Here, all the light clouds of the more solemn part of the proceedings passed away; every face shone forth joyously; and nothing was to be heard but congratulations and commendations.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

If an esteem for something excellent in your moral character was that which riveted the chain which she is to break, upon any imaginary discovery of a want of poignancy in your conversation, she will cry, "I thought, my dear, you described your friend, Mr. —— as a great wit."
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

Co: Can any mortal mixture of Earths mould Breath such Divine inchanting ravishment? Sure somthing holy lodges in that brest, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testifie his hidd'n residence; How sweetly did they float upon the wings Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night 250 At every fall smoothing the Raven doune Of darknes till it smil'd: I have oft heard My mother Circe with the Sirens three, Amid'st the flowry-kirtl'd Naiades Culling their Potent hearbs, and balefull drugs.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

And yet it is evident that an assembly elected for so short a term as to be unable to provide more than one or two links in a chain of measures, on which the general welfare may essentially depend, ought not to be answerable for the final result, any more than a steward or tenant, engaged for one year, could be justly made to answer for places or improvements which could not be accomplished in less than half a dozen years.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

I have also gratefully to acknowledge the receipt of much assistance and encouragement from Sir William Osler, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, and from Dr. J. D. Comrie, first lecturer on the History of Medicine at Edinburgh University.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen

“In one part of New Zealand an expiation for sin was felt to be necessary; a service was performed over an individual, by which all the sins of the tribe were supposed to be transferred to him, a fern stalk was previously tied to his person, with which he jumped into the river, and there unbinding, allowed it to float away to the sea, bearing their sins with it.”
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

Gustave Dore makes it an elaborate fountain such as no arriero ever watered his mules at in the corral of any venta in Spain, and thereby entirely misses the point aimed at by Cervantes.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

XLVI A ruefull sight, as could be seene with eie; Of whom he learned had in secret wise The hidden cause of their captivitie, How mortgaging their lives to Covetise, 410 Through wastfull Pride and wanton Riotise, They were by law of that proud Tyrannesse, Provokt with Wrath, and Envies false surmise, Condemned to that Dongeon mercilesse, Where they should live in woe, and die in wretchednesse.
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser

"Constantinople—nothing but Constantinople—seems to the stubborn Russian an equivalent for Spain.
— from Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

A good plan in this case is to raise the pitch a semitone; it is often just as easy for singing, and invariably produces a sense of cheerfulness.
— from Music as a Language: Lectures to Music Students by Ethel Home

It had been found that it was absolutely essential for such a burner to give a practically non-luminous flame, as otherwise the deposit of carbon particles will ruin the mantle.
— from Every-day Science: Volume 6. The Conquest of Nature by Edward Huntington Williams

The following provisions of the laws of the United States are hereby published for the information of all concerned: Section 1956, Revised Statutes, chapter 3, Title XXIII, enacts that— No person shall kill any otter, mink, marten, sable, or fur seal, or other fur-bearing animal within the limits of Alaska Territory or in the waters thereof; and every person guilty thereof shall for each offense be fined not less than $200 nor more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, found engaged in violation of this section shall be forfeited; but the Secretary of the Treasury shall have power to authorize the killing of any such mink, marten, sable, or other fur-bearing animal, except fur seals, under such regulations as he may prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary to prevent the killing of any fur seal and to provide for the execution of the provisions of this section until it is otherwise provided by law, nor shall he grant any special privileges under this section.
— from A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 8, part 2: Grover Cleveland by Grover Cleveland

‘The confinement for the time being of any Government measure for schools to this object we hold to be an imputation, not so much on the present state of our Legislature, as on the present state of the Christian world, now broken up into sects and parties innumerable, and seemingly incapable of any effort for so healing these wretched divisions as to present the rulers of our country with aught like such a clear and unequivocal majority in favour of what is good and true, as might at once determine them to fix upon and to espouse it.
— from Leading Articles on Various Subjects by Hugh Miller

But as for the left,—I never dreamed it possible that a line so absolutely straight and smooth, and extending for so enormous a distance at such an amazing angle, could exist even in a volcano.
— from Exotics and Retrospectives by Lafcadio Hearn

[96] Number general mail locks in use 1,000,000 Cost, each 8½ cents; to repair, 3 cents Division of supplies : Appropriation, blanks, stationery, etc., 1916 $2,500,000.00 Special delivery : Amount expended for service, 1916 $633,713.21 Number of pieces delivered yearly 32,000,000 Railway mail service , 1916: Number of clerks 19,000 Number of mail routes 3,500 Salaries paid $26,000,000.00 Correct handling of mail 99.984 per cent Cost of transportation $57,900,000 Star routes : Number, 1916 11,187 Length of miles 147,167 Average cost per mile, length $54.16 Average cost per mile of travel $0.1026 Annual cost $7,726,975.00 Routes on which there is found rate service 195 Number pounds carried, 1917 23,411,604 Cost $280,738.08 Cost per hundred pounds $1.20 Number of Star routes discontinued on account of rural delivery service from Jan., 1904, to June, 1917 7,450 Cost $2,577,728 Length in miles 72,340 1900 1917 Number of routes 22,834 11,208 Cost mile of length $19.02 $54.56 Cost mile of travel 3.83 cents 10.24 cents Cost per route $224.81 $723.00 Registration and insurance : Total registration, paid and free 39,236,569 Amount collected fees $3,427,053.10 Insured parcel post, total pieces 24,936,082 Total fees $1,067,192.29 C. O. D. pieces 6,300,546 Fees $630,054.60 [97] Items of General Interest Statistics show that although 70 per cent of parcel post matter comes from the fifty largest cities of the country, these cities only receive 17 per cent of parcels for delivery.
— from The American Postal Service History of the Postal Service from the Earliest Times by Louis Melius

It is faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth looking at.—
— from The Girl Wanted: A Book of Friendly Thoughts by Nixon Waterman

This boy has without doubt an enthusiasm for scholarly inquiry.
— from Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development by Leta Stetter Hollingworth