Hedvig replied that there are cases in which a lie is necessary, but that the principle of a mental reservation is always a cheat.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

[To Contents] "A lady is never so well dressed as when you cannot remember what she wears."
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Florence Hartley

Mr. Pratt writes the Department enclosing copies of the Singapore papers of that date, giving an account of a generous outburst of Filipino enthusiasm at Singapore in honor of America, Admiral Dewey, and, last, if not least, Mr. Pratt.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

And that happy creature rejected the priceless gift, prized it and loved it not, scorned it and remained callous.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Everything else that has been written or said about love is not a conclusion, but only a statement of questions which have remained unanswered.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

O Agamemnon, let it not be so!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

I add that—while England is among the greatest of lands in political freedom, or the idea of it, and in stalwart personal character, &c.—the spirit of English literature is not great, at least is not greatest—and its products are no models for us.
— from Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Walt Whitman

To mine ear at least it never came.
— from Oedipus King of Thebes Translated into English Rhyming Verse with Explanatory Notes by Sophocles

‘In faith,’ said the Captain,’ I believe you are not; for a lad, I never saw more game in my life.’
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

Bharat our foe at length is nigh, And by this hand shall surely die: Brother, I see no sin at all If Bharat by my weapon fall.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Accustomed to petty intrigue, and necessarily involved in a thousand paltry and selfish discussions, ambitious also by nature, his political faith was tinctured, at least, if not tainted, by the views of interest and advancement so easily combined with it; and at the moment he should unsheathe his claymore, it might be difficult to say whether it would be most with the view of making James Stuart a king or Fergus Mac-Ivor an earl.
— from Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since — Volume 1 by Walter Scott

A lover is never in the wrong.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

I had my share too," he said, and clapped Hugh on the shoulder; "but I warned him—I warned him before Odo rebelled—that he should have bidden the Barons give up their lands and lordships in Normandy if they would be English lords.
— from Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling

[26] Adam Smith says, "that the difference between the real and the nominal price of commodities and labour, is not a matter of mere speculation, but may sometimes be of considerable use in practice."
— from On The Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation by David Ricardo

And what the Apostle is thinking about here is, as I take it, principally how the body of Christian truth, if it effects a lodgment in, not merely the brain of a man, but his whole nature, will modify and alter it all.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) by Alexander Maclaren

But those who contend that the jury have a right to determine the constitutionality of a law, insist not for the power of the jury to decide its true construction and whether the prisoner’s case comes within it, but to decide whether what is produced as law is not void, a mere nullity, a dead letter; or in other words, whether such a law is in existence.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 3 (of 16) by United States. Congress

It must, however, be borne in mind that a Geissler tube, as to temperature at least, in no way represents the conditions of the Aurora; and when we remember the association of oxygen and ozone, and the way in which the latter is affected by heat, it may well be that temperature plays an important part in the matter.
— from Auroræ: Their Characters and Spectra by J. Rand Capron

He concluded with a very hard rap at the agrarians, a party that was just coming a little into notice in Great Britain, and by a very ingenious turn, in which he completely demonstrated that the protection of the landlord and the support of the Protestant religion were indissolubly connected.
— from The Monikins by James Fenimore Cooper

Give me the paper, and I'll write you a letter in no time."
— from The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope