Alas what dealer in the world would ever get a farthing, if he be so wise as to scruple at perjury, blush at a lie, or stick at any fraud and over-reaching.
— from In Praise of Folly Illustrated with Many Curious Cuts by Desiderius Erasmus

And I do not think that anyone, however slow his intellect, will now be at a loss to understand any of these points,—how, for instance, the stomach or intestines get nourished, or in what manner anything makes its way inwards from the outer surface of the body.
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen

And when they have emptied and swept clean the soul of E him who is now in their power and who is being initiated by them in great mysteries, the next thing is to bring back to their house insolence and anarchy and waste and impudence in bright array having garlands on their heads, and a great company with them, hymning their praises and calling 561 them by sweet names; insolence they term breeding, and anarchy liberty, and waste magnificence, and impudence courage.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

I perceive he do nowadays court much my Lord Bruncker’s favour, who never did any man much courtesy at the board, nor ever will be able, at least so much as myself.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

But after a look of circumspection, which I saw the eldest cast every way round the room, probably in too much hurry and heat not to overlook the very small opening I was posted at, especially at the height it was, whilst my eye close to it kept the light from shining through and betraying it, he said something to his companion that presently changed the face of things.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

I hope to be at least a month with my friends, and to gain peace and balance, and a less troubled heart, and a sweeter mood.
— from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

They all returned their thanks in a manner the most grateful to the emperor; and as soon as their chains were taken off, walking towards Agrippina, who sat upon a bench at a little distance, they repeated to her the same fervent declarations of gratitude and esteem.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

I wonder what business you have to be always a laughing when Papa scolds us?”
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney

It proved a huge bunch of conglobated barnacles adhering below the water to the side like a wen—a token of baffling airs and long calms passed somewhere in those seas.
— from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville

The man who knows from human life, and from his own experience, how great and arduous is this work—how many obstacles oppose its accomplishment, and how easily, even after a partial success, what already appeared won, may be again lost;—the man understanding this, will not be at a loss to comprehend any pause or retrogression, real or [250] apparent, in the march of mankind; he will judge the fact with more equity, and consequently more accuracy; and will, in every case, confide in the guidance of that superior Providence, clearly visible in this regeneration of the world.
— from The Philosophy of History, Vol. 1 of 2 by Friedrich von Schlegel

Silas asked himself if he had been asleep, and looked at the clock: it was already four in the morning.
— from Silas Marner by George Eliot

—Top of the head brilliant golden-green, the hairs being black at the roots, yellow further up and tipped with black; back, sides of body, shoulders, and haunches chestnut-brown, speckled with black,—the hairs being grey at the base, ringed alternately with red, or brown and black; frontal band pale greenish; rump, with the exception of a distinctive elliptical white bar on each side, at the base of the tail, black; the hands and feet, and external aspect of the legs, {67} thighs, and fore-arms, black; the under side of the body and inner side of the limbs pure white, separated by an abrupt line from the colours of the outer surfaces; the transverse black band above the eyebrows extending from the outer corner of the eyes to the ears; nude parts of face, ears, and hands livid flesh-colour; the whiskers bushy, covering much of the cheeks, descending on the sides and lower part of the neck, pale yellow, speckled with black marks.
— from A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2) by Henry O. (Henry Ogg) Forbes

After this he read prayers, and preached, both morning and afternoon; preached again in the evening at half-past five; and concluded, by addressing a large society of widows, married people, young men and spinsters, all sitting separately in the area of the Tabernacle, with exhortations suitable to their respective stations.
— from A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield by J. C. (John Charles) Ryle

I always said you would come back after a little trip—didn’t I, Prigio?”
— from Prince Prigio From "His Own Fairy Book" by Andrew Lang

First, we have seen, in previous sermons, that these paradoxes of the Christian life which we call the Beatitudes are a linked chain, or, rather, an outgrowth from a common root.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets. St. Matthew Chapters I to VIII by Alexander Maclaren

There then follow at a later period the gigantic Labyrinth-toothed animals (Labyrinthodonta), which are represented in the Permian system by Zygosaurus, but at a later 217 period, more especially in the Trias, by Mastodonsaurus, Trematosaurus, Capitosaurus, etc.
— from The History of Creation, Vol. 2 (of 2) Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes by Ernst Haeckel

In succeeding numbers the controversy was prolonged with increasing bitterness, and at last became intensely personal.
— from The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution by James Henry Stark