Although I modified this extravagance later by including the beautiful life among the works of art that alone gave a meaning to life, it was still beauty that I valued

She asked me for an unreasonable sum of money

This means that houses are starting to sink, roads are breaking up and lamp-posts are leaning at crazy angles

Flights to the moon were once thought absurd

As a result of his carelessness, he made a serious blunder

That's the damnedest story I ever heard

Rex was a monster of a dog