”—“What is it, for heaven's sake?” answered Jones, trembling and pale, expecting to hear of his amour with Lady Bellaston.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

And at the touch of him every one becomes a poet, even though he had no music in him before (A fragment of the Sthenoaoea of Euripides.); this also is a proof that Love is a good poet and accomplished in all the fine arts; for no one can give to another that which he has not himself, or teach that of which he has no knowledge.
— from Symposium by Plato

It was half-way through the morning, and he had not breakfasted; the slight litter of other breakfasts stood about on the table to remind him of his hunger; and adding a poached egg to his order, he proceeded musingly to shake some white sugar into his coffee, thinking all the time about Flambeau.
— from The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

I felt I must quickly compose something, as this was the only means of ridding myself of all the disturbing and painful excitement Tannhauser had produced in me.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

"Well, Jane, when you are properly engaged to him you may ask him round here on Sunday afternoons, and have tea with him in the kitchen;" for my Euphemia has a motherly conception of her duty towards her maid-servants.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Perhaps his idea was that, Desdemona being killed by Othello, and Cassio killed by Roderigo, he would then admit that he had informed Othello of the adultery, and perhaps even that he had undertaken Cassio's death; but he would declare that he never meant to fulfil his promise as to Cassio, and that he had nothing to do with Desdemona's death (he seems to be preparing for this at 285).
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. (Andrew Cecil) Bradley

In 1886 he published a periodical entitled, "The Hebrew Missionary," and this was changed in 1888 to "The Hebrew Messenger."
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

Appius is requested "to consent that the consular dignity should be merely so great as it could be in a peaceably conducted state; that as long as the tribune and consuls were drawing all power, each to his own side, no strength was left between; that the object aimed at was in whose hands the commonwealth should be, distracted and torn as it was, rather than that it should be safe."
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

These scruples of the Greeks have been compared with the tears of the primitive Moslems when they were held back from battle; and this contrast of base superstition and high-spirited enthusiasm, unfolds to a philosophic eye the history of the rival nations.
— 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

When they reached the court, the monk gave her his blessing, and, after a lingering look of pity, turned away to the portal, whither one of the men carried a torch; while Annette, lighting another, preceded Emily to her apartment.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

[ 159 ] Ethnology , etc., p. 439: "The Hungarian nobility ... is proved by historical and philological evidence to have been a branch of the great Northern Asiatic stock, closely allied in blood to the stupid and feeble Ostiaks, and the untamable Laplander."
— from The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind by Gobineau, Arthur, comte de

But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one Beginning with 'Formosum Pastor Corydon.' Lucretius' irreligion is too strong, For early stomachs, to prove wholesome food; I can't help thinking Juvenal was wrong, Although no doubt his real intent was good, For speaking out so plainly in his song, So much indeed as to be downright rude; And then what proper person can be partial To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial? Juan was taught from out the best edition, Expurgated by learned men, who place Judiciously, from out the schoolboy's vision, The grosser parts; but, fearful to deface
— from Don Juan by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

The waning of the slight affection which he had ever been able to give his young wife, the growing constraint of her manner to him and before him, the visible chillness which had fallen on their life together since that December night when she herself had arrived in Paris [199] were all plain enough to her unerring perceptions, however slight might be the outward signs of that separation which was only not estrangement, because on the one side there was a devotion so timid, grateful, and constant that it could not be estranged.
— from Princess Napraxine, Volume 3 (of 3) by Ouida

Taking his impression instinctively from nature, Claude usually did what is right and put his reflection vertically under the sun; probably, however, he had read in some treatise on optics that every point in this reflection was in a vertical plane between the sun and spectator; or he might have noticed walking on the shore that the reflection came straight from the sun to his feet, and intending to indicate the position of the spectator, drew in his next picture the reflection sloping to the supposed point, the error being excusable enough, and plausible enough to have been lately revived and systematized.
— from Modern Painters, Volume 1 (of 5) by John Ruskin

Occasionally an educated father would teach his daughter, one such case being that of President Colman of Harvard College, who gave what was called a profound education to his daughter Jane.
— from The Historical Child Paidology; The Science of the Child by Oscar Chrisman

—There are difficulties that cannot but at times arise and perplex even the honest heart.
— from The Ministry of Intercession: A Plea for More Prayer by Andrew Murray

His sunken eyes, overtopped by heavy black brows and surrounded by discolored circles, his nose, thin and sharp like the blade of a knife, the strongly marked jawbone, the hollow cheeks, and the oblong tendency of all these lines, together with his unnaturally long and flat chin, contributed to give a peculiar expression to his countenance,—something between that of a retired professor of rhetoric and a rag-picker.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

Yet there was a poem entitled “The Home,” written at the same time which was rather a record of personal experience than a universal mood caught in terms of common life, and he cast it aside therefore and never printed it.
— from James Russell Lowell, A Biography; vol. 1/2 by Horace Elisha Scudder

In those of Languedoc, held at Montpellier in March, 1561, Terlon, a "capitoul" of Toulouse, speaking for the "tiers état," advocated the sale of all the secular possessions of the clergy, reserving only a residence for the incumbent, and assigning him a pension equal to his present income, to be paid by the cities of the kingdom.
— from History of the Rise of the Huguenots Vol. 1 by Henry Martyn Baird