I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my father declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was commonly allowed to govern, especially in any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions I was generally a leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an early projecting public spirit, tho' not then justly conducted.
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

By all the unwritten laws of savage warfare it is always the redskin who attacks, and with the wiliness of his race he does it just before the dawn, at which time he knows the courage of the whites to be at its lowest ebb.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

For if the air is light enough for us to see the outlines there must be more air between us and them when they are further off, so that we ought to see them less distinctly when further off, which should be enough, when we are used to it, to prevent the error described by M. Buffon.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Whose voice hast thou stolen for thy murmurs and miserable petitions, as if Lady Eleanore could be conscious of mortal infirmity?
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Not as long as I live, Ellen: for no mortal creature.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I understand not your allusions about lines and angles; and I leave expounding to those who have been called and set apart for that holy office.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper

No foreigner, who comes to England when advanced in life, ever pronounces English tolerably well; at least such instances are very rare.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

It adjusted its location, equipment and propaganda tone to keep pace with the ups and downs of the Korean war.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

As we came nearer St. Louis, the night having well set in, I saw some (to me) novel effects in the zinc smelting establishments, the tall chimneys belching flames at the top, while inside through the openings at the façades of the great tanks burst forth (in regular position) hundreds of fierce tufts of a peculiar blue (or green) flame, of a purity and intensity, like electric lights—illuminating not only the great buildings themselves, but far and near outside, like hues of the aurora borealis, only more vivid.
— from Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Walt Whitman

It is as awful as the blunder made by one of the modern British poets (I forget his name) in referring to the alligators paddling about in Lake Erie.
— from Eugene Field, a Study in Heredity and Contradictions — Volume 1 by Slason Thompson

There might the maiden chide, in love-sick mood, The insuperable rocks and severing flood; At midnight listen till his parting oar, And its last echo, can be heard no more.
— from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 1 (of 8) by William Wordsworth

Now everything attains its last end by its operation.
— from Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

I had lost them both, as I lost everything else, [Pg 100] except the empty head so firmly, yet so uselessly fixed upon my shoulders.
— from In Our Convent Days by Agnes Repplier

They arrived in London early in the morning and, without stopping, drove to Euston.
— from The Magician by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham