His bitter disappointment at finding Elizabeth-Jane to be none of his, and himself a childless man, had left an emotional void in Henchard that he unconsciously craved to fill.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

Consequent, will the T'other Governor be so good as chuck me his name and where he lives?' Eugene, cigar in mouth and pen in hand, tossed him his card.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Now in this case a common measure has been provided in money, and to this accordingly all things are referred and by this are measured: but in the Friendship of Love the complaint is sometimes from the lover that, though he loves exceedingly, his love is not requited; he having perhaps all the time nothing that can be the object of Friendship: again, oftentimes from the object of love that he who as a suitor promised any and every thing now performs nothing.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

When and where it first became the conventional system that a weary or inattentive infant in a class must have its face smoothed downward with a hot hand, or when and where the conventional volunteer boy first beheld such system in operation, and became inflamed with a sacred zeal to administer it, matters not.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Redemption must be set in some relation to the fundamental Gnostic conception of the antagonism between God and matter; and Christ must have some place found for Him in the fundamental Gnostic doctrine of emanations.
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon A revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations by J. B. (Joseph Barber) Lightfoot

The very words OBEY and COMMAND will be excluded from his vocabulary, still more those of DUTY and OBLIGATION; but the words strength, necessity, weakness, and constraint must have a large place in it.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

THE ASS AND HIS SHADOW A certain man hired an Ass for a journey in summertime, and started out with the owner following behind to drive the beast.
— from Aesop's Fables; a new translation by Aesop

OF THE BENEFIT THAT PROCEEDETH FROM SUCH DARKNESSE, AND TO WHOM IT ACCREWETH H2 anchor He That Receiveth Benefit By A Fact, Is Presumed To Be The Author Cicero maketh honorable mention of one of the Cassii, a severe Judge amongst the Romans, for a custome he had, in Criminal causes, (when the testimony of the witnesses was not sufficient,) to ask the Accusers, Cui Bono; that is to say, what Profit, Honor, or other Contentment, the accused obtained, or expected by the Fact.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Modern critics tell you that nothing could be easier; that anybody can make his way up the steep footpath in Wolfe’s Cove.
— from The Mentor: The Contest for North America, Vol. 1, No. 35, Serial No. 35 The Story of America in Pictures by Albert Bushnell Hart

Fahey, being convalescent, was employed as cook; Mr. H. Gregory, Mr. Flood, Bowman, and Melville, shoeing horses; Dean making charcoal for the forge; in the afternoon there was a heavy thundershower; the flies are very troublesome and annoy the horses so much that they will not stand quiet to be shod, and some of the horses are nearly blind in consequence of the flies crawling into their eyes.
— from Journals of Australian Explorations by Francis Thomas Gregory

Every night unfailingly when at home M'Swat sat in the bosom of his family and speculated as to how much richer he was than his neighbours, what old Recce lived on, and who had the best breed of sheep and who was the smartest at counting these animals, until the sordidness of it turned me dizzy, and I would steal out under the stars to try and cool my heated spirit.
— from My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

Then aw bethowt me at th’ fiddler were’ nobbut a little un, an’ could mak’ hauf a cake do, so aw made hauf a sop.
— from Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale by D. F. E. Sykes

Fuller says of the famous satirist that he was "not unhappy at controversies, more happy at comments, very good in his characters, better in his sermons, best of all in his meditations."
— from Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Percy Addleshaw

But, though imperfect all, yet wisdom loves 100 This seat serene, and virtue's self approves; Here come the grieved, a change of thought to find, The curious here, to feed a craving mind; Here the devout their peaceful temple choose; And here the poet meets his favouring muse.
— from George Crabbe: Poems, Volume 1 (of 3) by George Crabbe

Above this group a great banner was suspended, reading: "The Signs of the Times," a catchword Mr. Hopkins had employed throughout the campaign.
— from Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

That Nurse was ever young, Michael could not bring himself to believe, and daguerreotypes framed in tin-foil which she produced as evidence of youth from a square box inlaid with mother-o'-pearl, never convinced him as a chromolithograph might have convinced him.
— from Sinister Street, vol. 1 by Compton MacKenzie

But if you tell them of a person who is able to run with great agility, that is well skilled in hunting, can direct with unerring aim a gun, or bend with ease a bow, that can dexterously work a canoe, understands the art of war, is acquainted with the situation of a country, and can make his way without a guide, through an immense forest, subsisting during this on a small quantity of provisions, they are in raptures; they listen with great attention to the pleasing tale, and bestow the highest commendations on the hero of it.
— from Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America, in the Years 1766, 1767 and 1768 by Jonathan Carver