Now Araunah was thrashing wheat; and when he saw the king and all his servants coming to him, he ran before, and came to him and worshipped him: he was by his lineage a Jebusite, but a particular friend of David's; and for that cause it was that, when he overthrew the city, he did him no harm, as we informed the reader a little before.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

Then now mark the point at which I am aiming:—not only do essential opposites exclude one another, but also concrete things, which, although not in themselves opposed, contain opposites; these, I say, likewise reject the idea which is opposed to that which is contained in them, and when it approaches them they either perish or withdraw.
— from Phaedo by Plato

I find myself, by my expense in bands and clothes this month, abated a little of my last, and that I am worth L679 still; for which God be praised.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Does she feel you to be a comfort to her, or is she too much overpowered for anything but solitude?
— from The Letters of Jane Austen Selected from the compilation of her great nephew, Edward, Lord Bradbourne by Jane Austen

He was invited to contribute any really good enigmas, charades, or conundrums that he might recollect; and she had the pleasure of seeing him most intently at work with his recollections; and at the same time, as she could perceive, most earnestly careful that nothing ungallant, nothing that did not breathe a compliment to the sex should pass his lips.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

You must know, that some time ago I borrowed a small sum of her and promised, it seems, to pay it before a certain time; but being disappointed in my expectation of money from the country, the day elapsed without my being able to take up my note; upon which she wrote a peremptory letter, threatening to arrest me, if I did not pay the debt immediately.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

The idea possessed him so strongly that every time he tried to make a choice of a career the picture of a clergyman rushed first to his mind, and, although he could see no real reason why he should become a clergyman, the suggestion that he ought to worked like leaven in his nature and kept him from making any other choice until too late to enable him to succeed to any great extent.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

Every claw, fang, sting, hoof, horn, has been as certain to be catalogued and labelled in demonology as in physical science.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

Whitehead exerting the prerogative of his laureateship addressed to youthful poets a poetic Charge, which is perhaps the best, and certainly the most interesting, of his works.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

During our march, we found an abundance of game as far as Antelope hills, on the South Canadian river, in the Pan Handle of Texas; but after crossing the Canadian, we saw no other wild animals than buffalo; but these were plenty, which indicated that the predictions of the friendly chief would be falsified.
— from The Scout and Ranger Being the Personal Adventures of Corporal Pike of the Fourth Ohio cavalry by James Pike

“Why, when she’s brought up for sentence, next week, and asked what she has to say, and so forth, you have an attorney on hand, and let him declare his conviction, based upon affidavits, that she’s a lunatic, and then move that sentence be suspended pending the investigation of her sanity by a commission to be appointed by the court—understand?
— from Mrs Peixada by Henry Harland

And whoever should be able clearly to discern the height of another’s judgment, would be also able to raise his own to the same pitch.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Cutlets with sauce piquant and pigeon pie, salad such as Malcolm loved, and a delicate pudding which seemed nothing but froth and sweets, while an excellent bottle of hock, sent up by Anderson, completed the repast.
— from Herb of Grace by Rosa Nouchette Carey

About, behind and on either side, there swayed and murmured this huge crowd—invisible in the darkness—peasants, gentlemen, clerks, grooms—all on an equality at last, awed by a common tragedy into silence, except for words exchanged here and there in an undertone, or whispered and left unanswered, or sudden murmured prayers to a God who hid Himself indeed.
— from Come Rack! Come Rope! by Robert Hugh Benson

I hae naething to offer ye but a cheir to rist ye in, an syne we'll tak the ro'd like neebors thegither an' I'll shaw ye the w'y hame."
— from Warlock o' Glenwarlock: A Homely Romance by George MacDonald

Above these are miniature portraits, various other ornaments, and an inscription; below, on one board, are two men leading out horses for the race, and beneath them a group, with a ludicrous representation of two other men, exhibiting their endurance of pain by allowing crabs to fasten on their noses."
— from A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding Containing full instructions in the different branches of forwarding, gilding, and finishing. Also, the art of marbling book-edges and paper. by James B. (James Bartram) Nicholson

With the Union of the Crowns, Sir Walter Scott half sadly reminds us in Nigel , one stream of Scottish romance and song ran dry; the end of the Kingdom became the middle of it; and as his namesake, Scott of Satchells puts it, the noble freebooter was degraded to be a common thief.
— from The Balladists by John Geddie