Threatening

“ Now an enemy is never so near and consequently so threatening, as when he has completely disappeared. ”

“ Cowards are scared with threatenings; boys are whipped
Into confessions: but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel. ”

“ And if we do employ threats, let this be done sorrowfully, supporting our threatenings of coming judgment by the texts of Scripture, so that the fear which men feel through our words may be not of us in our own authority, but of God Himself. ”

“ Oh the wretched folly of cowardice! thus to lessen your own security by consulting it; and to increase tyranny because you fear it! Is it not better to have nothing at all to fear, than thus to compound for the degrees of fear? ”

“ No armed man threatens me; and ’tis not a thing like that would cause me any fear. Did an armed man threaten me, I would get up and fight him; weak as I am, I would wish for nothing better, for then, perhaps, I should lose this fear; mine is a dread of I know not what, and there the horror lies. ”

“ If thou would'st guard thyself, guard against wrath alway;
'Gainst wrath who guards not, him his wrath shall slay.
If a man would guard himself, let him guard against anger; if he do not guard it, anger will kill him. ”

“ Of course I know it, but if you run into danger, and expose yourself to the attack of those who are avowedly our enemies, you run the chance of being caught, and then, of course, it is our duty to get you out of trouble. ”

“ DANGER. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.—Matthew, v. 21, 22.
What is danger
More than the weakness of our apprehension?
A poor cold part o’ the blood; whom takes it hold of? ”

“ I see danger in the future, begotten of the danger in the past—treachery that is the offspring of his treachery, and crime that is the child of my crime. Is the dread that now shakes me to the soul a phantom raised by the superstition of a dying man? ”

“ It was fear, rather than anger that sounded in their voices, the deadly terror of that unconquerable enemy, free-thinking, so often beaten down but always raising its head again. Men looked at each other with dread and suspicion in their eyes. ”

“ He shall not actually threaten then, but the threats which are now uttered shall then be fulfilled in effect. “For behold,” he says, “the Lord shall come as a fire, and as a whirlwind His chariots, to execute vengeance with indignation, and wasting with a flame of fire. ”

“ So long as he threatens, I can buy off a threat—so long as he persists in a story by which he would establish a claim on me on behalf of a child whom I have every motive, as well as every reason, to disown as inheriting my blood—whatever I bestowed on himself would seem like hush-money to suppress that claim. ”

“ What makes the tyrant an object of fear?—His guards, someone says, and their swords, and the chamberlain, and those who exclude persons who would enter.—Why, then, is it that, if you bring a child into the presence of the tyrant while he is with his guards, the child is not afraid? ”

“ You threaten me first, and when you see that your threats do not disturb me in the slightest degree, you produce, somewhat as an anti-climax surely, the object which you hope to gain by your futile menaces. ”

“ Sword of thy excellency - Or whose sword - his all-conquering Word, is thine excellency, in its promises, threatenings, precepts, etc., etc. St. Paul, in his exhortation to the Christians at Ephesus, uses the same metaphor, Take unto you the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Thine enemies shall be found liars - Who said thou shouldst never be able to gain the possession of this good land; for thou shalt tread on - subdue, their high places - even their best fortified cities. ”

“ We have, therefore, at the present time, that at our doors, which menaces us with greater danger than mobs. I do not dread the results, but doubtless many, unless they are very careful, will have their hearts hardened and their eyes blinded by, and they will fall a prey to and be overcome by, these evils, which the adversary is seeking to pour upon us. ”

“ Buy any thing but a Threatener. By the Threatener, Man himself, the Lord of the Creation, who subdues all the Animals that range the Forest, is himself kept in fear and trepidation!—This ingenious Animal has the sagacity, at every step, to threaten the [Pg 237] fracture of his Rider’s neck, probably with a view to abolish the practice of Riding; but has, at the same time, the good sense not to fall quite down, lest he should accidentally break his own. ”

“ He menaces me! Fifty have wronged, none have ever threatened me. He who threatens, assumes to be your master, to dictate the terms of his forbearance, and to declare under what conditions he will spare you. ”

“ I remarked, "those who have warned you of the danger must know from whom it proceeds, and those who are employed in such an attack must run not only the ordinary risk of assassins, but the further risk entailed by the peculiar powers of those they assail." ”

“ For enmity, hatred, and revenge breathe murder, and will it, but are restrained and curbed by the fear of the law, of resistance, and of reputation: nevertheless, they are an effort to murder, and all effort is as it were an act, for it goes forth into act when fear is removed. ”

“ What hope is there that he will dare at another time to attack an enemy reunited and recomposed, and armed anew with anger and revenge, who did not dare to pursue them when routed and unmanned by fear? ”

“ Every opposite sensation, that with violence the most ungovernable could encounter but to combat, now met in her bosom, elevating her to rapture, harrowing her with terror, menacing even her understanding. ”

“ We always give loud warning, as you all know, and afterwards strike; for if we did not do this, few of even the strongest would escape our vengeance. But these pestilent, two-footed beasts—by net, trap, falling stake, pit, or noose—are unceasing in their secret malice, and there is no safety in the plain, bush, or rock-fastness against their wiles. ”

“ Like every man, from the head of a household to the Arch-Judge or the Camptâ, you must rule by fear. But your wrath will 'stand to cool;' and you will hate to make a girl cry as you would hate to send a criminal to the electric-rack, the lightning-stroke, or the vivisection-table. ”

“ In the face of these indisputable facts, we hear the hysterical cries of the alarmists who scent behind every rock or bush a foreign foe standing with dagger in hand ready to spring upon us, and to rob us of our valuables, if not to kill us outright—or at least making faces at us and insulting the Stars and Stripes. ”

“ Threaten as you will, put all kinds of outrages into execution, do your worst, go tell your master; for you will gain nothing. Were you to reach the height of your cruel threats, you will never be able to force us to subscribe to your impious doctrines. ”

“ Some caution against treachery is also necessary at all times in dealing with these people, though, as a general rule, where they come without arms, and accompanied by women and children, no danger is to be apprehended. ”

“ It reminds me of nothing so much as the fearful warnings which I have read in the least judicious sort of temperance literature, and sometimes heard from temperance orators of the more extreme type—the sort of warning, I mean, that, if you once begin touching anything stronger than water, you are bound to go on till you end by beating your wife and die in a workhouse. ”

“ But we warn him and his companions in crime, that neither strength nor cunning will much longer avail them; their strength shall be broken, their cunning confounded, and their whip-scared victims released from their chain. God speed the day! ”

“ Let us calmly revolve, before we immediately meet them. No sooner shall we set our foot beyond this threshold, than they will commence. Tyranny is ever full of apprehensions and environed with guards. ”

“ If they had felt the influence of intimidation on their spirits, it arose less from any apprehension of consequences to themselves, than from the recollection of the dearer interests involved in their perfect security from discovery. ”

“ That words be observed, wandering and idle thoughts be avoided, sudden anger and desire of revenge, even of such as persecute the truth, be guarded against; for we often mix our zeal with our wild-fire. ”

“ Recently, when you have laid violent hands upon my person, and endangered my life, I said it was violence of temper, not malignity of heart, and I resolved, for your sake and mine, to keep our secret, and to bear with it. ”

“ Nay, now, though you keep your eye fixed on my motions, and your hand upon your weapon, you would be no match for a desperate and resolved man, who might as well perish in conflict with you, as by the protracted accomplishment of your threats. ”

“ If he comes to close quarters, do not defend yourself but slash away at him, you may perhaps be wounded, but if you stand on the defensive, he will kill you. If he gets too much for you, call out and I will rush in and strangle him with my naked hands. ”

“ Notwithstanding some opportunities have been neglected, and all the advantages of a sudden attack have been irrecoverably lost; notwithstanding our friends, sir, have learned to despise and neglect us, and our enemies are animated to confidence and obstinacy, yet our real and intrinsick strength continues the same; nor are there yet any preparations made against us by the enemy, with views beyond their own security and defence. ”

“ Long practice in confronting danger had made him absolutely fearless. He would face death with an indifference that had become constitutional, and the spirit of reckless bravado with which he was animated made him the terror of the citizens. ”

“ The danger that may threaten us is not from the law or from the State, but from an attempt at murder through a perversion of the law and in the name of the Sovereign. Those who threaten us aim also at the Camptâ's life, and those we may meet are his foes as well as ours. Conquered here, they can hardly assail us again. Victorious, they will destroy us, not leave us an appeal to the law or to the throne. ”

“ But enough of this, sir. Where to deceive an enemy in open strife, to gain a mighty object, such as security, or conceal one's needful proceedings from the eyes of those who have no right to pry, is the end proposed, some palliation may be found, perhaps, for a deviation from the strict truth. ”

“ Why, on the contrary, in critical, decisive moments, when danger confronts them, when their existence is threatened, when nothing is more imperative than flight, attack or defence, do we see animals paralysed with trembling, incapable of struggling, and perishing without their strength having in the least profited them? ”

“ Think, man—if we turn you loose, the Brothers can still use that threat against you. There's no guarantee what'll happen with you and whoever else is in the same situation in custody, but there's no doubt what'll happen if you're not. ”

“ The defeats we meet with in hardy and hazardous enterprise are softened down by having dared danger fearlessly,—by having combated manfully with the enemy. But what solace is there for him whose reverses spring from childlike weakness and imbecility,—whose life becomes the plaything of parasites and flatterers! ”

“ Threats alone are the weapons of the threatened man.
Wherever good fortune enters, envy lays siege to the place and attacks it; and when it departs, sorrow and repentance remain behind.
He who walks straight rarely falls. ”

“ Aroused in Thunder, awful they appear, With proud Deliverance stalking in their rear: While Tyrant Foes their pallid Fears betray, Shrink from their Arms, and give their Vengeance way; Sec, in the unequal War, OPPRESSORS fall, The Hate, Contempt, and endless Curse of all. ”

“ The bravest man turns pale when he finds himself face to face with sudden inevitable death, and he who threatened seemed to be one who would, without hesitation, carry out his threats. There was nothing for it but obedience, or a ball through them as they stood. ”

“ We supposed that our enemies had commenced their depredations by putting their threats into execution, and were making an attack on our people, and the probability was that they would visit us in turn. ”