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Disobey   Listen
verb
Disobey  v. i.  To refuse or neglect to obey; to violate commands; to be disobedient. "He durst not know how to disobey."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Disobey" Quotes from Famous Books



... without their free consent, of men, temporarily under command or control of an authority which they have been led to suppose they are not at liberty legally to disobey. ...
— An Ethical Problem - Or, Sidelights upon Scientific Experimentation on Man and Animals • Albert Leffingwell

... to disobey, Lycabetta left him, and, mounting the steps of the chapel, opened the door cautiously and entered. Robert seated himself again with burning brain and heart. A little white, bell-like flower grew at his feet. He trampled it with his heel into the grass, ...
— The Proud Prince • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... lessons or exulted in the fact that he was now at liberty to disobey orders, for instead of heading for shore, he started in ...
— The Junior Classics Volume 8 - Animal and Nature Stories • Selected and arranged by William Patten

... very much worried to go to the Palace and leave my father all alone owing to his being in poor health, but we could not disobey Her Majesty's order, so we returned to ...
— Two Years in the Forbidden City • The Princess Der Ling

... if he let you out that street door. He has his orders to keep the ladies in their quarters and it is death to him to disobey. That is the discipline—and the discipline has no mercy—particularly upon the native soldiers." His tone held bitterness. "It is useless to resist the soldiers. You must resign yourself to remain a guest until I can obtain word to one who can render assistance.... Will it be so hard?" he added ...
— The Palace of Darkened Windows • Mary Hastings Bradley

... there; or standing ranked, shifting from leg to leg, all through the weary night; New tricolor Municipals ordering one thing, old Mandat Captains ordering another! Procureur Manuel has ordered the cannons to be withdrawn from the Pont Neuf; none ventured to disobey him. It seemed certain, then, the old Staff so long doomed has finally been dissolved, in these hours; and Mandat is not our Commandant now, but Santerre? Yes, friends: Santerre henceforth,—surely Mandat ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... separate institution. The customs, tribal or national, that once ruled the family-training are now solidified and definitely outlined in laws written on statute books. The illiterate parent cannot, if he would, disobey the compulsory school law. The poverty-stricken parent must either starve himself to feed his children according to the demands of the health board or he must accept public or private charity for their sustenance according to modern demands. The ignorant parent must submit to treatment ...
— The Family and it's Members • Anna Garlin Spencer

... namely, that terrible epithet, which becomes almost a part of his name, 'Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.' What a title to be branded on a man's forehead for ever! It is always a mistake to disobey God. Every sin is a blunder as well as a crime. This only is the safe motto for churches and individuals, in all the details of worship and of life: 'Lo, I come to do Thy will, O Lord, and Thy law ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... innocence. "I never go to the stable nor tavern. I don't associate with Sam and Ben Drake, nor with James Cole, nor with Oliver Fowle, more than I can help. For I know they are bad boys. I see that the worst scholars at school are those who are said to disobey their parents, and every one of them are poor scholars, and they ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864 • Various

... making you mine," he exclaimed in a low deep voice. "You require no assurances of my love and my constancy; then promise me that you will not consent to become another's whatever may occur. I dare not ask you to disobey your father, and marry me against his will; but for your own sake, for mine, I do entreat you not to yield to his authority so far as to marry one you cannot love. I have hopes, great hopes that his objections ...
— Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships - A Story of the Last Naval War • W.H.G. Kingston

... should take up arms in their absence, nevertheless knowing that these must have recourse to arms in any case, since the enemy was upon them, they took an honourable course in deciding that what had to be done should be done with their leave, lest men driven to disobey by necessity should come afterwards to disobey from choice. And although this may seem the course which every republic ought reasonably to follow, nevertheless weak and badly-advised republics cannot make up their minds to follow it, not knowing how to do themselves ...
— Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius • Niccolo Machiavelli

... commands that I describe in detail the charms of this Army Adonis. Far be it that I should disobey so august a command, being, as I am, the prime minister in this her principality of Domestic Felicity. Her brother has never ceased to be among the first in her dear regard. He possessed the merriest black eyes: ...
— The Man on the Box • Harold MacGrath

... up my mind to kill myself, but before I die I wish to make a confession of my wrong doings, as he insists that I shall and I dare not disobey him. I therefore write this confession, to be read by you after I ...
— Montezuma's Castle and Other Weird Tales • Charles B. Cory

... more than a sub-conscious product of my observations respecting his abnormal breadth of shoulder. But whatever the origin of the impulse, I found myself unable to disobey it. Therefore, I merely nodded, turned on my heel and went back to ...
— The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu • Sax Rohmer

... I will disobey my Mamma, when she bids me leave her without being reconciled to me! No sullens, my Mamma: no perverseness: but, worse than either: this is direct disobedience!—Yet tear not yourself from me! [wrapping my arms about her as I ...
— Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9) • Samuel Richardson

... Polly, "I didn't mean to disobey, Mamsie, I really didn't; I'll go." And setting a kiss on Mother Fisher's black hair, she ran out on unsteady feet, and with ...
— Five Little Peppers Abroad • Margaret Sidney

... replied the oldest sailor, "we do not disobey your orders, but why should we carry them out, since we ...
— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume I (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere

... in perfect kindness; but once given, it should be known that they must be obeyed. I heard a lady once say, 'For my part, I cannot be so very strict with my children. I love them too much to punish them every time they disobey me.' I will relate a scene which took place in her family. She had but one domestic, and at the time to which I allude, she was very busy preparing for company. Her children knew by experience that when she was in a hurry she would indulge them in any thing for the sake ...
— Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper • T. S. Arthur

... course I have seen her. Did she not send for me? and in that case it was not on the cards that I should disobey her." ...
— Framley Parsonage • Anthony Trollope

... sweetly, and are accompanied by the sweetest of smiles; but they are nevertheless commands, and somehow it does not occur to any one to disobey them. John—stern, masterful, authoritative John, who has never been approached with anything more dictatorial than a timid request since he left Merchant Taylors' School nineteen years ago, who would have thought that something had suddenly gone wrong with the laws of Nature if ...
— John Ingerfield and Other Stories • Jerome K. Jerome

... clothing account is almost exhausted, and the campaign only half through. Is that the order you mean? By George, you must think that old Pigey is only going to live and do business after three o'clock in the afternoon, if you think that he will insist upon that order. Our Brigadier did right to disobey it. Old Rosey would have put any officer ...
— Red-Tape and Pigeon-Hole Generals - As Seen From the Ranks During a Campaign in the Army of the Potomac • William H. Armstrong

... cold and chaste. This night bespeaks my fall. To love is disobedience; for me to disobey ...
— Saronia - A Romance of Ancient Ephesus • Richard Short

... weakness of Thatcher might have expressed itself in figures that would have deepened Thatcher's abasement in the eyes of his fellow partisans; but this idea had been discussed with Bassett, who had sharply vetoed it, and the chairman was not a man lightly to disobey orders even to make a Hoosier holiday. He failed to see the editor of the "Fraser County Democrat" and peremptorily closed the incident. There was no mistaking his ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson

... she is above all praise.' He then, telling them that he had business which required his presence, desired they would sit down and talk together till he returned; and this command Miranda seemed not at all disposed to disobey. ...
— Tales from Shakespeare • Charles and Mary Lamb

... disregard Miss Lincoln's orders, and to go along the beach and tell them of their danger. There was not time to run back and ask permission. Nobody else was in sight, so she must decide on her own authority that it was expedient for once to disobey. Scrambling quickly on to the shore by an even more precipitous path than the one by which she had ascended, Patty made what haste she could along the sands towards her companions. She shouted to them while she was still a considerable distance off, but ...
— The Nicest Girl in the School - A Story of School Life • Angela Brazil

... his right hand and the cup in his left, and, after taking seven paces to the left and eight to the right, he says: "Gods of heaven and earth, invest me with the heavy seal, in order that I may eject from this dwelling-house all kinds of evil spirits. Should any disobey me, give me power to deliver them for safe custody to rulers of such demons." Then, addressing the ghost in a loud voice, he says: "As quick as lightning depart from this house." This done, he takes ...
— Byways of Ghost-Land • Elliott O'Donnell

... coldly. "It would be quite simple for your father to get some kind of legal injunction, forbidding you to interfere with your sister. Home training is what she needs, and we are determined that she shall get it. You will only unsettle and injure her by trying to induce her to disobey us." ...
— Back To Billabong • Mary Grant Bruce

... The blessed minister his wings display'd, And like a shooting star he cleft the night: He charged the flames, and those that disobey'd He lash'd to duty ...
— The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Vol I - With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes • John Dryden

... To disobey the orders of the Council of Four was unthinkable to a Space Admiral of the old school. But the trouble was, the school system had changed. A man, a fighter, an Admiral had to think for himself now, if ...
— Tulan • Carroll Mather Capps

... sin to me unknown Dipp'd me in ink, my parents', or my own? As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came. I left no calling for this idle trade, No duty broke, no father disobey'd. 130 The Muse but served to ease some friend, not wife, To help me through this long disease, my life, To second, Arbuthnot! thy art and care, And teach the being ...
— The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 • Alexander Pope et al

... rejoined Leonard, with a sigh. "If we disobey the Lord Mayor's orders, and neglect giving information, we shall all be sent to Newgate, while poor Stephen will be taken to the pest-house. Besides, the searchers will be here before morning. They are sure to learn what has happened ...
— Old Saint Paul's - A Tale of the Plague and the Fire • William Harrison Ainsworth

... no more dare disobey him than if I was one of his soldiers." And she laid down her work, and rose quietly to do ...
— White Lies • Charles Reade

... the man to disobey orders," growled Connick. "But I'm a man as likes man's style. I've always done your biddin', Colonel Ward, and I done your biddin' when I brought him here. Now I've found him a lively young chap that I'm proud to know and tho I speak for myself alone I speak as a man that ...
— The Rainy Day Railroad War • Holman Day

... noticed with dismay that his lamp had gone from the box beside his bed. So he was not likely to disobey her last injunction—at least, not for any length ...
— The Black Creek Stopping-House • Nellie McClung

... himself; then, rattling in his throat, shrieked "No!" with a terrible effort. "No. Nothing can save thy English lover." "Why?" she breathed feebly. He raged at her in his weakness. Why? Because the order had gone forth; because they dared not disobey. Because she had only gold in the palm of her hand, while Senor O'Brien held all their lives in his. The accursed Juez was for them like death itself that walks amongst men, taking ...
— Romance • Joseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer

... corners into the light of the sun. It was not a hard thing to plant a few flower seeds, and because the King Amor looked so much more powerful than other men, and had eyes so wonderful and commanding, they did not know what punishment he would invent for them and were afraid to disobey him. But somehow, after they had worked in the sweet-scented earth for a while and had seen others working, the light of the sun and the freshness of the air made them feel in better humor; the ...
— The Land of the Blue Flower • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... speak to me!" cried Felipe, in a tone of terror. "Oh, Ramona, why did you disobey her? If she sees us talking, she will be even more displeased. Fly back to your room. Leave it all to me. I will do ...
— Ramona • Helen Hunt Jackson

... But Ambrose raised an issue with his sovereign. And this angry sovereign sent forth her soldiers to eject Ambrose from the city. The haughty and insolent priest should be exiled, should be imprisoned, should die. Shall he be permitted to disobey an imperial command? Where would then be the imperial authority?—a mere shadow in an age ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV • John Lord

... words to grieve, Too firm for clamor to dismay, When Faith forbids thee to believe, And Meekness calls to disobey,— ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... some uninvested savings made to this date, which you will find in the preceding volume. Remember, my darling child, that you must obey a wish that has made the happiness of my whole life; a wish that will force me to ask the intervention of God should you disobey me. But, to guard against all scruples in your dear conscience—for I well know how ready it is to torture you—you will find herewith a will in due form bequeathing these certificates to Monsieur ...
— Ursula • Honore de Balzac

... trying to do good. I am merely refusing to obey these rules for our guidance, which are obviously drawn up to safeguard man's property and privilege. Whenever I can find a man-made precept, that will I carefully disobey; whenever the ruling powers seek to guide me through my conscience, there shall ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird

... the girl, veering suddenly about and speaking with decision. "You can't come, and that's all there is about it. Your mother doesn't like me, and you ought not to disobey her. Now run back home ...
— The Governess • Julie M. Lippmann

... continued Mademoiselle de Verneuil, "it was his duty to obey his superiors. I like subordination, and I warn you that I shall allow no one to disobey me." ...
— The Chouans • Honore de Balzac

... rather have found anyone else, at the Master's behest. But it did not occur to the trained collie to disobey. With a visible diminishing of his first eager excitement, but with submissive haste, the big dog stepped out on to the veranda and began to cast about in the drifts at ...
— Further Adventures of Lad • Albert Payson Terhune

... father: it is an affair of old, this hate he bears me," she said. "He will choose a wife for you soon, but do not marry her, else all will come to an end for you." The man could not wed the witch, and he might not disobey his father, in spite of this adjuration; so when the old man said to him, "I have a wife for you, my son," he ...
— Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete • Charles M. Skinner

... only by transferring hostilities and waging war, whenever opportunity offered, on Northern soil. Upon his return from this interview he told me what had been discussed, and what were General Bragg's instructions. He said that he meant to disobey them; that the emergency, he believed, justified disobedience. He was resolved to cross the Ohio River and invade Indiana and Ohio. His command would probably be captured, he said; but in no other way could he give substantial aid to the army. General Bragg had ...
— Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War • Various

... thrusting his nervous face and heavy shoulders here and there in the crowd, bullying them back to the work which they were neglecting. When his back was turned they grumbled at him savagely, threatening to disobey, resolving to quit. Some of them did quit: but none ...
— Blazed Trail Stories - and Stories of the Wild Life • Stewart Edward White

... powers, he could only be deposed by using the person of the young king. Warwick ingratiated himself with Edward and brought the child of thirteen to the council. Of course he could only speak what was taught him, but the name of royalty had so dread a prestige that none dared disobey him. At his command Warwick was created Duke of Northumberland, [Sidenote: Northumberland and Suffolk] and his confederate, Henry Grey Marquis of Dorset, was created Duke of Suffolk. A little later these men, again using the person ...
— The Age of the Reformation • Preserved Smith

... around her, and kissed and embraced her over and over. They would not disobey her request to be allowed to go alone to the Convent, but as she turned to depart, she was clasped around the neck by Heloise de Lotbiniere, exclaiming that she should not go alone, that the light of the world had gone out for her as well as for Amelie, and ...
— The Golden Dog - Le Chien d'Or • William Kirby

... and her sons, said in his stern voice of command, "I am not wont to bid thrice, and woe to those who presume to neglect my bidding. Throw incense on that fire, or the consequences be upon your own head. Others have experienced ere this what it is to brave my displeasure and disobey my command." ...
— Hebrew Heroes - A Tale Founded on Jewish History • AKA A.L.O.E. A.L.O.E., Charlotte Maria Tucker

... seemed the wildest of dreams. Could the man, who had been wellnigh murdered by the rabble of Avignon and Orgon, hope to march in peace through that royalist province? And, if he ever reached the central districts where men loved him better, would the soldiery dare to disobey the commands of Soult, the new Minister of War, of Ney, Berthier, Macdonald, St. Cyr, Suchet, Augereau, and of many more who were now honestly serving the Bourbons? The King and his brothers had no fears. They laughed at the folly of this ...
— The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) • John Holland Rose

... very angry, and ordered two of his negroes, called Andy and Sam, to bring out two of the swiftest horses, and help the trader to pursue Eliza, and take Harry from her. Andy and Sam did not like that work, but being slaves, they dare not disobey. However, they did what they could to detain the trader; for, pretending to be in great haste, they squalled for this and that, and frightened the horses, till they ran off over hedges and ditches, with Andy and Sam after them, laughing till their sides ached as soon as they got out of sight. ...
— Pictures and Stories from Uncle Tom's Cabin • Unknown

... of service, signor," Giuseppi said hesitatingly. "It is no joke to disobey the officers of the republic, and next time we ...
— The Lion of Saint Mark - A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century • G. A. Henty

... fox prepare the carcass for His Majesty's repast, but the fox himself devours the boar's heart. When the lion discovers the loss, the fox quiets his master by asking, "If the boar had possessed a heart, would he have been so foolish as to disobey ...
— The Book of Delight and Other Papers • Israel Abrahams

... observe such instructions. The Assemblies for three years held out against this injustice, tho' constrained to bend at last. At length Captain Denny, who was Governor Morris's successor, ventured to disobey those instructions; how that was brought about I shall ...
— The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • Benjamin Franklin

... to be proclaimed through the mouth of Nicholas Skot, our drummer, that there would be no more playing at bowls in the streets of Jamestown while it was necessary that very much work should be performed, and this spoken notice also stated, that whosoever dared to disobey the command should straightway be clapped into ...
— Richard of Jamestown - A Story of the Virginia Colony • James Otis

... unshed tears. "Man's wisdom!" said Matthiette. "I think that it is not my duty. And so I disobey you, dear,—this ...
— The Line of Love - Dizain des Mariages • James Branch Cabell

... monstrous thing, a divorce. It is her duty to submit herself to him always, and no crime he can commit justifies her lack of obedience. If he is a bad or wicked man she may gently remonstrate with him, but disobey him, never." Again, addressing his audience at St. Clement's, he says: "You may marry a bad man, but what of that? You had no right to marry a bad man. If you knew it, you deserved it. If you did not know it, you ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... not what I asked you. Why are you a Catholic? if I must make myself more plain. Why are you afraid to disobey? Why do you cling to the Church with your back braced against your intelligence? It is hope of future reward, I ...
— The Doomswoman - An Historical Romance of Old California • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

... Eagle ruled the air and none dared to cross him or to disobey him. Unlike old King Bear, he accepted no tribute from his subjects but hunted for himself, and instead of growing fat and lazy, as did old King Bear, he grew stronger of wing and feared no one and nothing. Now this was in the days when the world was young, and Old Mother Nature was very ...
— Mother West Wind "How" Stories • Thornton W. Burgess

... him to disobey the orders from Lorient and from the mayor of Paradise; to take to the woods as though to avoid the conscription; to join Buckhurst's franc-company of ruffians, and ...
— The Maids of Paradise • Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

... said Lulu, her eyes sparkling; "but I'm afraid you won't when you know me better, for I'm not a bit good; I get into terrible passions when anybody imposes on me or my brother or sister; and I sometimes disobey and ...
— The Two Elsies - A Sequel to Elsie at Nantucket, Book 10 • Martha Finley

... so much as to receive four petitions presented from so respectable colonies as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Carolina, besides one from the traders of Jamaica. As to the colonies, they had no alternative left to them but to disobey, or to pay the taxes imposed by that Parliament, which was not suffered, or did not suffer itself, even to hear them ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. II. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... brushing them away, as weeping girls do that cry for comfort. Nevil had saved her brother's life, and had succoured her countrymen; he loved her, and was a hero. He should not have said he loved her; that was wrong; and it was shameful that he should have urged her to disobey her father. But this hero's love of her might plead excuses she did not know of; and if he was to be excused, he, unhappy that he was, had a claim on her for more than tears. She wept resentfully. Forces above her own swayed and hurried her like a lifeless ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... caliphs was in this manner founded on opinion no less than on power; and their ordinances, however frivolous or iniquitous in themselves, being enforced, as it were, by a divine sanction, became laws which it was sacrilege to disobey. See D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, (La ...
— History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella V1 • William H. Prescott

... all the arguments that arise in the mind are on the other side; sleep is the one thing desirable. The case appeared hopeless. Appeals from Philip drunk (with sleep) to Philip sober did not seem to avail; for whatever the latter decreed, the former would surely disobey. ...
— A Bird-Lover in the West • Olive Thorne Miller

... farther. Keep, however, steady to your principles, and suffer neither persuasion nor threats to prevail on you to act contrary to them. All commands repugnant to the laws of christianity, it is your indispensable duty to disobey. All requests that are inconsistent with prudence, or incompatible with the rank and character which you ought to maintain in life, it is your interest to refuse. A compliance with the former would be criminal, a consent ...
— Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts of the World • Anonymous

... that I do not wish to hurt, by disagreement with their ideas. It is impossible not to be tired of this spirit of party or of sect which makes people no longer French, nor men, nor themselves. They have no country, they belong to a church. They do what they disapprove of, so as not to disobey the discipline of the school. I prefer to keep silent. They would find me cold or stupid; one might ...
— The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters • George Sand, Gustave Flaubert

... obey the commands of my guardians,' said Francis, 'who insist that I should, with the assistance of —-, qualify myself for Parliament; for which they do me the honour to suppose that I have some natural talent. I dare not disobey them; for, at the present moment, I have particular reasons for wishing to keep on ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... in general. War-to-the-knife with nurse was the chronic condition of a stormy childhood. Intermittent warfare with his only sister Emmie chequered the sky of his early boyhood, and a decided tendency to disobey wrung the soul of his poor mother, and was the cause of no little anxiety to his father; while mischief, pure and simple for its own sake, was the cherished object of his life. Nevertheless, Harry Stronghand was a lovable boy, and love ...
— Personal Reminiscences in Book Making - and Some Short Stories • R.M. Ballantyne

... "O Brother." It never entered his head that any living human being could disobey his orders; and he was the buffer between the servants and his Mamma's wrath. The working of that household turned on Tods, who was adored by every one from the dhoby to the dog-boy. Even Futteh Khan, the ...
— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... where he belongs. He was my trusted lieutenant, but he took too much upon himself. I knocked him down for insubordination. He doesn't go farther with the caravan. And we start in five hours. Zaid and Mahmoud, put this carrion out of my sight. I've shown you all what happens when black or white men disobey my orders." ...
— A Soldier of the Legion • C. N. Williamson

... your decision, Signor Hargreave? I fear this refusal will mean a great deal to you. When 'The Golden Face' becomes hostile he always manages to put those who disobey him into the hands of the police. And I have knowledge that he intends you to act in this case as he directs, or—well, I fear that some unpleasantness ...
— The Golden Face - A Great 'Crook' Romance • William Le Queux

... she laid her hand lovingly in his, and led him back as a mother would her child. He would not disobey; and when he was once more wrapped in his blankets, she kissed him on the lips and eyes, laughingly bade him be good, and went about her work with a lighter heart, feeling that he was indeed stronger, and hoping that the ...
— Marguerite De Roberval - A Romance of the Days of Jacques Cartier • T. G. Marquis

... there might be no mistake and that the invasion might yet be arrested. Meanwhile Mr. Marais (the editor of the leading Dutch paper) and Mr. Malan (the son-in-law of Joubert) were proceeding with a commando for the purpose of fighting for their Government should Dr. Jameson disobey the Proclamation. They excused themselves under the plea "that if from unreasonable action of Johannesburg, fighting should take place between the Government forces and a revolutionary force from Johannesburg, they ...
— South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 6) - From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum - of 9th Oct. 1899 • Louis Creswicke

... customary methods of execution which are readily adopted by the subsequent performers. There grows up in time a kind of body of customary law governing the execution of peace operations—the principles being peace-operation principles wholly and solely—which law few dare to disobey, and which eventually obtains the sanction of official written regulations. As Scharnhorst, quoted by Baron von der Goltz, said, 'We have begun to place the art of war higher than military virtues.' The eminent authority who ...
— Sea-Power and Other Studies • Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge

... bourgeois, would die of horror in a week. A convict is forced to live with another man; obliged to endure the company of five other men at every meal, twenty-three in his bed at night, and to hear their language! The great society of galley-slaves, madame, has its secret laws; disobey them and you are tortured; obey them, and you become a torturer. You must be either victim or executioner. If they would kill you at once it would at least be the cure of life. But no, they are wiser than that in doing evil. It is impossible to hold out against the hatred of ...
— The Village Rector • Honore de Balzac

... the dinner and the flowers and the wine were excellent, and the whole thing was so quiet that the Duke liked it. "And now you must come and dine with me," the Duke said as he took his leave. "A command to that effect will be one which I certainly shall not disobey," ...
— Phineas Finn - The Irish Member • Anthony Trollope

... and wondering at his words, "I am all unworthy of so great an honour; but as you wish, so will I do. Here and now I promise that I will never willingly disobey you in deed or thought—no, not if I die ...
— The Junior Classics, V4 • Willam Patten (Editor)

... is this?" I asked Abigail. "Can every one set himself up as a judge of the laws and disobey them if he chooses? If you had heard Douglas' speech you would be convinced that this sort of mania will cease or there will be war. Even Emerson is among these idealistic rebels, for he says that it is a lack of health ...
— Children of the Market Place • Edgar Lee Masters

... are to lie still; and as I feel too weak to move, and there is no one to carry me away, and nowhere to take me to, I am not likely to disobey ...
— With Frederick the Great - A Story of the Seven Years' War • G. A. Henty

... even a sick one, is not much use. It is surely our duty to take all sensible precautions, and whenever possible to use the safeguards to health with which modern science has provided us. We have no right at all to disobey the rules of hygiene just because we happen to feel like it. But on the other hand, when those among whom we are ministering, people whose training is different from ours, who have no conception of ...
— Have We No Rights? - A frank discussion of the "rights" of missionaries • Mabel Williamson

... success, and won't it be fun when we can take the money over to Mrs. Perrier's and surprise Marie? Time's up, Mr. Harper," she added with cruel promptness, and Uncle Jerry, fearing the invasion of other applicants, didn't dare to disobey. ...
— Glenloch Girls • Grace M. Remick

... you wicked woman, you would persuade me to disobey my husband, would you? O, shocking! I shall ...
— Scenes of Clerical Life • George Eliot

... feel like bucking the government, go ahead. I can't sink you with this craft, or you'd be at the bottom in a jiffy. But you know what it means to disobey orders ...
— Boy Scouts in Southern Waters • G. Harvey Ralphson

... to sit up, seized with a frantic longing to disobey him, and get off before he returned. Stinging the girl's mind was the sense that it might all perfectly well seem to him a planned ...
— Robert Elsmere • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... Essex one day captured a whaling vessel, and Captain Porter placed David in charge to steer her across the Pacific. The captain of the whaler, when clear of the Essex, thought to regain his vessel from the boy, by countermanding his orders. He threatened to shoot any sailor who dared to disobey him. Right here, the mettle that was to make Farragut the head of the American navy and the idol of the American people manifested itself. He repeated his order at first given; and when the mutinous captain appeared from below decks ...
— How the Flag Became Old Glory • Emma Look Scott

... Sophia, "this is the only instance in which I must disobey both yourself and my father. For this is a match which requires very little consideration ...
— The History of Tom Jones, a foundling • Henry Fielding

... this offer, I was, no doubt, encouraging my friend to disobey the plain commands which his ...
— Jezebel • Wilkie Collins

... would have been outside, basking in the genial sunshine, had not their mother, Keewaygooshturkumkankangewock, positively denied them that coveted privilege. The commands of the father might be trampled upon with impunity, but the young half-breeds knew better than to disobey their mother. ...
— Oonomoo the Huron • Edward S. Ellis

... should hardly dare tell him if you had refused. He could not bear another indignity heaped on her, and a wound from you would cut deeper than from any one else. You should remember in judging him that he had no parent to disobey, and there was generosity in taking on him the risk rather than leave her to a broken heart and ...
— Hopes and Fears - scenes from the life of a spinster • Charlotte M. Yonge

... if I disobey," said the intractable young man; and with one hand lifting in Lady Fleming, he began himself to push off ...
— The Abbot • Sir Walter Scott

... house under penalty of ten Bologna shillings, which it shall be the duty of the Rector to exact within eight days. And no scholar at the public examination of any citizen or foreign scholar shall be dressed for a dance or a brawl or a tournament, nor shall he joust as a knight. If any one disobey, he shall incur the penalty of perjury and ten Bologna pounds, and if he does not pay this within ten days on the demand of any Rector he shall be deprived of the advantage and honor of our University. ...
— Readings in the History of Education - Mediaeval Universities • Arthur O. Norton

... but we have already had too much of that work and we intend to find Wassmuss and take part with him. Let your business be to obey me implicitly and to help us reach Wassmuss, and on the day we reach our goal you shall go free with this paper given back to you. Disobey me, and you shall sample unheard-of methods of repentance! Do we understand ...
— Hira Singh - When India came to fight in Flanders • Talbot Mundy

... don't mean ever to deceive or disobey again," said Dotty, with a great deal more than her ...
— Dotty Dimple at Her Grandmother's • Sophie May

... Bishop Hampden is a classical instance of courteous controversy. Once a most Illustrious Personage asked him if it was true that he taught that under certain circumstances it was lawful for a subject to disobey the Sovereign. "Well, speaking to a Sovereign of the House of Hanover, I can only answer ...
— Collections and Recollections • George William Erskine Russell

... most men; and if I should say that I am in any thing wiser than another, it would be in this, that not having a competent knowledge of the things in Hades, I also think that I have not such knowledge. But to act unjustly, and to disobey my superior, whether God or man, I know is evil and base. I shall never, therefore, fear or shun things which, for aught I know, maybe good, before evils which I know to be evils. So that, even if you should now dismiss me, not yielding to the ...
— Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates • Plato

... Lake. Since your ladyship commands me, madam, I dare disobey no longer. My lodgings are in St Lucknor's Lane, at the Cat ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Vol. II • Edited by Walter Scott

... some bishops and those of Alan Count of Dinan in Bretagne, upon a contention of rooms in their inns. Stephen took hold of this advantage, sent for the bishops, taxed them with breaking his peace, and demanded the keys of their castles, adding threats of imprisonment if they dared to disobey. Those whom the King chiefly suspected, or rather who had built the most and strongest castles, were Roger Bishop of Salisbury, with his nephew and natural son the Bishops of Ely and Lincoln, whom the King, ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. X. • Jonathan Swift

... my ear). He appeared to take great pleasure in learning us to repeat the prayers and catechism required by Priest Dow. He also gave us a variety of instructions in other things, enjoining in particular the most absolute obedience and perfect silence. He assured us that if we dared to disobey him in the least particular, he should know it, even if he was not present with us at the time. He said he knew all our thoughts, words, and actions; and if we did not obey, he should "EAT US ...
— Life in the Grey Nunnery at Montreal • Sarah J Richardson

... health.—Therefore the thoughts and declarations of the Peripatetics are soft and effeminate, for they say that the mind must necessarily be agitated, but at the same time they lay down certain bounds beyond which that agitation is not to proceed. And do you set bounds to vice? or is it novice to disobey reason? does not reason sufficiently declare, that there is no real good which you should desire too ardently, or the possession of which you should allow to transport you: and that there is no evil that should be able to overwhelm you, or the suspicion ...
— The Academic Questions • M. T. Cicero

... neck, and arms of the modest maiden were flushed with indignant crimson. "Was it for this purpose," she said, "that I was induced to yield my own sense of propriety to the solicitations of Pericles? It is ever thus, when we disobey the gods, to please mortals. How could I believe that any motive so harmless as idle curiosity induced that seductive and dangerous woman to urge me into her ...
— Philothea - A Grecian Romance • Lydia Maria Child

... my instructor take away the impediment, whether it pleases him to call it mist or anything else! I care not who he is; but I am resolved to disobey none of his commands, if I am likely to be the better ...
— Alcibiades II • An Imitator of Plato

... restless," he warned. "The current sets so strongly against the Americans, that I fear my people will disobey me and float with ...
— Boys' Book of Indian Warriors - and Heroic Indian Women • Edwin L. Sabin

... themselves, and therefore they would not obey him; at another, that he was not like them, and could not understand them, and therefore they would not obey him. Yet, sometimes, when he came and looked them full in the face, they were terrified, and dared not disobey, for he was stately and stern and strong. Not one of them loved him heartily, except the eldest sister, who was very beautiful and silent, and whose eyes shone as if light lay somewhere deep behind them. Even she, although she loved him, thought him ...
— Adela Cathcart, Vol. 3 • George MacDonald

... his trumpet or music, and to do him good service, as though I were present myself, at their perils. I give full power and authority to his lordship to break all locks, bolts, bars, doors, and latches to come at all those who presume to disobey his lordship's commands. God ...
— Historic Girls • E. S. Brooks

... heard the choice our lady gives you," he said sternly. "Let us know whether you will obey or disobey. This choice that is yours now, may not be yours again. But if you elect to disobey Madonna, the gate is behind you, the bridge still down. ...
— Love-at-Arms • Raphael Sabatini

... virgin to the maidens, if he wished to conquer his enemies. And as this command seemed to him shocking and impious, he started up and consulted the prophets and the generals. Some of them forbade him to neglect or disobey the warning, quoting the famous old instances of Menaekeus the son of Kreon and Makaria the daughter of Herakles, and, in later times, Pherekydes the philosopher, who was killed by the Lacedaemonians, and whose skin, according to ...
— Plutarch's Lives, Volume II • Aubrey Stewart & George Long

... the drivers fairly bewilder him. In a few minutes, however, he sees a squad of gigantic policemen dash into the throng of vehicles. They are masters of the situation, and wo to the driver who dares disobey their sharp and decisive commands. The shouts and curses cease, the vehicles move on one at a time in the routes assigned them, and soon the street is clear again, to be "blocked" afresh, perhaps, in a similar manner in less ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe

... her defiled and loathsome body," cried the old man—"thrust her from the door, and let her find a grave where she may. Boy! wilt thou dare disobey me?" and he raised his clenched hand, while anger ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 262, July 7, 1827 • Various

... driver of the carriage, whom we met next day, informed us that a gentleman had been thrown from his horse on the cliff-top and had broken his leg, and that, under the circumstances, he had ventured to disobey our instructions and take the poor fellow home. Years afterwards I discovered that nothing of the kind had happened, but that the fiendish F. had given the driver a sovereign to play that trick upon us. F. is a judge now, and has been lately trying election cases. I ...
— Some Private Views • James Payn

... and especially the refusal of a daughter to obey her father in the matter of marriage, was then looked upon as a crime and was frequently punished in a way which amounted to barbarous ferocity. Sons, being of the privileged side of humanity, might occasionally disobey with impunity, but woe to the poor girl who dared set up a will of her own. A man who could not compel obedience from his daughter was looked upon as a poor weakling, and contempt was his portion in the eyes of his fellow-men—in ...
— Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall • Charles Major

... shiftless to do his share of the providing. No matter how many children or whatever goods he might have in the house, he might at any time be ordered to pick up his blanket and budge; and after such orders it would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey; the house would be too hot for him; and unless saved by the intercession of some aunt or grandmother he must retreat to his own clan, or as was often done, go and start a new matrimonial alliance in some other. The women wore the great power among the clans, as everywhere else. ...
— Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines • Lewis H. Morgan

... external honor, nor invested by any ceremony, but gradually acquired from the good wishes of his companions and by superior merit. Such an officer has therefore strictly no power; he may recommend or advise or influence, but his commands have no effect on those who incline to disobey, and who may at any time withdraw from their voluntary allegiance. His shadowy authority which cannot survive the confidence which supports it, often decays with the personal vigour of the chief, or is transferred to some more ...
— History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

... a bailiff presented Mr. Nicholas Jelnik with a notice forbidding him to enter the grounds of Hynds House without the written permission of the owner, and threatening prosecution should he disobey. ...
— A Woman Named Smith • Marie Conway Oemler

... the schoolmaster's last charge was always, "Keep this side of the rock in the middle,—don't try to cross"; but reckless then of life as since in politics, self-confident and daring as always, Douglas, of all the boys, alone dared disobey the charge, and succeeded in reaching safely ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 46, August, 1861 • Various

... points; that what was done was done by a 'Parliament of England, by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament'; and was therefore not to be questioned by the present Court; and that what any did in obedience to a power which they could not disobey, they ought not to be punished for. Upon these two points he asked to be allowed the assistance of counsel. To this the Lord Chief-Baron replies that the body Harrison refers to was not a Parliament, that Harrison ...
— State Trials, Political and Social - Volume 1 (of 2) • Various

... "It is not my custom to take subjects on those conditions." He set out on his march; his policy was to overcome the rebellious English by the arms of the loyal English. He called out the fyrd, the militia, of all or some of the shires under his obedience. They answered his call; to disobey it would have needed greater courage than to wield the axe on Senlac. This use of English troops became William's custom in all his later wars, in England and on the mainland; but of course he did not trust to English troops only. The plan of the campaign was that which had won Le Mans ...
— William the Conqueror • E. A. Freeman

... with cooks and Philistines, spoilt his temper, never of the best, and made him too often contemptuous, savage, unjust. His language then becomes unreasonable, unbearable, bad. Literature takes care of herself. You disobey her rules: well and good, she shuts her door in your face; you plead your genius: she replies, 'Your temper,' and bolts it. Carlyle has deliberately destroyed, by his own wilfulness, the value of a great deal he has written. It ...
— Obiter Dicta • Augustine Birrell

... skulking spirit. He begged permission to be gone immediately. But no, he could not get off with so light a punishment. He must go in and see Mrs. Fabens and Fanny, and take supper with them. He dared not disobey, and he trudged sneakingly in like ...
— Summerfield - or, Life on a Farm • Day Kellogg Lee

... generals are excepted." "Then, sir," said Gotzkowsky, drawing himself up and advancing a step toward the general, "I accuse before you an officer who has had the presumption to disobey your general order. You forbid, under severe penalty, robbery and plundering, and yet he is intent on them. You have strictly ordered the army to preserve discipline, and not to ill-treat nor abuse the defenceless, and yet a general ...
— The Merchant of Berlin - An Historical Novel • L. Muhlbach

... officials have only a thin stick, about a foot and a half long, through the hole of which a red ribbon is passed. The small canes are not carried in the hand, but stuck in the girdle on the left side. Nobody summoned before the judges by a messenger carrying a staff of red Brazil wood dares to disobey the command. The most desperate criminal meekly goes to his doom, following often a mere boy, if the latter has only a toy vara stuck in his belt with the red ribbons hanging down. It is the vara the Indians respect, not the man ...
— Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) • Carl Lumholtz

... sundry days every week at Newington Butts in that part of Surrey without the jurisdiction of the said Lord Mayor, contrary to their Lordship's order; their Lordships require the Justices not only to inquire who they be that disobey their commandment in that behalf, and not only to forbid them expressly for playing in any of these remote places near unto the city until Michaelmas, but to have regard that within the precinct of Surrey none be permitted to play; if any do, to commit ...
— Shakespearean Playhouses - A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration • Joseph Quincy Adams

... who by their faithful adherence to the British government, may be liable to sustain loss, shall be indemnified and secured in all their just rights and privileges. On the other hand, all subjects of the British government, who shall continue in the service of the Lahore state, and who disobey this proclamation, by not immediately returning to their allegiance, will be liable to have their property on this side of the Sutlej confiscated, and declared to be aliens and enemies of the British government." On crossing the Sutlej, the Sikh army, under the command of Sirdar ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... men. They are, as I supposed, under the thumb of the union bosses. A few of them realize that the whole proposition is unreasonable and absurd, and they don't want to go out, but they don't dare say so above their breath, and they don't dare disobey orders, because they are owned, body and soul, ...
— At the Time Appointed • A. Maynard Barbour

... little man pull a small paddle from his pocket. His knees were shaking with fear, but he dared not disobey. ...
— The Goody-Naughty Book • Sarah Cory Rippey

... of the rich and majestic province of Minas were suffering under the iron yoke of their mistaken governors, who disposed of it as they pleased, and obliged the pacific and gentle inhabitants to disobey me, I marched thither, only attended by my servants: I convicted the government and its creatures of the crime they had committed, and of the error in which they seemed desirous of persisting; I pardoned them, because the crime was more an ...
— Journal of a Voyage to Brazil - And Residence There During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823 • Maria Graham

... our father's will! He hath taken away their inheritance from Garcia and Alfonso, and now he would rob me of the city my father gave me. Well hath Sancho merited our father's curse upon the son who should disobey his will! Let him beware lest he die by violence, or by treachery like his own!" The counsellors of the princess, troubled at this rash speech, besought her to be calm, and at last persuaded her to call together the townsmen and ...
— With Spurs of Gold - Heroes of Chivalry and their Deeds • Frances Nimmo Greene

... looked up, with one piercing glance, as she sealed a note. "Go openly to him—to Johnstone! Bring him back at once with you! He dare not disobey this! I will denounce him, now, to-day! to both the generals, and go to the Viceroy myself! I care not what excuse he makes! ...
— A Fascinating Traitor • Richard Henry Savage

... punish Prometheus. He called Strength and Force and bade them seize the Titan and carry him to the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains. Then he sent Vulcan to bind him with iron chains, making arms and feet fast to the rocks. Vulcan was sorry for Prometheus, but dared not disobey. ...
— Myths and Legends of All Nations • Various

... Bill an' all the rest o' the fellers had done exactly what I had hinted at an' hadn't divulged my identity, an' Barbie hadn't the slightest idea that I was in the state. Those people who know precisely the right time to disobey orders, are a big help to ...
— Happy Hawkins • Robert Alexander Wason

... that I must have discipline in this school, Mr. Lorrigan. To-morrow I shall have to punish those Swedes for leaving school without permission. I shall make an example of Christian, for his impudence. I do not think he will want to disobey me again, very soon!" Mary Hope took her handkerchief from her pocket, refusing to consider for one moment the significance of its flapping in the wind while the ...
— Rim o' the World • B. M. Bower

... it belonged to her—that in some curious way it was actually a part of her life. And all the time her detestation, her fear surged through her heart and left her revolting. But she knew she must go on. Its fascination claimed her and drew her, calling to her with a summons she dared not disobey—had no real ...
— The Golden Woman - A Story of the Montana Hills • Ridgwell Cullum

... into the history of other tongues. The certainty and stability which, contrary to all experience, he thinks attainable, he proposes to secure by instituting an academy; the decrees of which every man would have been willing, and many would have been proud to disobey, and which, being renewed by successive elections, would, in a short time, have differed ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes - Volume the Eighth: The Lives of the Poets, Volume II • Samuel Johnson

... meeting. Carson invited Crawford to relate all he had done, and to explain how he proposed to proceed. The latter did not mince matters in saying what he thought of the Lundy instructions, which he again declared angrily he intended to disobey. When he had finished his narrative and his protestations against what he considered a cowardly policy—a policy that would deprive Ulster of succour as sorely needed as Derry needed the Mountjoy to break the boom—Carson put a few questions ...
— Ulster's Stand For Union • Ronald McNeill

... sum would not pay the expense of your establishment here. I know well that you have a treasure somewhere hidden; but you are resolved to keep it from me, the rightful master of this country. I swear I will teach you that it is safer to stand in the path of a mad elephant than to disobey the least command of ...
— Athelstane Ford • Allen Upward

... his excellency now," replied the tiger; "those are my master's express orders, which I can't presume to disobey. He will send the answer ...
— Jack Harkaway's Boy Tinker Among The Turks - Book Number Fifteen in the Jack Harkaway Series • Bracebridge Hemyng

... knew it, the frightened, bewildered boy fell into the trap, and he sobbed, "Because Mr. Fleet told me not to, and I wouldn't disobey him to save ...
— Barriers Burned Away • E. P. Roe

... is a matter that arouses much feeling the British way is for some one to disobey and take the consequences. Passive resistance—with such active measures as may make the life of the enforcers of the law a burden to them—is a recognized method of ...
— Humanly Speaking • Samuel McChord Crothers

... dirty load of State-affairs, and die old busy fools.' The uncle, who little expected such a return from him who used to be all obedience, began more gently to persuade him with more solid reason, but could get no other answer from him, than that what he commanded he should find it difficult to disobey; and so for that time they parted. Some days after (he never coming so much as near their Councils) they sent for him to answer the contempt: he came, and received abundance of hard reproaches, and finding they were resolved to degrade him, he presently ...
— Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister • Aphra Behn

... care, madam,' replied he, 'and bridle your tongue; they are entailed, 'tis true, but I need not ask his consent to cut off that entail. Let him dare to disobey me in this particular, and I will so divert the channel of my wealth, that no drop shall reach him. I will—but why threaten?—let him do it, and approve ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth

... striking a match. "Go on—sow the seeds of discord, teach them all to disobey me. I ...
— Marzio's Crucifix and Zoroaster • F. Marion Crawford

... feelings. The Dyaks of Borneo are said by the Rajah Brooke to open their eyes widely, when astonished, often swinging their heads to and fro, and beating their breasts. Mr. Scott informs me that the workmen in the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta are strictly ordered not to smoke; but they often disobey this order, and when suddenly surprised in the act, they first open their eyes and mouths widely. They then often slightly shrug their shoulders, as they perceive that discovery is inevitable, or ...
— The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals • Charles Darwin

... you'd always try To act as shall not need a lie; And when you wish a thing to do, That has been once forbidden to you, Remember that, and never dare To disobey—For ...
— Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1 • Edward William Cole

... Tuonela, From Manala's courts and castles." Wainamoinen calls his people, On the plains of Kalevala, Speaks these words of ancient wisdom, To the young men, to the maidens, To the rising generation: "Every child of Northland, listen: If thou wishest joy eternal, Never disobey thy parents, Never evil treat the guiltless, Never wrong the feeble-minded, Never harm thy weakest fellow, Never stain thy lips with falsehood, Never cheat thy trusting neighbor, Never injure thy companion, Lest thou surely payest penance In the kingdom of Tuoni, In the prison of ...
— The Kalevala (complete) • John Martin Crawford, trans.



Words linked to "Disobey" :   undermine, countermine, baulk, jib, balk, counteract, disobedience, weaken, decline, subvert, resist, obey



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