Exeter, because he was unsound in the matter of baptismal regeneration, upon which he appealed to the Court of Arches, which confirmed the bishop's decision, but the sentence of the court was reversed by the Privy Council, and institution ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... anything now presented to us, that it is like it. If we did say so, we should be wrong; for we may be quite certain that the energy of an impression fades from the memory, and becomes more and more indistinct every day; and thus we compare a faded and indistinct image with the decision and certainty of one present to the senses. How constantly do we affirm that the thunder-storm of last week was the most terrible one we ever saw in our lives, because we compare it, not with the thunder-storm of last year, but with ...
— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin

... through this, or turn around and try another way?" asked Jud, looking as though, if the decision rested with him, he would only too gladly attack the heap ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound - A Tour on Skates and Iceboats • George A. Warren

... been repeatedly protracted, will be very soon sent abroad. Lady Elizabeth Pembroke has, therefore, consented to his urgent desire for their immediate union; and Alfred will, I am sure, give them as little reason as possible to complain of the law's delay. Lady Elizabeth, who has all that decision of mind and true courage which you know is so completely compatible with the most perfect gentleness of disposition and softness, even timidity of manners, resolves to leave all her relations and friends, and to go abroad. She says she knew what sacrifices ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth

... 1886, at our annual meeting, we reaffirmed this decision, and we now have the following as one of the articles of our constitution: 'All medicines used in the hospital must be prepared without alcohol, and all physicians accepting positions on the medical staff of the hospital ...
— Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why - What Medical Writers Say • Martha M. Allen

... difficulties in the way of neutral commerce, and in particular will she remove the declaration of the North Sea as a war zone? We will wait and see if the English statesmen have learned that Germany can't be starved. We can await Great Britain's decision ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various

... her daughter. She appeared to have had a foreshadowing of her death, and directed Anna, in case of such an event, to have Sir Thomas' letter delivered to him immediately, and to abide by whatever decision he might come to. Anna had never seen Sir Thomas, but she knew that he was in some way related to her on her mother's side of the family, and that he was an old gentleman, who lived among his books, in an old-fashioned country house in one of the midland counties of England, with no one but ...
— Peak's Island - A Romance of Buccaneer Days • Ford Paul

... to bring matters to a crisis. A commission sat upon the disputed frontier question between the Zulus and the Boers. They had also to investigate charges of a raid into Natal territory by some Zulu chiefs. Their decision was in favour of the Zulus against the Boers; and, in respect of the raids, they ordered that a fine should be paid and ...
— Our Sailors - Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign • W.H.G. Kingston

... together; and this was the reason why the magistrate had been invited to Whalley. After hearing both sides of the question, and examining plans of the estates, which he knew to be accurate, Sir Ralph, who had been appointed umpire, pronounced a decision in favour of Roger Nowell, but Mistress Nutter refusing to abide by it, the settlement of the matter was postponed till the day but one following, between which time the landmarks were to be investigated by a certain little ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth

... of the political philosophy of "Hard Times." "Entirely right in main drift and purpose"—such is the verdict of Mr. Ruskin. Who shall decide between the two? or, if a decision be necessary, then I would venture to say, yes, entirely right in feeling. Dickens is right in sympathy for those who toil and suffer, right in desire to make their lives more human and beautiful, right in belief that the same human heart beats below all class distinctions. But, beyond ...
— Life of Charles Dickens • Frank Marzials

... should be no exclusion from voting on account of colour. This was carried against the strong protest of John Sherman, the brother of the general and a distinguished Republican Senator. But when the Senate met, even he submitted to the decision of the caucus, and the Amendment Bill was carried by the normal Republican majority. Johnson vetoed it, and it was carried by both Houses over his veto. The Radicals had now achieved their main object. Congress was committed to indiscriminate Negro Suffrage, and the ...
— A History of the United States • Cecil Chesterton

... each other for a few moments. In fact, since the autumn they had planned taking as an apprentice some young girl who would live with them, and thus bring a little brightness into their house, which seemed so dull without children. And their decision was soon made. ...
— The Dream • Emile Zola

... the prisons turned from him to Sydney Carton, and said, with more decision, "It has come to a point. I go on duty soon, and can't overstay my time. You told me you had a proposal; what is it? Now, it is of no use asking too much of me. Ask me to do anything in my office, putting my head in great extra danger, and I had better trust ...
— A Tale of Two Cities - A Story of the French Revolution • Charles Dickens

... had spoken he knew that he was asking a great deal. It was torture to his mother to express an opinion on an abstract question. She did not lack decision of conduct. She could resolve in an instant to send a drunkard to an institution or take a trip round the world; but on a matter of philosophy of life it was as difficult to get her to commit herself as if ...
— The Happiest Time of Their Lives • Alice Duer Miller

... efforts rub off his reserve. I was not surprised that he kept aloof from the coarser inmates, but I was not prepared to find that all my own advances to confidence and companionship, were repulsed with even more decision than those of my officers. At last, some passing event disclosed my true character to him, when I learned for the first time that he had mistaken me for a government spy; inasmuch as he could not otherwise account for my intimacy with ...
— Captain Canot - or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver • Brantz Mayer

... would deny him a hearing or condemn him contrary to justice, he intended to appeal not to ultra-montane Rome, ignorant of the German language and the German character, but to the judgment of his own nation, to the decision of an independent government entitled to act in the case, and the rule should be the Holy Scriptures, an unassailable code of laws acknowledged by all. And thus the fundamental idea of the Reformed Church naturally ...
— The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli • Johann Hottinger

... decision on the Warner's Ranch Case the United States Supreme Court had an opportunity offered it, once for all to settle the status of all American Indians. Had it familiarized itself with the laws of Spain, under which all Spanish grants were made, it would have found that the Indian was ...
— The Old Franciscan Missions Of California • George Wharton James

... stood out to sea, her crew increased by several Lascars and Dutch, so that she was now in a condition to resume hostilities. Before Anson left Macao, he let it be understood that he intended to touch at Batavia on his homeward voyage, but he had formed a very different decision. ...
— Notable Voyagers - From Columbus to Nordenskiold • W.H.G. Kingston and Henry Frith

... as the flight of swallows. Some of his own holdings were imperilled, and the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong machine—strung to full tension, going at full speed, accurate, never hesitating, with the proper word and decision and act ready and prompt as clockwork. Stocks and bonds, loans and mortgages, margins and securities—here was a world of finance, and there was no room in it for the human world ...
— The Four Million • O. Henry

... Crawford by a majority of one hundred and ninety-one. Mr. Brown then announced that the defeat had opened up the way for his retirement without dishonour, and that he would not seek re-election. Some public advantages, he said, might flow from that decision. Those whose interest it was that misgovernment should continue, would no longer be able to make a scapegoat of George Brown. Admitting that he had used strong language in denouncing French domination, he justified his course as the only remedy for ...
— George Brown • John Lewis

... remained all his life, but at the end of the four years he felt that his place was in the world rather than in a monastery, and this decision was largely helped by a visit he paid to master Colt in Essex, a gentleman with three daughters. 'Albeit,' says Roper, 'his mind most served him to the second daughter, for that he thought her the fairest and best favoured, yet when he considered that it would be both great grief and some shame ...
— The Red Book of Heroes • Leonora Blanche Lang

... close to Bell, who took the one great step further. A strong characterization of the value and importance of the work done by Edison in the development of the carbon transmitter will be found in the decision of Judge Brown in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in Boston, on February 27, 1901, declaring void the famous Berliner patent of the Bell ...
— Edison, His Life and Inventions • Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin

... the hearing and judging of said cases, either civil or criminal, the decision shall be whatever meets the approval of the majority; and should they be equally divided, two or three of the judges shall choose, impartially and in whatever manner may seem best to them, an advocate for the determination of the case upon which they have disagreed. The ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583 • Various

... to some terms with me, or I come in presently with my cutter into the arbour, and I will cast down the town all over. Make haste, because I have no time to spare. I give you a quarter of an hour to your decision, and after I'll make my duty. I think it would he better for you, gentlemen, to come some of you aboard presently, to settle the affairs of your town. You'll sure no to be hurt. I give you my parole of honour. I ...
— The Lighthouse • Robert Ballantyne

... greatest difficulty was with his wife, whose conduct it was necessary that he should guide, and whose feelings and conscience he was most anxious to influence. When she first heard his decision she almost wrung her hands in despair. If the woman could have gone to America, and the man have remained, she would have been satisfied. Anything wrong about a man was but of little moment,—comparatively so, even though he were a clergyman; but anything wrong ...
— Dr. Wortle's School • Anthony Trollope

... The steps in this path are these: First, the deliberate decision that self shall be given up to the death; then, the surrender to Christ crucified to make us partakers of His crucifixion; then, 'knowing that our old man is crucified,' the faith that says, 'I am crucified with Christ;' and then, the power to live as a crucified one, to ...
— Holy in Christ - Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy • Andrew Murray

... he said. "My mind is quite made up. I'm obliged to you for all the trouble you have taken in my case, but I cannot alter my decision. I shall go through with ...
— The Shrieking Pit • Arthur J. Rees

... he had just been reading the legal part of the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, and remarked especially on the opinion of Judge Ruffin, in the case of State v. Mann, as having made a deep impression on his mind. Of the character of the decision, considered as a legal and literary document, he spoke in terms of high admiration; said that nothing had ever given him so clear a view of the essential nature of slavery. We found that this document had produced the same impression on the minds ...
— Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 (of 2) • Harriet Elizabeth (Beecher) Stowe

... future," she answered, still struggling to be gayly reassuring, though she knew, perfectly well, that she was face to face with a most momentous decision and that an insistent, determined lover was about to be restored to confidence and pride. "And now, good-bye." And she gave him her hand ...
— The Light of the Star - A Novel • Hamlin Garland

... pass this sentence of condemnation, and was induced to do so through fear of Louis, and not because he considered the book to be false. With his usual gentleness, Fenelon accepted the sentence without a word of protest; he read the brief in his own cathedral, declaring that the decision of his superiors was to him an echo of the Divine Will. Fenelon had aroused the hatred of Madame de Maintenon by opposing her marriage with the King, which took place privately in 1685, and she did not allow any opportunity to escape of injuring and persecuting ...
— Books Fatal to Their Authors • P. H. Ditchfield

... either to be given up, or to be taken on for another term, at the end of the week. A decision must be made. Hadria was dismayed to find her strength beginning to fail. That made the thought of the future alarming. With health and vigour nothing seemed ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird

... a decision. He waited until the office door had closed behind the departing stenographer, then swung his long legs recklessly upon his flat-top desk and shouted across the room at ...
— The Plunderer • Henry Oyen

... that the boy was much abashed, in order to encourage him, said, "Come to me, child, and tell me if it was you that determined the affair between Ali Khaujeh and the merchant who had cheated him of his money? I saw and heard the decision, and am very well pleased with you." The boy answered modestly, that it was he. "Well, my son," replied the caliph, "come and sit down by me, and you shall see the true Ali Khaujeh, and the ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... percentage ratings are unscientific and misleading; they present definite figures for what are mere arbitrary determinations. The values assigned to the several functions are purely arbitrary in the first place, and in the second place the decision as to how near those values any mixer approaches ...
— Concrete Construction - Methods and Costs • Halbert P. Gillette

... the author, I decided to make an exception in her case, so she became the first woman Government employee at the Canyon. I Married a Ranger proves that the decision ...
— I Married a Ranger • Dama Margaret Smith

... we should go. This decision was not arrived at at once, or without some ups and downs. My mother could not go herself, and had some doubts as to our being old enough, as yet, to go out visiting alone. It will be believed that I made much of being able to say—'But you know, I ...
— Mrs. Overtheway's Remembrances • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... but with decision. "I can't tell you entirely. You must let me think. For one thing, I want more freedom of action than I should have as an inmate of your house. I want to come and go as I like. I've never really done that before, and I'm just beginning ...
— The Obstacle Race • Ethel M. Dell

... could compensate for. To desert a bride on her wedding-day is one of them. I repeat, Lady Helena, with your permission, I will go to my room; we won't talk of my future plans and prospects just now. To-morrow you shall know my decision." ...
— A Terrible Secret • May Agnes Fleming

... as she said it, for she had an instinct that 'school' for girls was hardly one of the things that her hostess had been accustomed to in her youth, and notwithstanding Jacinth's decision of character, she was apt to be much influenced by the opinions and even prejudices of those about her. But still she knew that Miss Scarlett's was ...
— Robin Redbreast - A Story for Girls • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... the road to Bloemfontein; and as telegrams had to be censored there and handed in at Modder River, fifty miles away, and as I had no despatch riders, I decided that the game was up on this line. A dose of fever helped my decision, and held me afterwards at Modder when great things were happening at Paardeberg. But for the day during which I stayed in Jacobsdaal I studied the little town and ...
— The Relief of Mafeking • Filson Young

... and, therefore, if you please, I will go to Mr. Laurie's whenever he wishes it." "That is acting like a good and sensible boy," said Mr. Martin, "and I hope you will have no reason to repent of your decision. I shall go now and call on Mr. Laurie, and make an agreement for your coming to me in the evening; and I think you had best come along with me and hear what he wishes you to do." John went for his bonnet directly, and walked after Mr. Martin, keeping near enough to speak ...
— The Eskdale Herd-boy • Mrs Blackford

... a manner that she puzzled Molly, as she often did, by her change of mood from the gloomy decision with which she had refused to accept the invitation only half an hour ago. She suddenly took Molly round the waist, and began waltzing round the room with her, to the imminent danger of the various ...
— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... has sent me the enclosed paper, with power to do what I think fit with it. He would evidently prefer it to appear in the "Nat. Hist. Review." Please read it, and let me have your decision pretty soon. Some germanisms must be corrected; whether woodcuts are necessary I have not been able to pay attention enough to decide. If you refuse, please send it to the Linnean Society as communicated by me. (663/1. ...
— More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II - Volume II (of II) • Charles Darwin

... Edith would be displeased when she learned that I wasn't going to marry Breck, so I didn't tell her my decision immediately. I dreaded to undertake to explain to her what a slaughter to my ideals such a marriage would be. Oh, I was young then, you see, young and hopeful. Everything was ahead of me. There was ...
— The Fifth Wheel - A Novel • Olive Higgins Prouty

... the State, within the prohibition of the Constitution of the United States. In principle, it was thought to be decided by the case of Craig v. the State of Missouri (4 Peters 410). Among that majority was the late Chief Justice Marshall.' This decision, then, in the case of the Bank of Kentucky, is overthrown, as an authority, by the fact that it was against the decision of the Supreme Court in a former case, and against the opinion of a majority of the court in that very case before the death of Chief Justice Marshall. In delivering ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3 No 2, February 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... after a short confidential chat with the curly, blond, small-faced and long-eared Kaganitsky,—"comes the next proposition. I warn you, however; no matter how tempting this proposition is, do not make any harsh decision. We know your zeal in Petrograd—that's why we all would want you to say your word, but ... if I see that someone is too zealous, I'd rather keep silent if I were he. Can we try these ...
— Rescuing the Czar - Two authentic Diaries arranged and translated • James P. Smythe

... It was only two years ago that I made a decision to relinquish the 90 acre farm. A short time ago I found all the grafted trees bearing fruit except the hickories and hican. The grafted Zimmerman, Stoke and Hobson chestnuts have died and most of the pecan, walnut ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Thirty-Eighth Annual Meeting • Northern Nut Growers Association

... structure of the primary hills, I should throw my geological outlines aside, and take up Turner's vignette of the Alps at Daybreak. After what has been said, a single glance at it will be enough. Observe the exquisite decision with which the edge of the uppermost plank of the great peak is indicated by its clear dark side and sharp shadow; then the rise of the second low ridge on its side, only to descend again precisely in the ...
— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin

... should have exclusive charge of this work. At rare intervals nowadays a clergyman may be found to maintain that because a man has been to college and to the theological seminary, and has made the study of the Scriptures his life-work (moved to that decision after careful self-examination) that therefore he is better fitted to that ministry than Miss Susie Goldrick, who teaches a class in Sabbath-school very acceptably. Miss Goldrick is in the second year in the High School, and last Friday afternoon read a composition on English Literatoor, ...
— Back Home • Eugene Wood

... doing so, Angelique, and that is for you to release me from all responsibility by accepting the hand of one of your cousins. Before a month is out, you must be the wife of Mussy, Caorches or d'Emboise. You have a free choice. Make your decision." ...
— The Confessions of Arsene Lupin • Maurice Leblanc

... The decision to make the shafts of permanent construction was based not only on the desirability of having access to and egress from the tunnels near the banks of the river for convenience of the workmen or exit for passengers in case of accident, but to facilitate ventilation; ...
— Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 • Alfred Noble

... they not aided in its extension? Yes; Facts in proof of this view; Abolitionists bad Philosophers; Colored men's influence destructive of their hopes; Summary manner in which England acts in their removal; Lord Mansfield's decision; Granville Sharp's labors and their results; Colored immigration into Canada; Information supplied by Major Lachlan; Demoralized condition of the blacks as indicated by the crimes they committed; Elgin Association; Public meeting protesting against its organization; ...
— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various

... argument, not because the fact itself applies directly to the proposition we wish to prove, but because it by inference suggests a general theory which does so apply. Though the reader may not be conscious of it, the presence of this general theory may influence his decision even more than the explicit statement of the general ...
— Composition-Rhetoric • Stratton D. Brooks



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