meekness

See Also: MODESTY

1. (Quivering and) abject … like some unfortunate dog abasing itself before its master —Jean Rhys

   The quivering is being done by a young woman in the embrace of a lover, in Rhys’ novel, Quartet

2. (Why do you sit there) apologizing to him, as if he were a fuehrer or something —Leslie A. Fiddler
3. Bowed to them like a tree in a storm —Edith Wharton
4. Complied like hostages with a gun trained on them —Louise Erdrich
5. Exist unthinkingly like a slave, like a working animal —Iris Murdoch
6. He’s like a bell, that will go for everyone that pulls it —Thomas Fuller
7. Humble, friendly eyes looked up timidly, like the yes of a dog that is uncertain whether he is about to receive a pat or a blow —Ellen Glasgow

   See Also: EYE EXPRESSIONS, MISCELLANEOUS

8. Like an ox, his head bent meekly, he waited for the blow of the axe which was raised over him —Leo Tolstoy
9. Lieeke a victim, she waited: meek, like a sacrifice —Margaret Drabble
10. Looked humbly about him like a dog slipping into a strange kitchen and afraid of kicks —Honoré de Balzac
11. Meek as a hen —Fyodor Dostoevski
12. Meek as the dew —Dylan Thomas
13. Meekness takes injuries like pills, not chewing, but swallowing them down —Sir Thomas Browne
14. A meek soul without zeal, is like a ship in a calm, that moves not as fast as it ought —John M. Mason
15. Obedience simulates subordination as fear of the police simulates honesty —George Bernard Shaw
16. Obedient as a partner in a dance —Lael Tucker Wertenbaker
17. Obedient as a sheep —Robert Browning
18. Obediently as a trained seal —Anon

    The trained seal comparison has become a common cliche, with many variations such as “Obediently as a puppet on a string” and “Obediently like a trained elephant,” the latter spotted in Aldous Huxley’s After Many a Summer Dies the Swan.

19. Servility is like a golden pill which outwardly gives pleasure but inwardly is full of bitterness —Narun Tate

    The word ‘gives’ has been modernized from ‘giveth.’

20. Waiting upon her whims like a footman —O. Henry
21. Went meekly off … like a repentant boy led away to reform school —Harvey Swados
22. Yield like a foolish mother —Emily Brontë