And this latter settled upon an oak-tree and spoke with human voice, saying that it was necessary that a prophetic seat of Zeus should be established in that place; and they supposed that that was of the gods which was announced to them, and made one accordingly: and the dove which went away to the Libyans, they say, bade the Libyans make an Oracle of Ammon; and this also is of Zeus.
— from An Account of Egypt by Herodotus

But to come into common Life: I shall pass by the Consideration of those Stage Coxcombs that are able to shake a whole Audience, and take notice of a particular sort of Men who are such Provokers of Mirth in Conversation, that it is impossible for a Club or Merry-meeting to subsist without them; I mean, those honest Gentlemen that are always exposed to the Wit and Raillery of their Well-wishers and Companions; that are pelted by Men, Women, and Children, Friends and Foes, and, in a word, stand as Butts in Conversation, for every one to shoot at that pleases.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

I observe it, because I can't help observing it, being accustomed to take a powerful sight of notice; but I don't object.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

While organic existence is only made possible by continual change of matter, to keep up a perpetual supply of which it must consequently have help from without.
— from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer

I feel pity for him, and that is a poor sign of love.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

This wise institution continually poured into the field the rising generations of freemen and soldiers; and their numbers were reënforced by the warlike and populous states of Italy, who, after a brave resistance, had yielded to the valor and embraced the alliance, of the Romans.
— 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

But just for the sake of argument, suppose—in a kind of general way—suppose some person were to tell you that two-thousand-dollar ledges were simply contemptible—contemptible, understand—and that right yonder in sight of this very cabin there were piles of pure gold and pure silver—oceans of it—enough to make you all rich in twenty-four hours!
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain

[Pg 269] INDEX OF PROPER NAMES AND PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS OF THE INFERNO.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Next morning, before the sun appeared, he was out to replenish the larder, returning with the hind-quarters of a deer and, when a plentiful supply of steaks from these had been broiled over the coals, the Indian ate like one in perfect health.
— from Neal, the Miller: A Son of Liberty by James Otis

He'd jest as soon ride his horse through that door as he would to walk through, an' he's always puttin' somethin' over on someone.
— from The Texan A Story of the Cattle Country by James B. (James Beardsley) Hendryx

This experience, a spontaneous reconstruction based on all previous sensations of that kind, will be the one habitual idea with which recurring sensations will be henceforth identified.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

Thus, giving himself the appearance of having smoothed the matter with the King, Perez concluded with a practical suggestion of much importance—the necessity, namely, of procuring the assassination of the Prince of Orange as soon as possible.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1574-84) by John Lothrop Motley

For, on the opposite side of the valley, I counted no less than thirteen, which leap partly over one side of a horseshoe shaped precipice which had evidently, from the huge boulders in the channel below, been eaten back into the side of the precipice, and partly shoot out through various hidden channels which the waters have deeply cut through a huge semicircular platform of rock which overhangs the valley below.
— from Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore With chapters on coffee planting in Coorg, the Mysore representative assembly, the Indian congress, caste and the Indian silver question, being the 38 years' experiences of a Mysore planter by Robert H. (Robert Henry) Elliot

"Well, if that isn't a pretty state of affairs, I wouldn't say so," exclaimed Ned, in great disgust.
— from George at the Wheel; Or, Life in the Pilot-House by Harry Castlemon

Truly, I may say of us Englishmen, as Paul said of the Christians of his time, that if Christ be not raised from the dead, and if in this life only we have hope in Him, we are of all nations one of the most unhappy.
— from True Words for Brave Men: A Book for Soldiers' and Sailors' Libraries by Charles Kingsley

The patron of Max Meyer, the friend of the democratic burgomaster Wullenweber, found it to his own interest to have 325 the theological and political support of the maritime Baltic cities, and was regardless of the interests and deaf to the entreaties of his native merchants.
— from The Hansa Towns by Helen Zimmern

It is not the inefficacy, but the impossibility, of due penitence that constitutes our fatal disability; to be relieved from which we need to be taken out of ourselves, to be identified with a perfect spirit; our humanity must cease to be human, and become one with the Divine nature.
— from Studies of Christianity; Or, Timely Thoughts for Religious Thinkers by James Martineau

His "thee and thou," and plain speaking, and sober dress, and keen rebukes, brought on him a perfect storm of anger and abuse.
— from Three Apostles of Quakerism: Popular Sketches of Fox, Penn and Barclay by Benjamin Rhodes