Superfluous

Sometime to-day I must contrive a minute, If Mercury propitiously incline, To examine his scrutoire, and see what’s in it, For of superfluous diamonds I as well may thin it.

And yet with his experience of war he did not order all the superfluous vehicles to be burned, as he had done with those of a certain marshal when approaching Moscow.

If, therefore, all the steps taken by the duke be considered, it will be seen that he laid solid foundations for his future power, and I do not consider it superfluous to discuss them, because I do not know what better precepts to give a new prince than the example of his actions; and if his dispositions were of no avail, that was not his fault, but the extraordinary and extreme malignity of fortune.

But that which the many-too-many call marriage, those superfluous ones—ah, what shall I call it?

On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat.

Mayor Indbur crossed out a superfluous comma, corrected a misspelling, made three marginal notations, and placed it upon the neat stack at his fight.

“She belonged to one of the first families in Italy, I think, did she not?” “She was of a noble family of Fiesole, count.” “And her name was—” “Do you desire to know her name—?” “Oh,” said Monte Cristo “it would be quite superfluous for you to tell me, for I already know it.” “The count knows everything,” said the Italian, bowing.

a crime!’ Only now I see clearly the imbecility of my cowardice, now that I have decided to face this superfluous disgrace.

In houses where people are among themselves, I am superfluous.

For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness.

A time will come, wherein the soul shall be From all superfluous matter wholly free; When the light body, agile as a fawn’s, Shall sport with grace along the velvet lawns.

After the Supper and Talk After the supper and talk—after the day is done, As a friend from friends his final withdrawal prolonging, Goodbye and Goodbye with emotional lips repeating, (So hard for his hand to release those hands—no more will they meet, No more for communion of sorrow and joy, of old and young, A far-stretching journey awaits him, to return no more,) Shunning, postponing severance—seeking to ward off the last word ever so little, E’en at the exit-door turning—charges superfluous calling back—e’en as he descends the steps, Something to eke out a minute additional—shadows of nightfall deepening, Farewells, messages lessening—dimmer the forthgoer’s visage and form, Soon to be lost for aye in the darkness—loth, O so loth to depart!

“Your repentance,” I said, “is now superfluous.

Inhibitory pressure of collar (size 17) and waistcoat (5 buttons), two articles of clothing superfluous in the costume of mature males and inelastic to alterations of mass by expansion.

The abstraction of the desert landscape cleansed me, and rendered my mind vacant with its superfluous greatness: a greatness achieved not by the addition of thought to its emptiness, but by its subtraction.

He was so plainly delighted with himself that any words of ours would have been quite superfluous.

On the other hand, we can see, bearing in mind that all organic beings are striving to increase at a high ratio and to seize on every unoccupied or less well occupied place in the economy of nature, that it is quite possible for natural selection gradually to fit a being to a situation in which several organs would be superfluous or useless: in such cases there would be retrogression in the scale of organisation.

Now a man should take away not only unnecessary acts, but also, unnecessary thoughts, for thus superfluous acts will not follow after.

That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.

When I behold this goodly frame, this World Of Heaven and Earth consisting, and compute Their magnitudes; this Earth, a spot, a grain, An atom, with the firmament compared And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll Spaces incomprehensible (for such Their distance argues, and their swift return Diurnal) merely to officiate light Round this opacous Earth, this punctual spot, One day and night, in all their vast survey Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit Such disproportions, with superfluous hand So many nobler bodies to create, Greater so manifold, to this one use, For aught appears, and on their orbs impose Such restless revolution day by day Repeated, while the sedentary Earth, That better might with far less compass move, Served by more noble than herself, attains Her end without least motion, and receives, As tribute, such a sumless journey brought Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light: Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.” So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight, With lowliness majestic from her seat, And grace that won who saw to wish her stay, Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers, To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom, Her nursery; they at her coming sprung, And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.

‘I never should have let you talk me into it.’ ‘And a very good idea it was, too,’ retorted Colonel Korn, ‘since it eliminated that superfluous major that’s been giving you such an awful black eye as an administrator.

When profits are high, that sober virtue seems to be superfluous, and expensive luxury to suit better the affluence of his situation.

“Wipe it clean but do as little damage as possible to the structure.” He knew his words were superfluous but spoke for the release.