There will not be found in my renderings the elegance and extreme brevity which are the charms of Phædrus, for these qualities are beyond my powers; and that being the case, I have thought it right to give more ornament to my work than he has done.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

I have not at all studied to make a book; but I have in some sort studied because I had made it; if it be studying to scratch and pinch now one author, and then another, either by the head or foot, not with any design to form opinions from them, but to assist, second, and fortify those I already have embraced.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Now all these mental states tend to the same object, as indeed common language leads us to expect: I mean, we speak of [Greek: gnomae], Judiciousness, Practical Wisdom, and Practical Intuition, attributing the possession of [Greek: gnomae] and Practical Intuition to the same Individuals whom we denominate Practically-Wise and Judicious: because all these faculties are employed upon the extremes, i.e. on particular details; and in right of his aptitude for deciding on the matters which come within the province of the Practically-Wise, a man is Judicious and possessed of good [Greek: gnomae]; i.e. he is disposed to make allowance, for considerations of equity are entertained by all good men alike in transactions with their fellows.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

The carpenters likewise made a cross which we erected on an elevated base, well plastered over with lime.
— from The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

When we try to do that for which we are unfitted we are not working along the line of our strength, but of our weakness; our will power and enthusiasm become demoralized; we do half work, botched work, lose confidence in ourselves, and conclude that we are dunces because we cannot accomplish what others do; the whole tone of life is demoralized and lowered because we are out of place.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

But, moreover, it could not escape even Cedric's reluctant observation, that his project for an absolute union among the Saxons, by the marriage of Rowena and Athelstane, was now completely at an end, by the mutual dissent of both parties concerned.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

Her family were of a delicate constitution: she and Edgar both lacked the ruddy health that you will generally meet in these parts.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

There is no military use in the complex systems of wrestling which pass under the names of Antaeus and Cercyon, or in the tricks of boxing, which are attributed to Amycus and Epeius; but good wrestling and the habit of extricating the neck, hands, and sides, should be diligently learnt and taught.
— from Laws by Plato

There must be an explanation between them, but it could not take place then and there.
— from A Son of Mars, volume 1 by Arthur Griffiths

This man, who had been named as a Presidential candidate along with Lincoln, and even before, when he saw that Lincoln's chances were better than his own, resolved that there should be no split in the Republican vote, and became a most zealous agitator in Lincoln's behalf."
— from Villa Eden: The Country-House on the Rhine by Berthold Auerbach

On that point we are enlightened by Maximilian Prinz zu Wied, who found that these women were anything but prudes, having often two or three lovers at a time, while infidelity was seldom punished (I., 531).
— from Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Henry T. Finck

"He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' th' center, and enjoy bright day; But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself in his own dungeon."
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, here all summer, and even before I came, I've been wearing stuffy gingham and clumpy shoes to please Father.
— from Mary Marie by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter

The conviction is strong in our mind that the Sunday-school Union, as a great central source of light, life, and power, is on the threshhold of a glorious career of usefulness, and will speedily become, in the hands of the great Master, an agency for good to an extent beyond all present appreciation by the Christian Church."
— from The Sabbath-School Index Pointing out the history and progress of Sunday-schools, with approved modes of instruction. by R. G. (Richard Gay) Pardee

The most interesting and fruitful problems are those which deal with the borderland between two sciences, when the difficulties of the one are enlightened by the experience of the other, or when the same problem is looked at from two different sides.
— from The Growth of a Crystal Being the eighteenth Robert Boyle lecture by Henry Alex Miers

Henry returned to England the following year: the incursions of the Welsh then provoked him to make an invasion upon them; where the natural fastnesses of the country occasioned him great difficulties, and even brought him into danger.
— from The History of England, Volume I From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688 by David Hume

He has proposed, (to free him from his bands) That, with his brother, an exchange be made.
— from The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 04 by John Dryden

This action by Peter was afterward endorsed by the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-31), at which the apostle rehearsed his experiences in Caesarea.
— from Training the Teacher by Marion Lawrance