He is not particularly observant, you know, because he is often thinking of other things than what pass before his eyes; but he said, as Dr. Bretton rode away, Really it does a man good to see the spirit and energy of that boy.'
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

And the Queen, when she had received the letter and read it, did as was written in it, and had a splendid wedding-feast prepared, and the King's daughter was married to the luck-child, and as the youth was handsome and agreeable she lived with him in joy and contentment.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

Nor did his shirt hinder me from observing the symmetry of his limbs, that exactness of shape, in the fall of it towards the loins, where the waist ends and the rounding swell of the hips commences; where the skin, sleek, smooth, and dazzling white, burnishes on; the stretch-over firm, plump, ripe flesh, that crimped' and ran into dimples at the least pressure, or that the touch could not rest upon, but slid over on the surface of the most polished ivory.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

56] I admonish all those who have authority to be angry in my family, in the first place to manage their anger and not to lavish it upon every occasion, for that both lessens the value and hinders the effect: rash and incessant scolding runs into custom, and renders itself despised; and what you lay out upon a servant for a theft is not felt, because it is the same he has seen you a hundred times employ against him for having ill washed a glass, or set a stool out of place.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

[a] ratione [7] suscipitur de aliqua re institutio, debet a definitione proficisci, ut intellegatur, quid sit id, de quo disputetur....
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

He was as dusty and dirty as recruits usually are, and his shoes betokened that he had travelled on foot some distance, but he was in a very jocose state, and shook hands with this soldier, and clapped that one on the back, and talked and laughed continually, like a roaring idle dog as he was.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

When a regiment is deployed as skirmishers, and crosses an open field or woods, under heavy fire, if each man runs forward from tree to tree, or stump to stump, and yet preserves a good general alignment, it gives great confidence to the men themselves, for they always keep their eyes well to the right and left, and watch their comrades; but when some few hold back, stick too close or too long to a comfortable log, it often stops the line and defeats the whole object.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

Through all the country far and wide, In pools and rivers incessantly diving, A Cormorant greedy his table supplied, On their finny inhabitants so daintily thriving.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

Is there a priest who moves amid the altars Ruthless in deed and word, Fears not the presence of his god, nor falters Lest Right at last be heard?
— from Oedipus King of Thebes Translated into English Rhyming Verse with Explanatory Notes by Sophocles

Let the fierce east scream through your eyelet-holes, And whirl the dust of harlots round and round In dung and nettles!
— from Idylls of the King by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

The appalling weather conditions made it impossible to get more than the bare necessities of life forward from railhead, and tons of Christmas luxuries sent from England through Egypt lay soaked and rotting in dumps at Deir Sineid.
— from With the British Army in The Holy Land by H. O. (Henry Osmond) Lock

There is a well-bred uniformity of scale, a reticence in detail, a total lack of jealous emulation that speaks well for the self-respect of the old builders.
— from Heart of Europe by Ralph Adams Cram

I am rather in doubt about the lessons, but I suppose we can have those."
— from Dodo: A Detail of the Day. Volumes 1 and 2 by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

Confucius says that women should "be always modest and respectful in demeanour, and prefer others to themselves"; but I have not to mind Confucius any longer; I am now in the "sweet land of liberty," as they sing in their national anthem.
— from The Yellow Pearl: A Story of the East and the West by Adeline M. (Adeline Margaret) Teskey

I myself carefully measured the length and thickness of this snake, which the Indians cut up in pieces and carried home with them, and having boiled and roasted it, did afterwards eat thereof.
— from The Conquest of the River Plate (1535-1555) by Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar, active 16th century

Proceeding faster than a walk, I drew near and saw the palisade and moat all round it, deep and wide, and standing upon the bridge, with a moulted falcon upon his wrist, I saw the master of the castle.
— from Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien, de Troyes, active 12th century

Another plan, more simple, is the following:—Having laid the pages as nearly as possible in their proper places on the stone, with a suitable chase around them, fold a sheet of paper which has been wetted for the work, or one of the same size, into as many portions as there are pages in the form, and, holding the sheet thus folded on the first or left-hand page of the form, one edge even with the left-hand side of the type, place the adjoining page so that its left side may be even with the right-hand edge of the folded paper, which will leave a sufficient space between the two pages to admit the gutter-stick, which should then be selected of a proper width to suit the form in hand, as follows:—In octavos, about a Great Primer less in width than the space between the pages, as determined by the above rule; in duodecimos, about a Pica less; in sixteens, about a Long Primer; and proportionably less as the number of pages are increased.
— from The American Printer: A Manual of Typography Containing practical directions for managing all departments of a printing office, as well as complete instructions for apprentices; with several useful tables, numerous schemes for imposing forms in every variety, hints to authors, etc. by Thomas MacKellar

Such an union is a clock which always stands at one ; a garden wherein nothing grows but hearts'-ease; a grammar in which nothing is conjugated but amo , and rixa is declined; a calendar, whose chiefest saints are St. Pacificus and St. Concordia.'
— from The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 4, October 1837 by Various

The anterior ray is directly articulated with the pelvic girdle, and the remaining rays continue articulated with the basipterygium.
— from The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 1 (of 4) Separate Memoirs by Francis M. (Francis Maitland) Balfour

If no adequate remedy is discovered and applied, the day would not seem to be distant when the resident, especially if he is a laborer, will remain in the city and pursue his work during the summer at the constant risk of his life.
— from Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899 Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899 by Various