The lady, who was pitiful, cast her eyes on the girl and being much taken with her, for that she was handsome, well-mannered and engaging, said, 'Honest man, an thou be content to leave thy daughter with me, I will willingly take her, for that she hath a good favour, and if she prove an honest woman, I will in due time marry her on such wise that she shall fare well.'
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

King Hakon kept Yule at Throndhjem, and Earl Sigurd had made a feast for him at Hlader.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

As Eryximachus says, 'he makes a fair beginning, but a lame ending.'
— from Symposium by Plato

The individual can never be reduced to the position of a mere member of society; of a church, of a state; notwithstanding all external subordination he must assert an inner superiority; each spiritual individual is more than the whole external world.
— from Life's Basis and Life's Ideal: The Fundamentals of a New Philosophy of Life by Rudolf Eucken

Add to this a continual double sense, the author hidden behind his characters, truth put into the mouth of a clown, malice enveloped in simple utterances, the master duped but saved from being ridiculous by his deportment, the valet rebellious but preserved from acrimony by his gaiety, and you can comprehend how Beaumarchais could have the ancient regime played before its head, put political and social satire on the stage, publicly attach an expression to each wrong so as to become a by-word, and ever making a loud report, 4144 gather up into a few traits the entire polemics of the philosophers against the prisons of the State, against the censorship of literature, against the venality of office, against the privileges of birth, against the arbitrary power of ministers, against the incapacity of people in office, and still better, to sum up in one character every public demand, give the leading part to a commoner, bastard, bohemian and valet, who, by dint of dexterity, courage and good-humor, keeps himself up, swims with the tide, and shoots ahead in his little skiff, avoiding contact with larger craft and even supplanting his master, accompanying each pull on the oar with a shower of wit cast broadside at all his rivals.
— from The Ancient Regime by Hippolyte Taine

Provided that the book was written in French, in an elegant style, her mother asked no more; as for the morals they inculcated she was utterly indifferent.
— from The Jew by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski

The British loss in these two actions exceeded six hundred men: and a party of American loyalists, on their way to join the army, having attached themselves to Colonel Baum's corps, were destroyed with it.
— from The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo by Creasy, Edward Shepherd, Sir

Anne laughed heartily at such nonsense but Polly rather favored such an ending, so her mother and father quickly interrupted the romance by saying: "Come, come, sign papers and wind up this affair!"
— from Polly of Pebbly Pit by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

The old man had to do so cautiously, for as the ground was very soft, he sank at each step he made above his ankles; but Norman, being much lighter, had passed over places which would not bear his weight.
— from Norman Vallery; or, How to Overcome Evil with Good by William Henry Giles Kingston

It is surprising how slightly damp a bit of meat or albumen need be in order to excite secretion and afterwards slow movement, and equally surprising how minute a quantity of animal matter, when absorbed, suffices to produce these two effects.
— from Insectivorous Plants by Charles Darwin

She had had but one chance at Europe since her marriage, and that had been wasted through her husband's unaccountable perversity.
— from The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton