atome

Updated: May 17, 2025

Again, such pronunciations as "mebbe" for "maybe" and "I'd ruther" or "I druther" for "I'd rather" are obvious slovenlinesses. No American would defend them as being correct, any more than an Englishman would defend "I dunno" for "I don't know" or "atome" for "at home." If an actor, for instance, were to say, "I druther be a dog and bay the moon Than such a Roman,"

William Archer - America To-day, Observations and Reflections

Now see the impertinence and conceitedness of an Author, who will have a fling at a Description, which he has Prefaced with an impossibility. One might have seen something in her Composition resembling the Formation of Epicurus his World, as if every Atome of Beauty had concurr'd to unite an excellency.

William Congreve - Incognita; or, Love and Duty Reconcil'd

The eye of a man cannot endure any thing that is imperfect, how little soever it be, though it be the least Atome of Dust, it would cause much pain, that he can rest no where. But if you take the quantity of a Bean of Saturn, shave it smooth and round, put it into the Eye, it will cause no pain at all; the reason is, because it is internally perfect, even as Gold and Precious Stones.

Basilius Valentinus - Of Natural and Supernatural Things : Also of the first Tincture, Root, and Spirit of Metals and Minerals, how the same are Conceived, Generated, Brought forth, Changed, and Augmented.

Vil atome imparfait, qui croit, doute, dispute Rampe, s'eleve, tombe, et nie encore sa chute, Qui nous dit je suis libre, en nous montrant ses fers, Et dont l'oeil trouble et faux, croit percer l'univers. Allez, reverends fous, bienheureux fanatiques, Compilez bien l'amas de vos riens scholastiques, Peres de visions, et d'enigmes sacres, Auteurs du labirinthe, ou vous vous egarez.

Voltaire - Letters on England