The adjutant told them that the affair was likely to take a very bad turn: that a court-martial had been appointed, and that in view of the severity with which marauding and insubordination were now regarded, degradation to the ranks would be the best that could be hoped for.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

I think I may confidently affirm, that whoever, without being alarmed at their bulk, has the patience attentively to peruse these Annals, cannot fail to become well acquainted with all the peculiar features of Hindu society, and will be enabled to trace the foundation and progress of each State in Rajputana, as well as to form a just notion of the character of a people, upon whom, at a future period, our existence in India may depend.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

Charan replied, “Don’t be anxious about that, I’ll get the books.”
— from Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Faries by Yuk Yi

You needed not to have rapped forth such a horrid imprecation, the sooner to procure credit for the performance of so small a business, seeing possibly the first bout will be amiss, and that you know is usually at tennis called fifteen.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

This amusement lasted from the Barriere des Sergens to the place of Notre Dame, and Friquet found in it very real enjoyment; but when at last the regiment separated, penetrated the heart of the city and placed itself at the extremity of the Rue Saint Christophe, near the Rue Cocatrix, in which Broussel lived, then Friquet remembered that he had not had breakfast; and after thinking in which direction he had better turn his steps in order to accomplish this important act of the day, he reflected deeply and decided that Councillor Broussel should bear the cost of this repast.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

Eudoxus, a philosopher holding the doctrine afterwards adopted by Epicurus respecting pleasure, but (as Aristotle testifies in the Tenth Book) of irreproachable character.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

It would make the reader pity me, or rather laugh at me, to tell how many awkward ways I took to raise this paste; what odd, misshapen, ugly things I made; how many of them fell in and how many fell out, the clay not being stiff enough to bear its own weight; how many cracked by the over-violent heat of the sun, being set out too hastily; and how many fell in pieces with only removing, as well before as after they were dried; and, in a word, how, after having laboured hard to find the clay—to dig it, to temper it, to bring it home, and work it—I could not make above two large earthen ugly things (I cannot call them jars) in about two months’ labour.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

But, above all things, he most eagerly coveted popularity, being the rival of every man who obtained the applause of the people for any thing he did.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

Thence to my Lord Sandwich, who though he has been abroad again two or three days is falling ill again, and is let blood this morning, though I hope it is only a great cold that he has got.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Be appeased at the cry of a sister's despair, For our mother's sake relenting.
— from Poems by Victor Hugo

"Do you mean that he is lost on the mountain in this storm?" cried Binney, aghast at the terrible possibilities thus suggested.
— from Campmates: A Story of the Plains by Kirk Munroe

Not merely the latter, so he declared, were unlawful, but, as Augustine taught, even lies of necessity or excuse—by which he understands lies told for our own or others’ advantage, but without injury to anyone.
— from Luther, vol. 4 of 6 by Hartmann Grisar

[Pg 233] "Must one be amusing?" asked the bishop.
— from The Main Chance by Meredith Nicholson

Be it well pleasing in Thy sight That she may rear my babes aright, And teach them, in the bloom of youth, The laws of kindness and of truth.
— from Prison Poetry by Hiram Peck McKnight

When I turned round again, here was ole man Sewell standin’ in the middle of the floor, lookin’ back and forth from Rose and Billy to the kid–like it’d just struck him that he was goin’ t’ lose his gal and the baby and all them teeth.
— from Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher by Eleanor Gates

He therefore resolved to win fame and money by authorship, and to this end set out to make a tour in northern Europe, then comparatively little known.
— from A Queen of Tears, vol. 2 of 2 Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway and Princess of Great Britain and Ireland by W. H. (William Henry) Wilkins

Whether they believed the folly about the black box, and all that stuff, is not for me to say; only one thing I know, they pretended to do so, and persuaded the ignorant rustics.
— from Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

On the last day of September Sir Piers de Currie, Kenric, and Allan -- now Sir Allan Redmain, for the knighthood of Scotland was hereditary -- were walking over from Ascog, when, looking towards the seaboard between Arran and the Cumbraes, they observed a great fleet of ships, with many flags flying from their masts, making across the Clyde.
— from The Thirsty Sword: A Story of the Norse Invasion of Scotland (1262-1263) by Robert Leighton

Before and against the white man who held the whip, beside and befriending the black who felt its lash, he chose to take, and persisted to keep, his stand.
— from Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits; A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians by Clark S. (Clark Smith) Beardslee

The day was hot, he was very tired and sleepy, having been awake all the night before, and 201 without forgetting the “Peggy” or her crew, he dropped gently off to sleep.
— from A Little Maid of Province Town by Alice Turner Curtis