"I am a friend of his; you can see for yourself I am a person held in some esteem; I could not be what you take me for."
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favour and to prettiness.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. (Andrew Cecil) Bradley

And they all tell lies.” “Auntie and Stepan Trofimovitch yesterday thought there was a resemblance between Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch and Prince Harry in Shakespeare’s Henry IV , and in answer to that maman says that there was no Englishman here,” Liza explained to us.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

We are rational creatures, and in all our works we ought to regard their end and purpose; the gratification of any passion, how innocent soever, ought only to be of secondary consideration.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

ii. 8. &c. And howsoever though it were all troubles, [5946] utilitatis publicae causa devorandum, grave quid libenter subeundum , it must willingly be undergone for public good's sake, [5947] Audite (populus) haec, inquit Susarion, Malae sunt mulieres, veruntamen O populares, Hoc sine malo domum inhabitare non licet.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

As the account which he has left of his travels in Germany and Italy comprises some highly interesting particulars of his life and personal history, it seems worth while to furnish a sketch or analysis of it.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

And now, I suppose, you'll tell master, and a pretty household I shall have of you!'
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

He told himself that though he was about to squander two of the precious five-franc pieces that remained to him, the money was well laid out in preserving his coat, boots, and hat; and his cabman’s cry of “Gate, if you please,” almost put him in spirits.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

But, having this opportunity of a private hand, I send you two dozen of Bath rings; six of the best of which
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Early Gothic glass has most to teach us with regard to the mosaic treatment of the material, and perhaps also about breadth and simplicity of design; but when it comes to figure drawing and painting, here is surely no model for a nineteenth century draughtsman.
— from Windows: A Book About Stained & Painted Glass by Lewis F. (Lewis Foreman) Day

Another man, who had effected his escape from a French privateer, and found his way to Jacmel, with the hope of getting a passage home in some of his country vessels, was seized at the instance of Thomas Lewis, commander of the Leander, and captain under Miranda, thrown into prison, and compelled to go in the expedition, or to starve in jail.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

Have the Jew, Gumprecht Mares, arrested, seize his papers, and place him in solitary confinement.
— from Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Volume 13 by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

As a poet, he is said to excel more particularly in idylls; and as a prose author, by his genial humour.
— from Tent life with English Gipsies in Norway by Hubert (Solicitor) Smith

A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
— from The History of Sumatra Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And Manners Of The Native Inhabitants by William Marsden

'There is a permanent hospital in Scutari, in Albania,' they told me.
— from Albania: A Narrative of Recent Travel by E. F. (Edward Frederick) Knight

At present he is satisfied with modestly covering her nakedness.
— from Thoughts Out of Season, Part II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

He sat there in the corner of the church, and plied his insolent satire.
— from The Doctor's Christmas Eve by James Lane Allen