And sure, I think, it hath been ordered by God's especial providence, that in all ages there should be (as usually there is) once in [1325] 600 years, a transmigration of nations, to amend and purify their blood, as we alter seed upon our land, and that there should be as it were an inundation of those northern Goths and Vandals, and many such like people which came out of that continent of Scandia and Sarmatia (as some suppose) and overran, as a deluge, most part of Europe and Africa, to alter for our good, our complexions, which were much defaced with hereditary infirmities, which by our lust and intemperance we had contracted.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Up, and troubled at a distaste my wife took at a small thing that Jane did, and to see that she should be so vexed that I took part with Jane, wherein I had reason; but by and by well again, and so my wife in her best gown and new poynt that I bought her the other day, to church with me, where she has not been these many weeks, and her mayde Jane with her.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

p. 81), speaks of "an old vellum Manuscript, 36 pages of which contained an account of the visions, etc.," of the Lady Julian, anchoress at St. Julian's, Norwich, and quotes the title written by a contemporary: "Here es a Vision shewed by the godenes of God to a devoute Woman: and her name is Julian, that is recluse at Noryche, and yett is on life, Anno Domini mccccxlii.
— from Revelations of Divine Love by of Norwich Julian

The force of association drives me to say that white is exalted and pure, green is exuberant, red suggests love or shame or strength.
— from The World I Live In by Helen Keller

This second element is that which the French sculptor in a different medium has carried to perfection.
— from Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke

[A; a1] destroy mankind and rid the world of evils.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

Science: as a disciplinary measure or as an instinct—I see a decline of the instincts in Greek philosophers: otherwise they could not have been guilty of the profound error of regarding the conscious state as the more valuable state.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

‘And there is Lord Lowborough,’ continued I, ‘quite a decent man.’
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

He was several times elected to Parliament, was legal adviser to the Supreme Council of India, was a member of the cabinet, and declined many offices for which other men labor a lifetime.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

The Circumstances of my Passion I shall let you understand as well as a disordered Mind will admit.
— from The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 With Translations and Index for the Series by Steele, Richard, Sir

Seeing myself in this great perplexity, I said: "Oh! Mother of God, be with me, and deliver me from all evil."
— from Captain Cuellar's Adventures in Connaught & Ulster A.D. 1588. To Which Is Added an Introduction and Complete Translation of Captain Cuellar's Narrative of the Spanish Armada and His Adventures in Ireland by Cuellar, Francisco de, active 16th century

Often, after deep meditation induced by fears about the health of my children, my eyes close to the things of earth and see into another region; if Jacques and Madeleine there appear to me as two luminous figures they are sure to have good health for a certain period of time; if wrapped in mist they are equally sure to fall ill soon after.
— from The Lily of the Valley by Honoré de Balzac

"Few women of your sort would bother with a drunken man."
— from In Secret by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

Lady Ascot says that, if Ambrose Ravenshoe had been attainted in 1745, he'd have been hung as sure as fate: there was evidence enough against him to hang a dozen men.
— from Ravenshoe by Henry Kingsley

English thieves, ye are all dead men.
— from Cassell's History of England, Vol. 1 (of 8) From the Roman Invasion to the Wars of the Roses by Anonymous

“I could use a dozen more pickers,” Mr. Hooper said before the Brownie leader could reply.
— from The Brownie Scouts in the Cherry Festival by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt

And in the evening when they met (To think on’t always does me good,)
— from Some Eccentrics & a Woman by Lewis Melville

You are a discreet man, Mr. Ferguson, and you, Walter Foreman, with your business-breeding, should have some notion of the value of siller.
— from Merkland; or, Self Sacrifice by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Beneficent ladies take care of the hospitals in Paris and the provincial cities, but in that great district known as La Zone des Armées, crowded with hospitals, but where so many of the towns are half in ruins and largely evacuated by the inhabitants, where few if any of the shops are open, it becomes a problem at times to find an orange to satisfy the last craving of a dying man.
— from Life in the War Zone by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton