Do Not Judge A Book By Its Cover
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Do Not Judge A Book By Its Cover
The English idiom "don't judge a book by its cover" is a metaphorical phrase that means one should not judge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. For example, "That man may look very small and insignificant, but don't judge a book by its cover – he's a very powerful man in his circle". Early reference *In George Eliot's '' The Mill on the Floss'' (1860), Mr. Tulliver uses the phrase in discussing Daniel Defoe's '' The History of the Devil'', saying how it was beautifully bound. *The phrase was popularized when it appeared in the 1946 murder mystery, ''Murder in the Glass Room'', by Lester Fuller and Edwin Rolfe: “You can never tell a book by its cover.” See also * All that glitters is not gold * Face value * ''Prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('fir ...
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Idiom
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning. Idioms occur frequently in all languages; in English alone there are an estimated twenty-five million idiomatic expressions. Derivations Many idiomatic expressions were meant literally in their original use, but sometimes the attribution of the literal meaning changed and the phrase itself grew away from its original roots—typically leading to a folk etymology. For instance, the phrase "spill the beans" (meaning to reveal a secret) is first attested in 1919, but has been said to originate from an ancient method of voting by depositing beans in jars, which could be spilled, prematurely revealing the results. Other idioms are deliberately figurative. For example, "break ...
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Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with other types of figurative language, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, and simile. One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor in English literature comes from the "All the world's a stage" monologue from '' As You Like It'': All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances And one man in his time plays many parts, His Acts being seven ages. At first, the infant... :—William Shakespeare, '' As You Like It'', 2/7 This quotation expresses a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage, and most humans are not literally actors and actresses playing roles. By asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses points of comparison between the world an ...
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George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: ''Adam Bede'' (1859), ''The Mill on the Floss'' (1860), ''Silas Marner'' (1861), ''Romola'' (1862–63), ''Felix Holt, the Radical'' (1866), ''Middlemarch'' (1871–72) and '' Daniel Deronda'' (1876). Like Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, she emerged from provincial England; most of her works are set there. Her works are known for their realism, psychological insight, sense of place and detailed depiction of the countryside. ''Middlemarch'' was described by the novelist Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people"Woolf, Virginia. "George Eliot." ''The Common Reader''. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1925. pp. 166–76. and by Martin Amis and Julian Barnes as the greatest novel in ...
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The Mill On The Floss
''The Mill on the Floss'' is a novel by George Eliot, first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was published by Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York (state), New York. Plot summary Spanning a period of 10 to 15 years, the novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, siblings who grow up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. The mill is at the junction of the River Floss and the more minor River Ripple, near the village of St Ogg's in Lincolnshire, England. Both the rivers and the village are fictional. The novel begins in the late 1820s or early 1830s – several historical references place the events in the book after the Napoleonic Wars but before the Reform Act 1832, Reform Act of 1832. (In chapter 3, the character Mr Riley is described as an "auctioneer and appraiser thirty years ago", placing the opening events of the novel in approximately 1829, thirty years before the novel's composition in 1859. In chapter 8, Mr ...
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Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him. Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works—books, pamphlets, and journals — on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism. Early life Daniel Foe (his original name) was probabl ...
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The History Of The Devil
''The Political History of the Devil'' is a 1726 book by Daniel Defoe. General scholarly opinion is that Defoe really did think of the Devil as a participant in world history. He spends some time discussing John Milton's ''Paradise Lost'' and explaining why he considers it inaccurate. His view is that of an 18th-century Presbyterian – he blames the Devil for the Crusades and sees him as close to Europe's Catholic powers. The book was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Trivia The book is listed as one belonging to Mr. Tulliver and read by his daughter Maggie in George Eliot's ''The Mill on the Floss''.The Mill on the Floss: Book one chapter 3; Mr Riley Gives his Advice See also *''De Betoverde Weereld'' References Further reading *Baine, Rodney M. (1962) Daniel Defoe and "The History and Reality of Apparitions. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(4): 335–347. *Hudson, Nicholas (1988)'Why God no Kill the Devil?' The Diabolical Disruption of Order ...
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Edwin Rolfe
Edwin Rolfe (September 7, 1909 – May 24, 1954) was an American poet and journalist. His first collected poetry appeared in an anthology of four poets called ''We Gather Strength'' (1933). Three more collections followed, none of which were conventionally published. ''To My Contemporaries'' (1936) was published by the small Dynamo Press and included works by Archibald MacLeish. ''First Love and Other Poems'' (1951) was sold to subscribers. ''Permit Me Refuge'' (1955) was posthumous and published by the ''California Quarterly'', whose editor Philip Stevenson took up a collection from Rolfe's friends, such as Albert Maltz, to pay for it. Thomas McGrath wrote its foreword. Rolfe's poetry was inseparable from historical events: it responded to the Great Depression, the Spanish Civil War, and the era of McCarthyism. As a poet and journalist, he contributed extensively to ''The Daily Worker'' between 1927 and 1939. Early life He was born Solomon Fishman in Philadelphia in 1909, the ...
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All That Glitters Is Not Gold
"All that glitters is not gold" is an aphorism stating that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. While early expressions of the idea are known from at least the 12th–13th century, the current saying is derived from a 16th-century line by William Shakespeare, "All that glisters is not gold". Origins The expression, in various forms, originated in or before the 12th century and may date back to Æsop. The Latin is ''Non omne quod nitet aurum est.'' The French monk Alain de Lille wrote "Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold" in 1175. Chaucer gave two early versions in English: "''But al thyng which that shyneth as the gold / Nis nat gold, as that I have herd it told''" in "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale", and "''Hyt is not al golde that glareth''" in "The House of Fame". The popular form of the expression is a derivative of a line in William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'', which employs the word "glisters," a 16th-century synonym ...
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Face Value
The face value, sometimes called nominal value, is the value of a coin, bond, stamp or paper money as printed on the coin, stamp or bill itself by the issuing authority. The face value of coins, stamps, or bill is usually its legal value. However, their market value need not bear any relationship to the face value. For example, some rare coins or stamps may be traded at prices considerably above their face value. Coins may also have a salvage value due to more or less valuable metals that they contain. Overview The face value of bonds usually represents the principal or redemption value. Interest payments are expressed as a percentage of face value. Before maturity, the actual value of a bond may be greater or less than face value, depending on the interest rate payable and the perceived risk of default. As bonds approach maturity, actual value approaches face value. In the case of stock certificates, face value is the par value of the stock. In the case of common stock, p ...
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Prima Facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' ('face'), both in the ablative case. In modern, colloquial and conversational English, a common translation would be "on the face of it". The term ''prima facie'' is used in modern legal English (including both civil law and criminal law) to signify that upon initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a case. In common law jurisdictions, a reference to ''prima facie evidence'' denotes evidence that, unless rebutted, would be sufficient to prove a particular proposition or fact. The term is used similarly in academic philosophy. Most legal proceedings, in most jurisdictions, require a ''prima facie'' case to exist, following which proceedings may then commence to test it, and create a ruling. Burde ...
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English-language Idioms
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9t ...
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Metaphors Referring To Objects
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with other types of figurative language, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, and simile. One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor in English literature comes from the "All the world's a stage" monologue from '' As You Like It'': All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances And one man in his time plays many parts, His Acts being seven ages. At first, the infant... :—William Shakespeare, '' As You Like It'', 2/7 This quotation expresses a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage, and most humans are not literally actors and actresses playing roles. By asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses points of comparison between the world a ...
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