Victor Appleton > Quotes

“I don't believe you will, Tom. This time you have bitten off more than you can chew, to use a homely but expressive statement”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship, or, the Naval Terror of the Seas

“Now let’s have another go at that carburetor. There’s our weak point, for it’s getting harder and harder all the while to get high-grade gasolene, and we’ll have to come to alcohol of low proof, or kerosene, I’m thinking.”
― Victor Appleton, The Tom Swift MEGAPACK®: 25 Complete Novels

“The propellers of Damon's Whizzer will be of the pusher type, and will revolve in dense, compressed air, almost like water, and that will do away with high speed motors, with all their complications, and make traveling in the clouds as simple as taking out a little one-cylinder motor boat. How's that, Tom Swift? How's that for an idea?”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Air Scout, or, Uncle Sam's Mastery of the Sky

“RALPH OF THE ROUND HOUSE;
Or, Bound to Become a Railroad Man. RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER;
Or, Clearing the Track. RALPH ON THE ENGINE;
Or, The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters, or, Battling with Flames from the Air

“The sooner we get enough ivory the quicker we can go to the rescue of the missionaries,” said Mr. Anderson.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

“In another second he had turned on full power, the propellers whizzed with the quickness of light, and he rose in the air, off the shed roof, the live wire no longer entangling him. Then he made a short circuit of the work-shop yard, and came to the ground safely a little distance from the balloon hangar. "Saved! Tom is saved!" cried Mr. Swift, who had seen the act of Mr. Peterson from a distance. "He saved my boy's life!”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon, or, the Longest Shots on Record

“No, Massa Tom, it ain't him. I knows dat blessin' man good an' proper. I jest wish he'd bless mah mule Boomerang some day, an' take some oh de temper out ob him. No, sah, it ain't Massa Damon. De gen'man's in de airship shed waitin' fo' you.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers, or, the Secret of Phantom Mountain

“Next he shut it off completely, and prepared to volplane back to earth.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Sky Racer, or, the Quickest Flight on Record

“He depressed the rudder, and the Red Cloud shot earthward. Then, as the airship was turned about, the young inventor was allowed to try his hand at managing it. He said, afterward, that it was like guiding a fleecy cloud.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Airship

“REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM, By Kate Douglas Wiggin. One of the most beautiful studies of childhood—Rebecca's artistic, unusual and quaintly charming qualities stand out midst a circle of austere New Englanders. The stage version is”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera

“Don't worry, father. I'm not going far this time. Only to the Canadian border, and that's only a few hundred miles. But I want to see if I can cut the current off, and turn it on again. When a thing happens by accident you never know whether you can get just exactly the same conditions again." Tom shut off the current from the dynamo, and the powerful beam of light died out. Then he turned it on once more, and it glowed as brightly as before. He did this several times, and each time it was a success. "Hurrah!" cried Tom. "To-morrow I'll start on my latest invention, a great searchlight!”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, on the border for Uncle Sam

“lots of them. One was in the Eiffel Tower, during the Paris Exposition. I didn't see that, but I have read about it. Another is in one of the twin lighthouses at the Highlands, on the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, just above Asbury Park. That light is of ninety-five million candle power, and the lighthouse keeper there told me it was visible, on a clear night, as far as the New Haven, Connecticut, lighthouse, a distance of fifty miles.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, on the border for Uncle Sam

“A moment later Tom was standing before two well-dressed, prosperous-looking business men, who smiled pleasantly at him. “Mr. Thomas Swift?” interrogated one, the elder, as he held out his hand. “That’s my name,” answered Tom, pleasantly.”
― Victor Appleton, The Tom Swift MEGAPACK®: 25 Complete Novels

“THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES By LAURA LEE HOPE Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series." 12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING The adventures of Ruth and Alice DeVere. Their father, a widower, is an actor who has taken up work for the "movies." Both girls wish to aid him in his work and visit various localities to act in all sorts of pictures. THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS
Or First Appearance in Photo Dramas. Having lost his voice, the father of the girls goes into the movies and the girls follow. Tells how many "parlor dramas" are filmed. THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
Or Queer Happenings While Taking”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera

“Why this motor has run an equivalent of two hundred miles on one charging of the battery! That’s much better than I expected. I thought if I got a hundred out of it I’d be doing well. Dad, I believe, after I improve my battery a bit, that I’ll have the very thing I want! I’ll install a set of them in a car, and it will go like the wind.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift #5: Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout: The Speediest Car on the Road

“And he then related how he had accidently discovered a new way to connect the wires, so as to get, from a dynamo and a storage battery a much stronger, and different, current than usual.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, on the border for Uncle Sam

“As soon as I found out the person speaking to me had rung off, I got the girl in the exchange." "And what did she say?" "That the call came from an automatic pay station in a drug store in town. I have the address. It was one of those telephones where you put your money for the call in a slot.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone or the Picture That Saved a Fortune

“Honduras, as you of course know, is a republic of Central America, and it gets its name from something that happened on the fourth voyage of Columbus. He and his men had had days of weary sailing and had sought in vain for shallow water in which they might come to an anchorage. Finally they reached the point now known as Cape Gracias-a-Dios, and when they let the anchor go, and found that in a short time it came to rest on the floor of the ocean, some one of the sailors—perhaps Columbus himself—is said to have remarked: "'Thank the Lord, we have left the deep waters (honduras)' that being the Spanish word for unfathomable depths. So Honduras it was called, and has been to this day. "It is a queer land with many traces of an ancient civilization, a civilization which I believe dates back”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders, or, the Underground Search for the Idol of Gold

“Mary's blushes were deeper, but the kindly night hid them.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His War Tank, or, Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam

“the St. Lawrence. They're working now in the neighborhood of Huntington, Canada, and the dividing line between the British possessions and New York State, runs along solid ground there. It's a wild and desolate part of country, too, and I haven't many men up there.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, on the border for Uncle Sam

“Yes, I didn't plan to be gone so long," apologized Tom. "But I thought while I was there I might as well go all the way with her." "And did you?" "Yes. In the electric runabout. I wanted to come back and get the airship, but she said she wanted to look nice when she met her relatives, and as yet airship travel is a bit mussy. Though when I get my cabined cruiser of the clouds I'll guarantee not to ruffle a curl of the daintiest girl!”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters, or, Battling with Flames from the Air

“That’s just what I want. Elephant shooting in Africa! My! With my new electric rifle, and an airship, what couldn’t a fellow do over in the dark continent! I’ve a good notion to go there! I wonder if Ned would go with me? Mr. Damon certainly would. Elephant shooting in Africa! In an airship! I could finish my new sky craft in short order if I wanted to. I’ve a good notion to do it!”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

“THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
Or Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health. Telling bow the girls organized their Camping and Tramping Club, how they went on a tour, and of various adventures which befell them.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera

“There was a momentary scream of terror from the girl, and then, as she looked at Tom, she exclaimed: "Why, Tom Swift! What are you trying to do? Run me down?" "Mary--Miss Nestor!" ejaculated our hero, in some confusion.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Wireless Message: or, the Castaways of Earthquake Island

“airship smash,” replied the lad, somewhat proudly. “It’s an oxide of nickel battery, with steel and oxide of iron negative electrodes.” “What solution do you use, Tom?” asked Mr. Swift. “I didn’t get that far in questioning you before the crash came,” he added. “Well I have, in the experimental battery, a solution of potassium hydrate,” replied the lad, “but I think I’m going to change it, and add some lithium hydrate to it. I think that will make it stronger.” “Bless my watch chain!” exclaimed Mr. Damon.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift #5: Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout: The Speediest Car on the Road

“Well," remarked Mr. Sharp, when Tom and Mr. Damon had called on him, to state that Andy Foger's machine was now on the grounds, and demanding to be allowed to view it, to see if it was an infringement on the one entered by the young inventor, "I'll do the best I can for you. I'll lay the case before the committee. It will meet at once, and I'll let you know what they say.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Sky Racer, or, the Quickest Flight on Record

“But I might add that it is neither France, England, nor Russia that we must fear. It is a certain other great nation, which at present I will not name.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship, or, the Naval Terror of the Seas

“he turned and fired his two revolvers as fast as he could pull the triggers, into the very faces of the red imps who were seeking to drag him down. Again and again he fired, until he had emptied both cylinders of his weapons. He felt the grasps of the fiendish little men relax one by one.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

“I’ve got an order for a pair of big elephant tusks—the largest I can get for a wealthy New York man,— and I’m anxious to fulfil the contract. The game isn’t what it once was. There’s more competition and the elephants are scarcer. So I’ve got to hustle.”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

“Tom. I just wanted to tell you that I think I've gotten over that difficulty you found with the big carburetor you were working on. You didn't say what you wanted it for, except that it was for a heavy duty gasolene engine, and you couldn't get the needle valve to work as you'd like. I”
― Victor Appleton, Tom Swift and His War Tank, or, Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam