It will, of course, be urged that the crimes here described were those of a criminal lunatic and not to be attributed to any occult cause; the answer to this is that Gilles was not an isolated unit, but one of a group of occultists who cannot all have been mad.
— from Secret Societies And Subversive Movements by Nesta Helen Webster

They arrived at Chicago late at night; they lay abed in the morning, rejoicing, “Pretty nice not to have to get up and get down to breakfast, heh?”
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

To you ye reverent sane sisters, I raise a voice for far superber themes for poets and for art, To exalt the present and the real, To teach the average man the glory of his daily walk and trade, To sing in songs how exercise and chemical life are never to be baffled, To manual work for each and all, to plough, hoe, dig, To plant and tend the tree, the berry, vegetables, flowers, For every man to see to it that he really do something, for every woman too; To use the hammer and the saw, (rip, or cross-cut,) To cultivate a turn for carpentering, plastering, painting, To work as tailor, tailoress, nurse, hostler, porter, To invent a little, something ingenious, to aid the washing, cooking, cleaning, And hold it no disgrace to take a hand at them themselves.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Think of its being called drudgery to take care of a clean, light, airy nursery, to wash and dress and care for two or three children, to mend their clothes, tell them stories, make them playthings, take them out walking or driving; and rather than this, to wear out the whole livelong day, extending often deep into the night, in endless sewing, in a close room of a dressmaking establishment!
— from Household Papers and Stories by Harriet Beecher Stowe

In perfect conformity with this uniform, undeviating policy, his Minister, Turreau, tells our Government, in his letter of the 28th of November last, that "the modifications to be given to the present absolute exclusion of our products will not depend upon the chance of events, but will be the result of measures, firm and pursued with perseverance, which the two Governments will continue to adopt to withdraw from the monopoly and from the vexations of the common enemy a commerce loyal and necessary to France as well as the United States."
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

These modifications will not depend on the chance of events, but will be the result of other measures, firm and pursued with perseverance, which the two Governments will continue to adopt to withdraw from the monopoly and from the vexations of the common enemy a commerce loyal and necessary to France as well as the United States."
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

Our young officers had lots of fine clothes, etc., in their trunks, and our soldiers had pants, coats, etc., in their knapsacks, which were all left and consequently lost, and now they are lamenting their heavy losses.
— from The History of the Fifty-ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteers by David Lathrop

She worked daily side by side with a mother who, through many trials and discouragements, was living a Christian life, and never talked with her of their future rest.
— from Ester Ried by Pansy

The great impediments to knowledge are, first, the want of a common language; and next, the short duration of existence.
— from Zanoni by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

She is a coloured lady, and not the richest, boldest busman dare claim her friendship, though it may be that one of them is her husband.
— from The West Indies by John Henderson

Why is a crab like a newspaper?" "'Tisn't!"
— from Six Little Bunkers at Cousin Tom's by Laura Lee Hope