James Fenimore Cooper

Books and Quotes Collection

Precaution

1820

"Why, everything about the colonel seems so seated, so ingrafted in his nature, so--so very self-satisfied, that I am afraid it would be a difficult task to take the first step in amendment--to convince him of its necessity?

The Spy

1821

“but now he is nothing more than despisable, or what’s the same thing, a pedlar without house, pack, or money.”

The Last of the Mohicans

1826

Freshen the priming of your pistols—the mist of the falls is apt to dampen the brimstone—and stand firm for a close struggle, while I fire on their rush.

The Red Rover

1827

I think you said something concerning the manner in which yonder ship has anchored, and of the condition they keep things alow and aloft?

The Prairie

1827

“Your uncle is, and always will be, a dull calculator, Nell,” observed the mother, after a long pause in a conversation that had turned on the labours of the day; “a lazy hand at figures and foreknowledge is that said Ishmael Bush! Here he sat lolloping about the rock from light till noon, doing nothing but scheme—scheme—scheme— […] ”

If the advice of an old man is, then, worth hearkening to, children, you will quickly, go different ways to your places of shelter and safety.

Mercedes of Castile

1840

“I’ll answer for it, that he hath faced both the Catalan and the Moor, in his time, young as he may seem. Thou knowest that the nobles are wont to carry their sons, as children, early into the fight, that they may learn the deeds of chivalry betimes.”

The Deerslayer

1841

She was never loquacious, or if she occasionally became communicative, it was under the influence of some temporary excitement that served to arouse her unsophisticated mind; but, for hours at a time, in the course of this all-important day, she seemed to have absolutely lost the use of her tongue.

[T]his is the first war that has befallen in my time, and no inimy has yet inroaded far enough into the Colony, to be reached by an arm even longer than mine.

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The Last of the Mohicans

Mercedes of Castile