A dull, decent people, cherishing and fortifying their dullness behind a quarter of a million bayonets.
What a dull world if we knew all about geese!
To equip a dull, respectable person with wings would be but to make a parody of an angel.
Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt, are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world?