Ideas Similes. Frank J. Wilstach, comp. 1916. A Dictionary of Similes

Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

Ideas


Our ideas, like orange-plants, spread out in proportion to the size of the box which imprisons the roots. —Edward Bulwer-Lytton	1
Ideas are for the most part like bad sixpences and we spend our lives in trying to pass them off on one another. —Samuel Butler (1835–1902)	2
Ideas are like shadows—substantial enough until we try to grasp them. —Samuel Butler (1835–1902)	3
An idea, like a ghost (according to the common notion of ghosts), must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. —Charles Dickens	4
A fixed idea is like a gimlet; every year gives it another turn. To pull it out the first year is like plucking out the hair by the roots; in the second year, like tearing the skin; in the third, like breaking the bones; and in the fourth, like removing the very brain itself. —Victor Hugo	5
An idea is like a meteor; at the critical moment, the confused meditations which have preceded it open a way, and a spark flashes forth…. These flashes are generated in the conscience in its states of cloud and darkness. —Victor Hugo	6
Our ideas, like pictures, are made up of lights and shadows. —Joseph Joubert	7
A fixed idea is like the iron rod which sculptors put in their statues. It impales and sustains. —Hippolyte Adolphe Taine	8
Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up. —Voltaire	9