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Hold fast   /hoʊld fæst/   Listen
Hold fast

verb
1.
Stick to firmly.  Synonyms: adhere, bind, bond, stick, stick to.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Hold fast" Quotes from Famous Books



... take revenge on the enemies of my ancestors. Yuyo teaches, however, that 'to assist the people is to give peace to the empire,' and since I have come to understand that the precept is founded on sound principle, I have undeviatingly followed it. Let my posterity hold fast this principle. Any one turning his back upon it is no descendant of mine. The people are the ...
— Japan • David Murray

... approach'd, their targets cast Over their heads; some scaling ladders placed Against the walls, the rest the steps ascend, 430 And with their shields on their left arms defend Arrows and darts, and with their right hold fast The battlement; on them the Trojans cast Stones, rafters, pillars, beams; such arms as these, Now hopeless, for their last defence they seize. The gilded roofs, the marks of ancient state, They ...
— Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham • Edmund Waller; John Denham

... stay here," put in the voice of the sailor. "It won't do to stray the wan from the t'other. No, it won't. Let us hold fast, ...
— The Boy Slaves • Mayne Reid

... practised on the prairie, demands a good deal more than quickness and what some call brilliancy from the man who undertakes it. He must, as they say out there, possess the capacity for staying with it; the grim courage to hold fast the tighter under each crushing blow, when his teams die, or the grain shrivels under the harvest frost, or ragged ice hurtling before a roaring blast does the reaping. It was, however, evident that this girl had an unquestioning ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss

... before: I compared them, as I am wont to do every thing, with what God has revealed; and I am satisfied that they are perfectly accordant with Scripture: if they were not so, I would reject them. By the same standard let us prove all things, that we may hold fast that which ...
— Personal Recollections • Charlotte Elizabeth

... nation of Delawares, and their heirs, all their territorial rights, in the fullest and most ample manner, as it hath been bounded by former treaties, as long as the said Delaware nation shall abide by, and hold fast, the chain ...
— Opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, at January Term, 1832, Delivered by Mr. Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of Samuel A. Worcester, Plaintiff in Error, versus the State of Georgia • John Marshall

... then rushed a section of the defence isolated by the explosion. At 6 in the morning the crater was, Birdie says, most gallantly retaken with the bayonet. There are excursions and alarms; attacks and counter-attacks; bomb-showers to which the bayonet charge is our only retort—but we hold fast the crater! ...
— Gallipoli Diary, Volume I • Ian Hamilton

... ceasing, [5:18]give thanks on every occasion; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to us. [5:19]Quench not the Spirit, [5:20]despise not prophecies. [5:21]Prove all things, hold fast the good; [5:22]abstain from every form of evil. [5:23]And may the God of peace himself purify you wholly, and your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [5:24]Faithful is ...
— The New Testament • Various

... of the science which refers simply to the judicious pursuit of the fox, being probably inferior to his own huntsman in that respect,—but he knew exactly what men should do, and what they should not. In regard to all those various interests with which he was brought in contact, he knew when to hold fast to his own claims, and when to make no claims at all. He was afraid of no one, but he was possessed of a sense of justice which induced him to acknowledge the rights of those around him. When he found that the earths were not stopped in Trumpeton Wood,—from which he judged ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... that the Court of Vienna would hold fast to the French alliance. There Metternich was all-powerful, and the keystone of his system was a guarded but profit-seeking subservience to Napoleon. Not that the Emperor Francis and he loved the French ...
— The Life of Napoleon I (Volumes, 1 and 2) • John Holland Rose

... hold fast this single clue to the crooked and amazing entanglements of the policy of James. The insolence, the meanness, and the prevarications of this royal toad-eater ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... not conceal from ourselves that these victories for which our bells ring and our flags wave, and for which we thank our God, may become a danger to us, should they make us vain and arrogant, boastful and indolent! God forbid! We will hold fast to our old modesty, with which we have so often been reproached, and which has indeed often enough degenerated into the undervaluing of ourselves and overvaluing of that which is foreign and ...
— Gems (?) of German Thought • Various

... who would say that it was "not half bad"; and above, immeasurably above, all men of all grades, there was William in the thick of the fight, who would approve because she understood. He had so trained his mind that it would hold fast to the mechanical routine of the day, though his own voice sounded strange in his own ears, and his hands, when he wrote, grew large as pillows or small as peas at the end of his wrists. That steadfastness bore his body to the telegraph-office at the railway-station, and dictated ...
— The Day's Work, Volume 1 • Rudyard Kipling

... esteem for that particular religion they are born and bred-up in. That, therefore, I may not seem biased by the prejudice of education, I am resolved to prove and examine them all; that I may see and hold fast to that which is best.... Indeed, there was never any religion so barbarous and diabolical, but it was preferred above all other religions whatsoever by them that did profess it; otherwise they would not have professed it.... And why, say they, may you not be mistaken as ...
— Oriental Religions and Christianity • Frank F. Ellinwood

... fixed upon him, Master Will deemed it prudent to discreetly withdraw. He nodded boldly to the lad first, however; then moved slowly away. "Hold fast to him, Nottingham, for your credit's ...
— Robin Hood • Paul Creswick

... is undeniably thin, still there is something attractive in the young writer's shy tentativeness. The reader who comes to a perusal with the expectation of getting some substantial diet, will be grievously mistaken; but those who are content if they can catch and hold fast a fleeting flavour will not regret the half-hour spent in listening to the songs of the elves and the prattle of the pages in ...
— Old English Plays, Vol. I - A Collection of Old English Plays • Various

... these things aren't for me! That would ha' been too much of a blessin'. I grew up in an orphan house! I never knew what it was to have a home! I had no brother an' no sister ... well, a man can still hold fast to his Saviour.—It may be I'm not much to look at, lass! But I asked you an' you said yes. 'Tis the inner man that counts! God looks upon the heart ... You'll be bitter ...
— The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann - Volume II • Gerhart Hauptmann

... for all, Master Rackham. What else is there for us? Hold fast, I would except one man. He must be granted safe conduct, ...
— Blackbeard: Buccaneer • Ralph D. Paine

... position I had to hold fast with one hand, and, swaying with the motion of the ship, work away splinters from the thick panel which moved from right to left in an iron groove. The scuttle was built on an iron frame, securely bolted to the deck, and I knew it could resist any attempt we might make to break it off by working ...
— The Devil's Admiral • Frederick Ferdinand Moore

... was a cry in desolation, but it came out of Faith. It is the last voice of Truth, speaking when it can but cry. The divine horror of that moment is unfathomable by human soul. It was blackness of darkness. And yet he would believe. Yet he would hold fast. God was his God yet. My God— and in the cry came forth the Victory, and all was over soon. Of the peace that followed that cry, the peace of a perfect soul, large as the universe, pure as light, ardent as life, ...
— Unspoken Sermons - Series I., II., and II. • George MacDonald

... at each other as if the eyes of each were straining to absorb and hold fast the other's image. There were things he had to say to her before they parted, but he could not say them in that place of summer memories, and he turned and followed her in silence to the sleigh. As they drove ...
— Ethan Frome • Edith Wharton

... of the century just closed for its fruitful and beneficent results on the life of the people concerned." He hoped that mutual toleration and sympathy would continue and be extended to the Empire as a whole and that, more than ever, the people would remain "determined to hold fast and maintain the ...
— The Life of King Edward VII - with a sketch of the career of King George V • J. Castell Hopkins

... something to forget: Hold fast the good, and seek the better yet: Press on, and prove the pilgrim-hope of youth: The Creeds are milestones on ...
— The Poems of Henry Van Dyke • Henry Van Dyke

... my active brain gave rise To one great thought of mighty sacrifice And self-denial. Oh! it blanched my cheek, And wrung my soul; and from my heart it drove All life and feeling. Coward-like, I strove To send it from me; but I felt it cling And hold fast on my mind like some live thing; And all the Self within me felt its touch And cried, "No, no! I cannot do so much - I am not strong enough—there is no call." And then the voice of Helen bade me speak, ...
— Maurine and Other Poems • Ella Wheeler Wilcox

... destruction. But Providence interposed in our behalf: For had we struck only a cable's length to the east or west of where we did, we must all have inevitably perished. When our ill-fated ship touched the rock, we had all to hold fast by some part of the ship or rigging, otherwise the violence of her shock in striking must have tossed us all into the sea. Our three masts went all away together by the board. In short, words are wanting to express the wretched ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume X • Robert Kerr

... the crown as well as the cross; the delight as well as the denial; the heavenly sunshine as well as the earthly shadows; and the great, glorious, everlasting reward in eternity. When you have looked at all these things, make your choice; and, having chosen aright, 'hold fast that which thou hast, that no ...
— Standards of Life and Service • T. H. Howard

... twine it round his horns. But all at once he sprang up, and ran away so swiftly that Europa could not help herself. She did not dare to jump off while he was going so fast, and all that she could think to do was to hold fast to his ...
— Old Greek Stories • James Baldwin

... couldn't explain without making Bernice appear a perfect ninny. And if you don't explain, what will he think of you? Let me tell you, it is more than she would do for you if you were in her place. Somehow, with us girls, life seems like a game of 'Hold fast all I give you.' What falls into your hands is yours by right of the game, and you've no call to hand it over to the next girl because she whimpers that she wants to be 'it.' Don't you worry. Go on ...
— The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor • Annie Fellows Johnston

... in your concentrated thought, and, at the same time, silently stating to your mind just what you expect to do in the desired direction. In stating your orders to your mind, always speak as if the thing were already accomplished at that particular moment. Never say that it "will be," but always hold fast to the "it is." The following will give you a good example of the mental statements, which of course should be accompanied by the concentrated idea of the thing, and the mental picture of yourself as being just what ...
— Clairvoyance and Occult Powers • Swami Panchadasi

... them in on the movement of other patrol emergency vehicles being routed to the accident site. Car 82, also assigned to NAT 26-West, was more than one hundred fifty miles ahead of Beulah. Pittsburgh Control ordered Eight Two to hold fast to cover anything else that might come up while Five Six was handling the current crisis. Eastbound Car 119 was ordered to cut across to the scene to assist Beulah's crew, and another eastbound patrol vehicle was held in place to cover ...
— Code Three • Rick Raphael

... which this old disciple says to us out of the misty distance is: Hold fast to your early faith, and to the Christ ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts • Alexander Maclaren

... arm around my waist. I must let her go. At once!" I added; for the mare was getting to rear a little, and the young woman hesitated. "Do as I tell thee!" I cried sharply, and when I felt her right arm about me, I said, "Hold fast!" and gave the mare her head. A mile sufficed, with the double burden, so to quiet her that she came down to her usual swift ...
— Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker • S. Weir Mitchell

... of divinity, and have preached Christ and fought His battles for a long time, I know from personal experience how difficult it is to hold fast to the truth. I cannot always shake off Satan. I cannot always apprehend Christ as the Scriptures portray Him. Sometimes the devil distorts Christ to my vision. But thanks be to God, who keeps us in His Word, in faith, and ...
— Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians • Martin Luther

... they uphold,' said he musingly, 'yet I cannot see that it includes all truth. For my own share, I still hold fast to my opinions; they commend themselves to my reason as strongly as ever. I should lie, did I deny them. And yet from my very heart I agree with the Friends in prizing the spirit above the letter. And I hope, my daughter,' he went on, while a smile trembled on ...
— Andrew Golding - A Tale of the Great Plague • Anne E. Keeling

... woods. I'm glad I did. It was worth while to see you come tramping down that long white avenue when you thought yourself alone with the silence. I thought I had never seen a child so full of the pure joy of existence. Hold fast to that, little lass, as long as you can. You'll never find anything to take its place after it goes. You ...
— Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908 • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... self-improvement, the true Catholic mode of learning is to "prove all things," as far as we can, without sin or the danger of it, to "hold fast that which is good." Let us never be afraid of trying anything new, learnt from people of different opinions to our own. And let us never be afraid of changing our opinions. The unwillingness to go back from once declared opinion is a form of pride which haunts some powerful minds: ...
— Daily Thoughts - selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife • Charles Kingsley

... dashing Thowght is free The deuill hath cast a bone to sett strife To putt ones hand between the barke and the Tree Who meddles in all thinges may shoe the gosling Let the catt wynke and lett the mowse runne He hath one pointe of a good haulke he is handy The first poynt of a faulkener to hold fast Ech finger is a thumb Owt of Gods blessing into the warme sune. At eve[r]y dogges barke to awake A lone day My self can tell best where my shoe wringes me A cloke for the Rayne To leap owt of the frieng pan into the fyre Now toe on her distaff then she can ...
— Bacon is Shake-Speare • Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence

... is no such super-imposed accessory; it is simply bread and water, the daily necessity, the fundamental food, the universally essential and normal satisfaction of the natural hunger and the human thirst. Let us, of all things, hold fast to the naturalness, simplicity, and wholesomeness of the religious life. Religion is not a luxury added to the normal life; it is the {31} rational attitude of the soul in its relation to the universe of God. It is not an accident that ...
— Mornings in the College Chapel - Short Addresses to Young Men on Personal Religion • Francis Greenwood Peabody

... that strikes the flint and brings out a shower of sparks. Faith makes obstacles into helps, and stones of stumbling into 'stepping-stones to higher things.' If we will take the place which He gives us, and hold fast our trust in Him even when He seems silent to us, and will so far penetrate His designs as to find the hidden purpose of good in apparent repulses, the honey secreted deep in the flower, we shall share in this woman's blessing ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. Mark • Alexander Maclaren

... things as God never left to the determination of any human law. Neither have men any power to burden us with those or such like ordinances, "For (saith not our Lord himself to the churches), I will put upon you none other burden, but that which ye have already, hold fast till I come," Rev. ii. 24, 25. Wherefore, pro hac, &c., for this liberty we ought stoutly to fight against false teachers.(39) Finally, it is to be noted, that though in some things we may and do commendably refuse obedience to the laws of ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie

... a fine opportunity to escape from this narrow routine and enter the arena of practical politics when the Free-soil party was formed to prevent the extension of slavery. However, he either did not think of it, or preferred to hold fast to his former friends, though he little knew how little they cared for him, and he continued for ten years longer to lecture on Toussaint and talk moral-suasion,—riding hard on the Garrisonian formula. It seems like small business when we recollect the work ...
— Sketches from Concord and Appledore • Frank Preston Stearns

... principles, we maintain that it well becomes Christians, when the soundness of their faith, and the rectitude of their acts of worship, are called in question, "to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." Thus, when the unbeliever charges us with credulity in receiving as a divine revelation what he scornfully rejects, it behoves us all (every one to the extent of his means and opportunities) ...
— Primitive Christian Worship • James Endell Tyler

... influences and its temptations, is so strong, that we shall be swept away by it unless we can oppose to it some inward conviction as solid and real. Amid the temptations of the senses, the allurements of pleasure, the deceitfulness of riches, will it enable a man to hold fast to honesty, temperance, purity, generosity—to believe that in all probability these things are right, and that there is something to be said in favor of the opinion that God approves ...
— Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors • James Freeman Clarke

... all over now" said Tip, encouragingly. "Now, Jack, be sure to hold fast to this post and then you can't fall off ...
— The Marvelous Land of Oz • L. Frank Baum

... may occasion when crossing a town, or even private grounds, and the actual damage done to a garden of hops, or to telegraph or telephone wires, may be very serious indeed. Moreover, the statement made by some early practitioners that a trail rope will not catch so as to hold fast in a wood or the like, is not to be relied on, for an instance could be mentioned coming under the writer's knowledge where such a rope was the source of so much trouble in a high wind that it ...
— The Dominion of the Air • J. M. Bacon

... lay always the inscrutable and splendid purposes of God, and the Ultimate Light beyond. Lord St. John had taught her that. It had been his own courageous, unshakable belief. But now he had gone from her she found her faith faltering. It was too difficult—well-nigh impossible—to hold fast to the big uplift of such thought and faith as ...
— The Moon out of Reach • Margaret Pedler

... the easy-chair she had disregarded. "Those who trust in him, his hand never lets go. They may seem to themselves to lose their standing—they may not feel the ground under their feet—but he knows; and he will not let them fall. If they hold fast to him, Diana." ...
— Diana • Susan Warner

... bachelor, which is a matter Of import both to virgin and to bride, The former's hymeneal hopes to flatter; And (should she not hold fast by Love or Pride) 'T is also of some moment to the latter: A rib's a thorn in a wed gallant's side, Requires decorum, and is apt to double The horrid sin—and what's ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron

... the drinking of wine, and of all the holy brethren in Palestine there are none who hold fast to this gladsome rite so strenuously as the monks of Damascus; not that they are more zealous Christians than the rest of their fellows in the Holy Land, but that they have better wine. Whilst I was at Damascus I had my quarters at the Franciscan convent there, and very soon after my arrival I asked ...
— Eothen • A. W. Kinglake

... extend to the Turkish provinces of Moldavia and Servia,—and should Turkey hereby fall,—this would not become a benefit to those provinces, but would benefit Russia only; because then, Turkey no more existing, all those provinces will be naturally absorbed by Russia; whereas, to hold fast to Turkey—that Turkey, which respects religious liberty, gives ...
— Select Speeches of Kossuth • Kossuth

... mother nodded, "that's why the Red-coat let him go. And we never could have endured if God hadn't inspired one man to hold fast when other hearts ...
— The Southerner - A Romance of the Real Lincoln • Thomas Dixon

... chance and the test of his athletic training. He threw himself prone upon the slippery slates, worming his lean person over them till he caught the girl's frock, and bidding her "hold fast!" drew both the children slowly toward the scuttle. When his feet had found the edge of this the danger was past; and they were presently down upon the hall floor, laughing and sobbing together in one excited group. That is, the sister was sobbing ...
— Jessica, the Heiress • Evelyn Raymond

... remains, therefore, for us to show whether our doctrine, the rule of which we have given above [v. infra, 29, c], agrees with the tradition of the Apostles, and likewise whether the others come from deceit. We hold fast to the apostolic churches, because in none is there a different doctrine; this is ...
— A Source Book for Ancient Church History • Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D.

... not know as to that," said the fellow, with the stubborn dulness of a peasant; "but I know it is hard to see your property and goods destroyed and to hold fast to allies who do not protect you—and a Roman garrison at Casilinum all the time. They say this African is kind to his friends, and then, too, he sent home my son without ransom when the young man was prisoner ...
— The Lion's Brood • Duffield Osborne

... same things. It does seem a dead-and-live kind of life after all we've seen and done since. However, we'd a deal better have kept to the bulldog's motter, 'Hang on', and stick to it, even if it was a shade slow and stupid. We'd have come out right in the end, as all coves do that hold fast to the right thing and stick to the straight course, fair weather or foul. I can see that now, ...
— Robbery Under Arms • Thomas Alexander Browne, AKA Rolf Boldrewood

... intended that we should be passively credulous. [Footnote: My son might have further enforced his view by a passage from St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5 verse 21, had it occurred to him: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." By this the apostle implies, according to Archbishop Secker's commentary, all things which may be right or wrong according to conscience. And by "proving them" he means, not that we should try them by experience, which would ...
— Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia • William John Wills

... the heads are conical or semi-spherical, should not be changed by the process of riveting. The form of the head is intended to be permanent, and this permanent form can only be retained by the use of a "hold fast," which conforms to the shape of the head. In the use of the flat hold fast (in general use in a majority of boiler shops) the form of the head is changed, and if the rivet, by inadequate heating, requires severe hammering, there ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 • Various

... especially to accustom yourself to write down your ideas at once at the piano, quickly and briefly. For this purpose a small table ought to be placed close beside the piano. By this means not only is the imagination strengthened; but you learn instantly to hold fast the most fugitive ideas. It is equally necessary to be able to write without any piano; and sometimes a simple choral melody, to be carried out in simple or varied phrases, in counterpoint, or in a free manner, ...
— Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826 Vol. 2 • Lady Wallace

... judgement day. This continued from youth up to the age of forty. At this time I received from Christ the "Gift of the Holy Ghost", the "Unction", that which "leads unto all truth." There are many names for this; I call it the Bible name. "Hold fast the form of sound words." Before this I had never spoken a word for God or prayed in public. At one time I was called on to do so, and was terrified and mumbled out something, that was no prayer. Now all was changed: "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." I was ...
— The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation • Carry A. Nation

... which has renovated, re- created, uplifted the world. Men began to think, to look about them, and to prove all things. And instead of holding fast all things, as they had been doing in the past, they began to hold fast only the things which they found by experience, and after testing ...
— Our Unitarian Gospel • Minot Savage

... position and the privileges of wealth had introduced him to that inner circle of English society which not wealth alone can penetrate, but where wealth in some due proportion is an element necessary to hold fast a place, it was thought most natural and proper that he should choose a wife from the class which seems set apart from the rest of womankind like the choice flowers of a conservatory, on whom no rude breath must blow. The youthful, but nearly portionless, daughter of a poor Earl seemed the very ...
— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various

... "No danger; hold fast as you are," Jack answered cheerily, rather enjoying the feeling of the two arms clasping his ...
— The Cromptons • Mary J. Holmes

... Then, after special commendation of the learning of Origen and Eusebius, and the valuable Scriptural expositions of many more,—"My plan," (he says,) "is to read the ancients; to prove all things, to hold fast that which is good; and to abide steadfast in the faith of the Catholic Church.—I must now dictate replies, either original or at second-hand, to other Questions which lie before me."(92) We are not surprised, after this straightforward avowal of what was the method on such ...
— The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark • John Burgon

... about details: these he would fill in, as time passed; but he would on one side hold fast to German National unity and on the other side would sustain Prussian kingcraft as the very voice of God for Germany; one of Bismarck's strongest ideas was that the King of Prussia was the vicegerent of Christ on this earth. In short, Germany must come through Prussian supremacy, ...
— Blood and Iron - Origin of German Empire As Revealed by Character of Its - Founder, Bismarck • John Hubert Greusel

... mournfully tossing in the soul's sight, like dead corpses of wife, and child, and friend, rising from the dark wave, and surging in the face of the half-drowned mariner! Ah, was it easy here to believe and hold fast the great password of Christian faith, that "God IS, and is the REWARDER of them ...
— Uncle Tom's Cabin • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... almost unsettled me; but a mechanical diving of my hand into my pocket, and the feeling of the solitary half-crown, confirmed me; after all this was a life of trial and tribulation, and I had read somewhere or other that there was much merit in patience, so I determined to hold fast in my resolution of accepting the offer ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow

... "We must hold fast to the Christian religion and to the communion of that Church which is Catholic, and which is called Catholic not only by those who belong to her, but also by all her enemies. Whether they will it or not the very heretics themselves and followers of schism, when they converse, ...
— The Faith of Our Fathers • James Cardinal Gibbons

... my pockits and git it long as I had it in my hand, and it shet up tight as a barrel when the cider's workin'. Wall that conductor feller he jest kept his eye on me, and every little bit he'd put his head in the door and say "hold fast." But I'm transgressin' from what I started to tell ye. I wuz ridin' along in one of them sleepin' keers comin' here, and along in the night some time I felt a feller rummagin' around under my bed, and I looked out jest in time to see him goin' away with my boots, wall I knowed the way that ...
— Uncles Josh's Punkin Centre Stories • Cal Stewart

... It seems that predestination is not certain. Because on the words "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown," (Rev 3:11), Augustine says (De Corr. et Grat. 15): "Another will not receive, unless this one were to lose it." Hence the crown which is the effect of predestination can be both acquired and lost. Therefore ...
— Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) - From the Complete American Edition • Thomas Aquinas

... that part of the dispatch saying, 'No part of the Union army was able to hold fast save one wing under Thomas.' How about that wing! You heard, too, what the colonel said about General Bragg. He always overestimates the strength of the enemy, and while he may win a victory he will not reap the fruits of it. ...
— The Shades of the Wilderness • Joseph A. Altsheler

... already been remarked that a really staunch and tractable elephant is rarely met with. This renders tiger-shooting exceedingly uncertain, as it is impossible to shoot correctly with a rifle when an animal is flinging itself about to an extent that renders it necessary to hold fast by the howdah rail. I generally take an ordinary No. 12 gun as an adjunct. If the grass is very high and dense, the tiger will seldom be farther than 20 yards distant, and a smooth-bore breechloader with a spherical ball will shoot sufficiently well to hit the palm of your hand. This accuracy ...
— Wild Beasts and their Ways • Sir Samuel W. Baker

... me! In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did hold fast, through all extremity; save when thy good—thy life—thy fame—were put in question! Then I consented to a deception. But a lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side! Dost thou not see what I would say? That old man!—the physician!—he ...
— The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... he threw the rope over the stump of a broken limb, and let it play until he broke the speed of the log, and gradually drew it back to the tree, holding it there until the three now nearly frozen men had climbed down and seated themselves astride. He then gave orders to the people on the shore to hold fast to the end of the rope which was tied to the log, and leaving his rope in the tree he turned the log adrift, and the force of the current acting against the taut rope swung the log around against the bank, and all 'on board' were saved. The excited people, who had watched the dangerous experiment ...
— McClure's Magazine December, 1895 • Edited by Ida M. Tarbell

... whilst we hold fast, with an undoubting and unwavering faith, all truths which, by their very nature, are eternal, and to deny which is no other than to speak against the Holy Ghost, we should listen patiently to, and pass no harsh judgment on, those who question other truths not ...
— The Christian Life - Its Course, Its Hindrances, And Its Helps • Thomas Arnold

... little longer," replied the old man, struggling. "Well, hold fast now," cried young Tom, who, raising his head above his arms, with great exertion shifted one of his hands to his father's thigh, then the other; raising himself as before, he then caught at the seat of his father's trousers with his teeth; old Tom groaned, for his son had taken hold of more ...
— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat

... "Hold fast their truth, which is a truth the world has always possessed, though its practice has been confined to the honest ...
— Christie Johnstone • Charles Reade

... aid the Crusaders in rescuing Jerusalem from the Moslems. The saint-king received the ambassadors with joy, entertained them hospitably, conducted them to church, and, when they departed, sent two monks with magnificent presents to the great khan, and exhortations to hold fast the profession of his faith without wavering. Even when the Tartars menaced Bagdad, an ambassador, despatched by King Louis from Acre, was at the court of the great khan, with the object of converting the Tartars; and it appears ...
— The Boy Crusaders - A Story of the Days of Louis IX. • John G. Edgar

... "Hold fast to my shoulder, Nancy," he heard Dan cry. "I can float, and I can swim a little. Keep thy nose above water and let thy feet go where they will." Nancy, spluttering and gurgling, was trying hard to follow Dan's directions, when the boat shot alongside, ...
— The Puritan Twins • Lucy Fitch Perkins

... early this week, I would have remained to meet you. I am satisfied that on your arrival you will be met by the bulls and bears of Wall Street, and probably by merchants, too, to induce you to sell gold, or pay the November interest in advance, on the one side, and to hold fast on the other. The fact is, a desperate struggle is now taking place, and each party wants the Government to help him out. I write this letter to advise you of what I think you may expect, to ...
— Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 2 • George S. Boutwell

... his imperfection mars his fairest achievements. Whatever great movement may be considered, its ultimate attainment has fallen far short of its initial promise. The authors of the Revolution were but men; they were no more able than their fellows to discover and to hold fast to the true way of happiness. They wavered between the two extremes of despotism and anarchy; they declined from the path of grace. And their task remained unfulfilled. Many of their dreams were far from attaining realisation; they inaugurated no era of ...
— History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 • F. A. M. Mignet

... these dear children of God, who have suffered so much for the Lord's sake, and who are sincere, though in much error, might be led on and delivered out of these snares of the devil. But many, unaccustomed to examine Scripture, hold fast the former ways; yet those, who are sincere, the Lord will deliver after awhile. How long I may continue here, I know not; but the moment I see the Lord's leading to England, I shall be delighted to go back. At present my temptation is not to stay ...
— A Narrative of some of the Lord's Dealings with George Mueller - Written by Himself, Third Part • George Mueller

... most determined not to leave me. They swore they would stay by me whilst life remained, and that they were perfectly willing to rest whenever I wished it. Moreover, Makarov, the strongest of the sailors, entreated me to let him help me along, which he could do, if I would go behind him, and hold fast to his girdle. On hearing this I determined to remain with my companions and allow myself to ...
— Hair Breadth Escapes - Perilous incidents in the lives of sailors and travelers - in Japan, Cuba, East Indies, etc., etc. • T. S. Arthur

... gate—then for life! good boy! Miss Montfort, put your arms around me, and hold fast. Don't let go unless I drop; then try to catch the reins, and give him his ...
— Rita • Laura E. Richards

... at the present moment, to meet with little favour; nor, indeed, have I any hope of turning the tide, which will flow for its appointed season, and its ebb does not seem to be at hand. But whilst the hurricane rages, those exposed to it may well encourage one another to hold fast their own foundations against it; and many are exposed to it in whose welfare I naturally have the deepest interest, and in whom old impressions may be supposed to have still so much force that I may claim from ...
— The Christian Life - Its Course, Its Hindrances, And Its Helps • Thomas Arnold

... tender youths, your numbers Have sung him into sweetest slumbers! You put me greatly in your debt by this. Thou art not yet the man that shall hold fast the devil! Still cheat his senses with your magic revel, Drown him in dreams of endless youth; But this charm-mountain on the sill to level, I need, O rat, thy pointed tooth! Nor need I conjure long, they're near me, E'en now comes ...
— Faust • Goethe

... who distrust reason and hold fast rather fearfully to the moorings of tradition, I would venture to say, first, that perilous times are most perilous to error, and, secondly, in the words of Dr. Kirsopp Lake, "After all, Faith is not belief in spite of evidence, but life in ...
— Painted Windows - Studies in Religious Personality • Harold Begbie

... to hold fast to her resolutions, but the impulse to open the window and look out was resistless. She turned the old-fashioned brass knob, swung her windows wide on their ...
— The Foolish Virgin • Thomas Dixon

... eternity reposed. I laid hold of her hands, and the tears became a sparkling chain that could not be broken. Into the distance swept by, like a tempest, thousands of years. On her neck I welcomed the new life with ecstatic tears. Never was such another dream; then first and ever since I hold fast an eternal, unchangeable faith in the heaven of the Night, and its ...
— Rampolli • George MacDonald

... MACDUFF. Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword, and, like good men, Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom: each new morn New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out ...
— Macbeth • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... Onondaga sachem, "we must hold fast to our brother Quider (Peter Schuyler, mayor of Albany) and look on Onontio as our enemy, ...
— Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV • Francis Parkman

... east of Rheims was still intact. In the general attack all along the line, the operation assigned the American army as the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward the important railroad communications of the German armies through Mezieres and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines or the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plants and material ...
— History of the World War - An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War • Francis A. March and Richard J. Beamish

... great trouble. Then the sheriff said (for he too had been bidden to the wedding at Court): "Yonder away in the thicket dwells a maiden, and if you can get her to lend you the handle of the shovel that she uses to make up her fire I know very well that it will hold fast." So they sent off a messenger to the thicket, and begged so prettily that they might have the loan of her shovel-handle of which the sheriff had spoken that they were not refused; so now they had a trace-pin which would not ...
— The Blue Fairy Book • Various

... walk with carefulness and fear, that with a firm faith we may hold fast the riches of God's grace, and joyfully give thanks to His mercy forever ...
— Works of Martin Luther - With Introductions and Notes (Volume I) • Martin Luther

... keep out of her face when a man confides a serious matter to her. "I might safely promise to be older, but could I keep my word if I promised to be graver? That's the point. If I were a Calvinist I might hold fast by faith, and fight it out with that; or if I were a Catholic I could cast myself upon the strength of the Church, and triumph in spite of temperament. Then it wouldn't matter whether I was grave ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... air, and have pores less than the corpuscles of air, yet the weight or pressure of the air will not explain, nor can be a cause of the coherence of the particles of air themselves. And if the pressure of the aether, or any subtiler matter than the air, may unite, and hold fast together, the parts of a particle of air, as well as other bodies, yet it cannot make bonds for ITSELF, and hold together the parts that make up every the least corpuscle of that MATERIA SUBTILIS. So that that hypothesis, how ingeniously ...
— An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume I. - MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books I. and II. (of 4) • John Locke

... moving about in a short compass. Breathless with excitement, standing on tip-toe, dodging his head among the brambles, all ready, and meaning to have a shot at him 'pretty soon,' he was whispering to himself, telling himself in a mysterious voice to 'hold fast,' not to budge, but wait for the next movement; when this pole-cat—there is a distinction, it is well known in the species, nor in the present instance was it a 'distinction without a difference'—opened ...
— The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, June 1844 - Volume 23, Number 6 • Various

... strong facts, and should arouse the farmers of the whole country to their true interests. Let them not call the teachings of science "book-farming," but "prove all things—hold fast that which is good." ...
— The Elements of Agriculture - A Book for Young Farmers, with Questions Prepared for the Use of Schools • George E. Waring

... Without intelligence to be reverently (attentive to my duties); But by daily progress and monthly advance, I will learn to hold fast the gleams (of knowledge), till I arrive at bright intelligence. Assist me to bear the burden (of my position), And show me how to ...
— The Shih King • James Legge

... portentous day approaches. The rail trains from many of the prominent cities bring in dignified "Committees" who come to see that the great abomination is conducted in a decent and Christian manner. The throng presses in. Hold fast your tickets, all you respectable New Yorkers, Philadelphians, and Bostonians, for the wheel begins to move. The long agony is over. Hundreds of thousands of people have made a narrow escape from being ruined by sudden affluence. Swift horses are despatched, that, foam-lathered, dash up to the ...
— The Abominations of Modern Society • Rev. T. De Witt Talmage

... he begins thus, 'Omnes, all.' 'Bravo!' replied I. 'Conticuere—What's that, Frank?' 'Were silent,' I answered: 'Go on.' After deep cogitation, and sundry hints, he discovered that tenebant must have some remote relationship to a verb signifying to hold fast, and forthwith a bright thought strikes him, and on we go: 'Intentique ora tenebant—and intently they hold their oars,' he said, exultingly. 'Very well,' quoth I, approvingly, and continued for him, 'Inde toro pater—the waters flowed ...
— Louis' School Days - A Story for Boys • E. J. May

... must hold fast to our heritage as free men. We must renew our confidence in one another, our tolerance, our sense of being neighbors, fellow citizens. We must take our stand on the Bill of Rights. The inquisition, the star chamber, have no place in ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Harry S. Truman • Harry S. Truman

... tale has been saved, and will be our salvation, if we believe that the soul is immortal, and hold fast to the heavenly way of Justice and Knowledge. So shall we pass undefiled over the river of Forgetfulness, and be dear to ourselves and to the Gods, and have a crown of reward and happiness both in this world and also in the millennial pilgrimage of ...
— The Republic • Plato

... so easily are very apt to roll into the wrong corner, and to get out of his way when he most wants them, while he always knows where to find the others, which stay where they are left. Thus he learns—thus we learn—to drop the streaked and speckled globes of falsehood and to hold fast the white angular blocks of truth. But then comes Timidity, and after her Good-nature, and last of all Polite-behavior, all insisting that truth must roll or nobody can do anything with it; and so the first with her coarse rasp, and the second with her broad file, and the ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 5, March, 1858 • Various

... slowly, "that is, when he marries he becomes, nine times out of ten, a conservative as far as existing social conditions are concerned. He may be unselfish, kind-hearted, even just in his own way, but his first job is to provide and to hold fast. His wife shoos him on, from ten thousand a year to twenty thousand a year, on and on, in an enclosed treadmill that hasn't any windows. He's done! Life's got him! He's no help! He's a ...
— This Side of Paradise • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... what he is to do, as well as what he is to be and to suffer, is so largely predetermined for him, that his will, though formally asserted, has but a questionable fraction in adjusting him to his conditions as a portion of the universe. But let him hold fast to this ...
— Ralph Waldo Emerson • Oliver Wendell Holmes

... those are not included in this class who in childhood supposed what they heard from their masters to be true, if in a riper age, when they think from their own understanding, they do not continue to hold fast to it, but long for truth, and from that longing seek for it, and when they find it are interiorly moved by it. Because such are moved by the truth for the truth's sake they see the truth before they confirm it.{1} ...
— Heaven and its Wonders and Hell • Emanuel Swedenborg

... heart. This passion, jealousy, which had tortured Napoleon in the early days of his wedded life, now Josephine in her turn had to endure with all its keen anguish. She felt that for her, a woman of forty-one, to hold fast the affections of a man of thirty-five, covered with glory and full of charm, was a difficult task; but this reflection, far from consoling her, only disturbed her the more, and she made desperate efforts to triumph in an almost hopeless contest. As was said by Mademoiselle ...
— The Court of the Empress Josephine • Imbert de Saint-Amand

... Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your occasional ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little table alongside the pianoforte is necessary. By this means not only is the fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold fast in a moment the most remote conceptions. It is also necessary to compose without the pianoforte; say often a simple chord melody, with simple harmonies, then figurate according to the rules of counterpoint, and beyond them; this will give Y. R. H. no headache, but, on the ...
— Beethoven: the Man and the Artist - As Revealed in his own Words • Ludwig van Beethoven

... same vessel letters came to Pizarro from his two confederates, Luque and Almagro, beseeching him not to despair in his present extremity, but to hold fast to his original purpose. To return under the present circumstances would be to seal the fate of the expedition; and they solemnly engaged, if he would remain firm at his post, to furnish him in a short time with the necessary means for ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott

... may be its special purport, must pass through these two stages—of estrangement, and its removal. Culture must hold fast to the distinction between the subject and the object considered immediately, though it has again to absorb this distinction into itself, in order that the union of the two may be more complete and lasting. The subject recognizes then all the more certainly that what at first appeared to it ...
— Pedagogics as a System • Karl Rosenkranz

... recollected; and the whole of the buildings, temples, senate-house, and dwellings lay in ruins. Some of the citizens wished to change the site of the city to Veii; but Camillus, who was Dictator, was resolved to hold fast by the hearths of their fathers, and while the debate was going on in the ruins of the senate-house a troop of soldiers were marching in, and the centurion was heard calling out, "Plant your ensign here; this is a good place to stay in." "A happy omen," cried one of the senators; ...
— Young Folks' History of Rome • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... can't bear to lose her, Axel! She has never been away from us a single day since she was born. She is the spoilt child of our sorrow; if death itself claimed her, we should have to hold fast ...
— Three Comedies • Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson

... principles Cicero, in his De Natura Deorum, approaches the questions of the existence of God and of the human soul. The bias of his own nobler nature led him to hold fast these two vital truths, but he is fully aware that in attempting to prove them the Stoics have used arguments which are not convincing. In the Tusculan disputations [73] he acknowledges the necessity ...
— A History of Roman Literature - From the Earliest Period to the Death of Marcus Aurelius • Charles Thomas Cruttwell

... ["Hold fast to the words that we equivoques call; For they are indeed the only safe way To keep from the children the truth away, Yet use the ...
— The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought • Alexander F. Chamberlain

... say, that I believed as did that church, and said, grasping me firmly by the chin, "see how I will take you if you do not repent." I begged him to appoint some one to shew me the truth, by way of discussion, but he would not, and continued expressing his own sentiment, that we are bound to hold fast to the church, even to such a length, that if she should even reject the gospel, we should reject ...
— Fox's Book of Martyrs - Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant - Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs • John Fox

... Amos. "If we have a friend there we shall do well. That clenches it then, and we shall hold fast by the river. Let's get to our paddles then, for that friar will make mischief for ...
— The Refugees • Arthur Conan Doyle

... first the bold arraignment, the earliest voice of truly religious skepticism. Job is skeptical, not from any want of goodness,—he has been strenuously good; even now in all his darkness, "my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." His goodness is of no narrow sort; justice, protection of the oppressed, help to the suffering, these have been his delight; from wantonness of sense he has kept ...
— The Chief End of Man • George S. Merriam

... of variously slanting lines and the thick and thin strokes of letters. The eager pressure of the boy writer soon crumpled its leaves; and then the edges got frayed, and twisted up claw-like as if to hold fast the writing within, till at last, down what river Baitarani[17] I know not, its pages were swept away by merciful oblivion. Anyhow they escaped the pangs of a passage through the printing press and need fear no birth ...
— My Reminiscences • Rabindranath Tagore

... in the loudest possible tone, and without a moment's interval, for the two hours that we kept our dreadful station. She became frightfully hoarse, and her face so red as to make me expect she would burst a blood-vessel. Among the rest of her rant, she said, "I will hold fast to Jesus, I never will let him go; if they take me to hell, I will still hold him fast, ...
— Domestic Manners of the Americans • Fanny Trollope

... owe so much that to me it would alone justify the conviction that Wordsworth will never be forgotten. That he is no longer the fashion, militates nothing against his reputation. We, the old ones, hold fast by him for no sentimental reminiscence of the fashion of our youth, but simply because his humanity has come into contact with ours. The men of the new generation have their new loves and worships: it remains to be seen to whom the worthy amongst them will turn long ere the frosts ...
— Wilfrid Cumbermede • George MacDonald

... Now as for you, sir, I can see very plainly you haven't been doing your duty. You've met sorrow and let it conquer you. You've taken melancholy by the hand and won't let go of it. You haven't tried to fight for your rights—the rights God gave to every man and expects him to hold fast to and ...
— Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John • Edith Van Dyne



Words linked to "Hold fast" :   cling, cleave, stick, attach, holdfast, cohere, stick to, adhere, bind, bond



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