They tell me it is; they say that you are over-fond of cards, and of other pleasures which are less Avowable.
"Petticoat Rule"
Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy
It was quite true that through the good offices of this lady, who had become her tenant in the new house, Brigitte had made a speculation in furniture not less advantageous in its way, but more Avowable, than the very shady purchase of the house itself.
"The Lesser Bourgeoisie"
Honore de Balzac
If, on the one hand, the desire of penetrating the mysteries of the future, the fear of unknown misfortunes, and hope, always reviving, led the anxious masses to seek a chimerical certainty in astrology, on the other hand, in the case of magic, the blinding charm of the marvelous, the entreaties of love and ambition, the bitter desire for revenge, the fascination of crime, and the intoxication of bloodshed,-all the instincts that are not Avowable and that are satisfied in the dark, took turns in practising their seductions.
"The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism"
Franz Cumont