I knew the season of love was past; I knew too well in what contempt the ridiculous pretensions of superannuated gallants were held, ever to add one to the number, and I was not a man to become an impudent coxcomb in the decline of life, after having been so little such during the flower of my age.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The circumstances that distressed me are not changed, since I came into this room; but an influence comes over me in that short interval that alters me, oh, how much for the better!
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

For, certainly, man is of kin to the beasts, by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

At noon comes W. Howe to me, to advise what answer to give to the business of the prizes, wherein I did give him the best advice I could; but am sorry to see so many things, wherein I doubt it will not be prevented but Sir Roger Cuttance and Mr. Pierce will be found very much concerned in goods beyond the distribution, and I doubt my Lord Sandwich too, which troubles me mightily.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

I gave up, at length, all care of things within the hotel, and became absorbed in contemplation of the scene without.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Sight being, as I conceive, in the eyes, and he who has eyes wanting to see; colour being also present in them, still E unless there be a third nature specially adapted to the purpose, the owner of the eyes will see nothing and the colours will be invisible.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

“As I say,” resumed the Professor, like a man toiling through heavy sand, “the incident that has occurred to us and has led us to ask for information about the Marquis, is one which you may think it better to have narrated; but as it came in the way of Comrade Syme rather than me—” His words he seemed to be dragging out like words in an anthem; but Syme, who was watching, saw his long fingers rattle quickly on the edge of the crazy table.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

— N. good, benefit, advantage; improvement &c. 658; greatest good, supreme good; interest, service, behoof, behalf; weal; main chance, summum bonum[Lat], common weal; "consummation devoutly to be wished"; gain, boot; profit, harvest.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

“Your Milady,” said he, “appears to be an infamous creature, but not the less you have done wrong to deceive her.
— from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

I had not been there long before an Indian came within a few paces of me.
— from Jacob Hamblin: A Narrative of His Personal Experience as a Frontiersman, Missionary to the Indians and Explorer, Disclosing Interpositions of Providence, Severe Privations, Perilous Situations and Remarkable Escapes Fifth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series, Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints by Jacob Hamblin

Around the hall and in a small gallery were the books, arranged in carved oaken cases.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

“Having risen on one occasion in the night, to work, as I used frequently to do, chance, which governs the world , directed my eyes to one of the last reports of the police, containing the names of those persons who had already been arrested in consequence of this affair, to which no clue had yet been obtained.
— from Memoirs of the life, exile, and conversations of the Emperor Napoleon. (Vol. IV) by Las Cases, Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné, comte de

He stood as a leading representative of navigation interests and was almost equally well known in banking and industrial circles.
— from Montreal from 1535 to 1914. Vol. 3. Biographical by William H. (William Henry) Atherton

And where this improved case occupies a position opposite the "general delivery" window, many individuals soon learn the location of the box where their letters should be, and in case it is empty, inquiry becomes unnecessary.
— from Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Or, Notes from the Diary of a Special Agent of the Post-Office Department by James Holbrook

The only way in which lime can exhaust the inorganic part of the soil is, by altering its condition, so that plants can use it more readily.
— from The Elements of Agriculture A Book for Young Farmers, with Questions Prepared for the Use of Schools by George E. (George Edwin) Waring

This warlike heroine is generally alluded to under the name of Black Agnes , in consequence of her swarthy complexion.
— from Names: and Their Meaning; A Book for the Curious by Leopold Wagner

It is the first vision of the book, and it contains the key-note of the whole.
— from The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Revelation by William Milligan

The question of binding, as it concerns the colophon, is chiefly interesting from the point it raises whether the colophon, representing as it certainly did the title-page, was the sole clue to the contents of a manuscript, or whether the binding was lettered by a label affixed, or by the author’s name being written on it.
— from An Essay on Colophons, with Specimens and Translations by Alfred W. (Alfred William) Pollard