behavior

See Also: ACTION, LIFE, MANKIND, PROPRIETY/IMPROPRIETY

1. Accepted the crisp bills with a certain famished delicacy like an aristocrat determined not to slaver at the sight of food —John Farris
2. Accumulated [information] like a nest-building bird —Louis Auchincloss
3. Act badly … like a man hitting a woman in the breast —George Bernard Shaw
4. Acted bored but patient, as though an enthusiastic acquaintance had just shown him the picture of a new grandchild —Joel Swerdlow
5. Allowed himself to be absorbed (into the softly palpitating life about him,) like a tired traveler sinking, at his journey’s end, into a warm bath —Edith Wharton
6. Ate like Satan, and worked like a gnat —A. E. Coppard
7. Attention-getting behavior … like I was screaming at the universe [to fulfill my ambitions] —Mel Brooks, Playboy, April, 1973
8. Battled failure like the seven plagues —Anon
9. Behave … like a sort of love-crazed sparrow —Roald Dahl
10. Behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows his image —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
11. Bluster like the north wind —Mrs. Centlivre
12. Butters it [the truth] over like a slice of bread —Erich Maria Remarque

    In his novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque uses the simile to explain that man is “Essentially a beast” but covers up this truth “With a little decorum.”

13. (All he was doing was) calling attention to himself, rather like those movie stars who go around wearing dark glasses on cloudy days —Loren D. Estleman
14. Carrying on like a revivalist facing a full tent —Robert Traver
15. Charm was put forward like a piece of acting in a theatre —Hugh Walpole
16. Clutched at her throat like one stifled for want of air —Anzia Yezierska
17. Crawl into (his secret life) and nestle there, like the worm in the rose —Mary McCarthy
18. Dangled herself [before men]… like a drum majorette —Margaret Millar
19. Deny like a piano player in a bordello who claimed he didn’t know what went on upstairs —Ed McBain
20. Flinched as if someone had thrown a baseball directly at his face —Graham Masterton
21. Flinched back like a box turtle into its shell —F. van Wyck Mason
22. Flirtatious as a Southern belle —Alice McDermott
23. For the promise of favor he will kneel down and lick boots like a spaniel —George Garrett
24. Glancing around him like a hunting dog nosing for a spoor —Kenzaburo Oë
25. Go forward like a stoic Roman —Edwin Arlington Robinson
26. Gripped life like a wrestler with a bull, impetuously —Stephen Vincent Benét
27. He had a way of … suddenly pouncing on something [someone says] that interested him, like a heron spearing a fish —Antonia White
28. Her not doing it was like the Baskerville hound that didn’t bark —William Dieter
29. In public, they act like flat-chested old maids preaching temperance —Charles Simic
30. Intruded upon my vision like a truck on an empty road —Mary Gordon
31. I talk half the time to find out my own thoughts, as a schoolboy turns his pockets inside out to see what is in them —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
32. Jerked at the [fishing] net like a penitent —T. Coraghessan Boyle
33. Like a nun withdrawing, or a child exploring a tower, she went upstairs —Virginia Woolf
34. Lived and behaved like that sandpiper [in my poem]… just running along the edges of different countries, looking for something —Elizabeth Bishop, acceptance speech at University of Oklahoma, 1976 on receiving Books Abroad/Neustadt International Prize for Literature
35. Looked round … desperately like someone trying to find a way of crossing a muddy path without getting her shoes soiled —Franz Werfel
36. Lurking like a funeral director at a christening —W. P. Kinsella
37. Many talk like philosophers, and live like fools —H. G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
38. Men’s behavior should be like their apparel, not too straight … but free for exercise or motion —Francis Bacon
39. Nodded judiciously like someone making a mental note —Lynne Sharon Schwartz
40. Pedestrians in the East behave like lemmings rushing dispassionately to their deaths —W. P. Kinsella
41. People loll upon the beaches ripening like gaudy peaches —Ogden Nash
42. Play with … like a clever cat with a rubber mouse —Maureen Howard
43. (She) poured out feelings and thoughts that most people keep to themselves like a prodigal flinging gold pieces to a scrambling crowd —W. Somerset Maugham
44. Pushed me across [stage] like a broom —Edith Pearlman
45. Pull rank like a little red wagon (if it’d get her a place in the shade) —Tom Robbins
46. (Mary) pulled nerves like string in a blanket —Louise Erdrich
47. Pushing and jostling like a stormy sea —Stephen Vincent Benét
48. Raving, but soundlessly … so that she looked like a film of herself without a sound-track —Lawrence Durrell
49. Recoiled … like a man walking in his sleep, awakened from a frightful dream —Charles Dickens
50. Rose like a trout to the fly or a pickerel to the spoon —Mary McCarthy

    The simile as used in the short story, Yellowstone Park, describes a character who’s an easy prey for any appeal for money to be spent for educational purposes.

51. (A day after helping the Giants to their victory over the Raiders in Los Angeles, Lional Manuel, the third-year wide receiver) sauntered through the locker room like an explorer just back from a glorious expedition —William R. Rhoden, New York Times, September 23, 1986
52. (She sat in bed,) sharpening her charms and her riddles like colored pencils —Yehuda Amichai
53. She went toward the sitting room seeking him like a cold animal seeking the fire —Margaret Mitchell
54. Shook himself like an angry little dog coming out of the water —Barbara Pym
55. Shrugged their shoulders as if to shake off whatever chips of responsibility might have lodged there —Helen Hudson
56. Spoke like a fool, and acted like a fiddler —Saul Bellow
57. Stuffed his own emptiness with good work like a glutton —Flannery O’Connor
58. Swallowed his temper but it left a sour taste in his stomach like heartburn —Donald McCaig
59. Swallowing hard like a stiff-necked goose —Paige Mitchell
60. Talk like a saint and behave like a fool —Jerome K. Jerome
61. Talks like a prophet and acts like a comedian —Amos Oz
62. Thought and action … were simultaneous in her, rather like thunder and lightning —Leigh Allison Wilson
63. Took them [spectacles] off, polished the lenses, and held them to the light like a spinster checking her crystal —Donald MacKenzie

    Were MacKenzie writing the novel from which this is culled, Postscript to a Dead Letter, he might well use a new bride or a proud homeowner instead of spinster, which has fallen into disfavor.

64. Toys with … as with a yo-yo —Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli representative to the United Nations, New York Times, November 23, 1986

    This simile was used in connection with an article on Syrian terrorism. Typically, the simile was highlighted as a blurb!

65. Treat us like mushroom … keep us in the dark and throw shit at us —Loren D. Estleman
66. Used tranquilizing drugs … like the inhabitants of besieged medieval cities who, surprised by death, went back to bed, trying to fall asleep by telling themselves that the threatening flames were only a nightmare —Marguerite Yourcenar
67. Using a … flippant tone, as if he were talking about people in a play, or watching the ceiling at the dentist’s —Ross Macdonald
68. Wore abuse like widow’s weeds —Lael Tucker Wertenbaker