My boy had taken it away and returned next day to say that I had refused to give more than one, which he consequently accepted.
— from A Diplomat in Japan The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period by Ernest Mason Satow

A reasonable nature doth then speed, when first in matter of fancies and imaginations, it gives no consent to that which is either false uncertain.
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

Less than a century ago (in 1817) they saw one of the most brilliant achievements of Lord Cochrane, then fighting for the Chilean revolutionaries, when with the crews of his few ships he stormed these forts, chasing the Spaniards away to Valdivia and received next day the surrender of that town, their last stronghold on the Chilean mainland.
— from South America: Observations and Impressions New edition corrected and revised by Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount

Whenever you meet a German woman now, you may prepare to hear a tirade upon popular freedom: they are, as might be expected, even more bitter than the men in their denunciation of artificial rank; nor do they seem to be in the slightest degree aware of the fact, that of all hideous objects on earth, the worst is a patriot in petticoats.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, No. 397, November 1848 by Various

From the cracks of the old clay oven that had belonged to the chimney (and which was now half hidden in pokeberry plants), issued tufts of chick-weed; and when Lindsay looked into the place which he had so often seen filled with pies and rice-puddings, the glare of bright eyes and a rustling noise denoted that some wild animal had made its lair in the cavity.
— from Pencil Sketches; or, Outlines of Character and Manners by Eliza Leslie

After a restless night due to strange beds and surroundings, still fatigued with their long journey, their muscles stiff from the "churning" in the stagecoach, they were not better natured for being ferociously hungry.
— from The Dude Wrangler by Caroline Lockhart

Then God wrought a marvel, and their clothes waxed not old and ragged, nor did their shoes wear out, nor did dirt and dust settle on their garments.
— from Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets And Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

She sat for a moment motionless in her panic, thinking of burglars and robbery, not daring to stir.
— from A Widow's Tale, and Other Stories by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Perhaps the struggle was not yet ended; perhaps, even at this moment—— I sprang to my feet, hurried into my clothes, caught up my hat, opened my door and ran noiselessly down the stair.
— from That Affair at Elizabeth by Burton Egbert Stevenson

Thus love administers relief, nor do the spirits care for songs.”
— from The Catacombs of Rome, and Their Testimony Relative to Primitive Christianity by W. H. (William Henry) Withrow

In these peregrinations a lordly Briton might chance to find some French or Italian knight as rash and as haughty; it was a law in chivalry that a knight should not give way to any man who demanded it as a right, nor decline the single combat with any knight under the sun; a challenge could not therefore be avoided.
— from Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Isaac Disraeli

But the doubters, remembering their last success, made a retreat, not daring to stand the shock, but fled from the Prince’s men; wherefore they pursued them, and in their pursuit slew many, but they could not catch them all.
— from The Holy War, Made by King Shaddai Upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World; Or, The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul by John Bunyan