Fortunately, however, the displeasure of my great friend at my supposed treachery to myself did not last long; for, without having got wind of the trouble I had caused him, and thanks to the torture I myself was going through, I came to the proper decision in a few days, and, as clear as daylight, I saw what madness it had been.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

"The State is menaced with total dissolution," wrote a contemporary witness; "disasters follow one another ceaselessly; thieving and pillaging go on; our wives and children are dragged into slavery."
— from The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole

If you can bring me any proof that he interferes with his neighbours and creates any disturbance, I shall think it my duty as a clergyman and a magistrate to interfere.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

" "I didn't know there was a charm," answered Dorothy, in surprise.
— from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

It will be obtainable of all chemists and druggists, in small green bottles, at a high but, considering its extraordinary qualities, by no means excessive price.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

"I didn't know there was a charm," answered Dorothy, in surprise.
— from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

VI Arrived there, they passed in forth right; For still to all the gates stood open wide: Yet charge of them was to a Porter hight Cald Malvenù, ° who entrance none denide: 50 Thence to the hall, which was on every side With rich array and costly arras dight: Infinite sorts of people did abide There waiting long, to win the wished sight Of her that was the Lady of that Pallace bright.
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser

We must also believe, and we say it with regret, that the prologue had begun slightly to weary the audience at the moment when his eminence had arrived, and created a diversion in so terrible a fashion.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

"Don't you see, you animal," continued Sancho, "that it will be well for me to drop into some profitable government that will lift us out of the mire, and marry Mari-Sancha to whom I like; and you yourself will find yourself called 'Dona Teresa Panza,' and sitting in church on a fine carpet and cushions and draperies, in spite and in defiance of all the born ladies of the town?
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Among other humours, Mr. Evelyn’s repeating of some verses made up of nothing but the various acceptations of may and can, and doing it so aptly upon occasion of something of that nature, and so fast, did make us all die almost with laughing, and did so stop the mouth of Sir J. Minnes in the middle of all his mirth (and in a thing agreeing with his own manner of genius), that I never saw any man so out-done in all my life; and Sir J. Minnes’s mirth too to see himself out-done, was the crown of all our mirth.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

She did not quite know whether to be glad or not that the men were all in sacks and cutaways at dinner; it saved her, from shame for her husband and Mr. Burnamy; but it put her in the wrong.
— from Their Silver Wedding Journey — Volume 1 by William Dean Howells

Afterwards all the newly formed parts are condensed, and diminish in size; the artery contracts, its internal surface finally embraces the coagulated blood which lay loose in its canal; its coats appear to be thickened, and it is firm and hard.
— from Elements of Surgery by Robert Liston

Among other humours, Mr. Evelyn's repeating of some verses made up of nothing but the various acceptations of may and can, and doing it so aptly upon occasion of something of that nature, and so fast, did make us all die almost with laughing, and did so stop the mouth of Sir J. Minnes in the middle of all his mirth (and in a thing agreeing with his own manner of genius), that I never saw any man so out-done in all my life; and Sir J. Minnes's mirth too to see himself out-done, was the crown of all our mirth.
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1665 N.S. by Samuel Pepys

“I was busy at cards and dice, I spent my money, and did wear my clothes.”
— from The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

Chronology of the War Showing Progress of Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events from Feb. 28, 1915, Up To and Including March 31, 1915 [Continued from the March Number] CAMPAIGN IN EASTERN EUROPE March 1—Two German army corps are defeated in struggle for Przasnysz; Germans bombard Ossowetz.
— from New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various

The present must be as really worthy, but time and distance have a character of their own which they impart to all circumstances, as distance in space makes green and rugged mountains soft and purple like the hue of a fruit.
— from Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis to John S. Dwight; Brook Farm and Concord by George William Curtis

All contempt, all disrespect, implies something respected, as a standard to which it is referred; just as every valley implies a hill.
— from The Aldine, Vol. 5, No. 1., January, 1872 A Typographic Art Journal by Various

Possibly they may attack Custer at daylight; if so, attack instantly and in full force.
— from Project Gutenberg Edition of The Memoirs of Four Civil War Generals by John Alexander Logan