So long as a man is capable of self-renewal he is a living being.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

While little Agnes, Dunbar, and baby Donald filled the air with their cries, Katie, as if fully conscious of the importance of exertion, assisted me in carrying out sheets and blankets, and dragging trunks and boxes some way up the hill, to be out of the way of the burning brands when the roof should fall in.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

Save only that in beauty's just applause, With whose instinct the soul of man is touch'd; And every warrior that is rapt with love Of fame, of valour, and of victory, Must needs have beauty beat on his conceits: I thus conceiving, 268 and subduing both, That which hath stoop'd the chiefest of the gods, Even from the fiery-spangled veil of heaven, To feel the lovely warmth of shepherds' flames, And mask in cottages of strowed reeds, Shall give the world to note, for all my birth, That virtue solely is the sum of glory, And fashions men with true nobility.
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe

Note 268 ( return ) [ I thus conceiving, and subduing both, That which hath stoop'd the chiefest of the gods, Even from the fiery-spangled veil of heaven, To feel the lovely warmth of shepherds' flames, And mask in cottages of strowed reeds, &c. i.e. I thus feeling, and also subduing, the power of Beauty, which has drawn down the chiefest of the gods even from, &c. The 8vo has, "I thus conceiuing and subduing both.
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe

That which hath STOPT the TEMPEST of the Gods, Euen from the fiery spangled vaile of heauen, To feele the louely warmth of shepheards flames, And MARTCH in cottages of strowed WEEDS," &c. The 4to has, "I thus concieuing and subduing both, That which hath STOPT the TEMPEST of the Gods, Euen from the SPANGLED FIRIE vaile of heauen, To feele the louely warmth of Shepheardes flames, And MARCH in COATCHES of strowed WEEDES," &c. The alterations which I have made in this corrupted passage are supported by the following lines of the play; "See now, ye slaves, my children STOOP YOUR PRIDE (i.e. make your pride to stoop), And lead your bodies sheep-like to the sword.
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe

The obscure millions of a great empire have much less to dread from the cruelty than from the avarice of their masters, and their humble happiness is principally affected by the grievance of excessive taxes, which, gently pressing on the wealthy, descend with accelerated weight on the meaner and more indigent classes of society.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Rational thinking is thinking according to the laws which are imposed upon all reasonable beings; acting morally is conducting one's self according to those maxims which can be extended without contradiction to all wills.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

But both resentment for the injury done to them incensed them more against Tarquin himself, than against Servius; and (the consideration) that a king was likely to prove a more severe avenger of the murder, if he should survive, than a private person; and moreover, in case of Servius being put to death, whatever other person he might select as his son-in-law, [51] it seemed likely that he would adopt as his successor on the throne.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

I hope any one who may read what I write will understand that if these pages contain a great deal about me, I can only suppose it must be because I have really something to do with them and can't be kept out.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

There are men in certain occupations, such as engineers and boiler men, who are continually obliged to squeeze through holes quite as small.
— from The Clue by Carolyn Wells

It irritates the passage, and makes it cast off small flakes of skin, which dry up, and become extremely hard, and these also are pressed down upon the membrane.
— from Hygienic Physiology : with Special Reference to the Use of Alcoholic Drinks and Narcotics by Joel Dorman Steele

As to the question whether the boy, while under age, might lawfully be considered as one of the Ten when such a quorum was required, or one of the three in the case of grace after meals, I can only say that the authorities never agreed in this respect.
— from Studies in Judaism, First Series by S. (Solomon) Schechter

It was impossible for him not to believe that the man who had been capable of such cold-blooded atrocities as he had perpetrated at Portsmouth, London and other places, would hesitate for a moment in carrying out such a threat, and if he did—No, the alternative was quite too horrible to think of yet.
— from The World Peril of 1910 by George Chetwynd Griffith

I am afraid,—he said,—you express yourself a little too freely on a most important class of subjects.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

The unconscious application of this device is seen when a man is called on suddenly to make a speech for which he has not prepared.
— from How to Use Your Mind A Psychology of Study: Being a Manual for the Use of Students and Teachers in the Administration of Supervised Study by Harry Dexter Kitson

It extends to a more important and more intricate class of speculations, and disengages them for ever from all theological or metaphysical influence.
— from A General View of Positivism Or, Summary exposition of the System of Thought and Life by Auguste Comte

As a wife and mother, I can only say few husbands are favored as was her's.
— from Memoirs of Mrs. Rebecca Steward, Containing: A Full Sketch of Her Life With Various Selections from Her Writings and Letters ... by T. G. (Theophilus Gould) Steward