He wants me to be an India merchant, as he was, and I'd rather be shot.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

Whether such a conflict of the living, as takes place and is settled in War, is subject to general laws, and whether these are capable of indicating a useful line of action, will be partly investigated in this book; but so much is evident in itself, that this, like every other subject which does not surpass our powers of understanding, may be lighted up, and be made more or less plain in its inner relations by an inquiring mind, and that alone is sufficient to realise the idea of a THEORY.
— from On War — Volume 1 by Carl von Clausewitz

He was taken on board, and instantly manacled at the wrists and ankles.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

This morning Sir G. Carteret, Sir W. Batten and I met at the office, and did conclude of our going to Portsmouth next week, in which my mind is at a great loss what to do with my wife, for I cannot persuade her to go to Brampton, and I am loth to leave her at, home.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

A number of verbs are passive in form but active in meaning; as, hortor , I encourage ; vereor , I fear .
— from Latin for Beginners by Benjamin L. (Benjamin Leonard) D'Ooge

He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods.
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

2 As I was musing on this Description, and comparing it with the Object before me, the Knight told me, 3 that this very old Woman had the Reputation of a Witch all over the Country, that her Lips were observed to be always in Motion, and that there was not a Switch about her House which her Neighbours did not believe had carried her several hundreds of Miles.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

the spirits Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt are in my arms: It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee; Who never promiseth
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

The autumn winds would blow around it mournfully, and the gray rain would beat upon it and the white mists would come in from the sea to enfold it; and the moonlight would fall over it and light up the old paths where the schoolmaster and his bride had walked.
— from Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

First , in proposing an amendment to the deposit bill of 1836, by which the mint, and the branch mints, were to be included in the list of depositories; secondly , in proposing that the public moneys here, at the seat of Government, should be kept and paid out by the Treasurer; thirdly , by proposing that a preference, in receiving the deposits, should be given to such banks as should cease to be banks of circulation; fourthly , in opposing the establishment of a bank agency in Missouri, and proposing that the moneys there should be drawn direct from the hands of the receivers.
— from Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850 by Thomas Hart Benton

It is the slow emission of breath that gives to long, rapid phrases a smooth and limpid quality; and it is the taking of breath at inopportune moments, as badly taught singers are obliged to do, that makes such phrases choppy and ineffectual.
— from The Voice: Its Production, Care and Preservation by Frank E. (Frank Ebenezer) Miller

Sometimes, indeed, the same actual thing is different now from what it was before, as in motion according to quantity, quality and place; but sometimes it is the same being only in potentiality, as in substantial change, the subject of which is matter.
— from Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

No Part Of Philosophy By which Definition it is evident, that we are not to account as any part thereof, that originall knowledge called Experience, in which consisteth Prudence: Because it is not attained by Reasoning, but found as well in Brute Beasts, as in Man; and is but a Memory of successions of events in times past, wherein the omission of every little circumstance altering the effect, frustrateth the expectation of the most Prudent: whereas nothing is produced by Reasoning aright, but generall, eternall, and immutable Truth.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Who has not heard and read repeatedly the now common-place injunctions to be appropriate and consistent in character-drawing; to avoid, on the one hand, clearness at the cost of diffuseness, and, on the other, brevity at the cost of obscurity; to choose subject-matter suited to one's powers; to respect the authority of the masterpiece 135 and to con by night and by day the great Greek exemplars; to feel the emotion one wishes to rouse; to stamp the universal with the mark of individual genius; to be straightforward and rapid and omit the unessential; to be truthful to life; to keep the improbable and the horrible behind the scenes; to be appropriate in meter and diction; to keep clear of the fallacy of poetic madness; to look for the real sources of successful writing in sanity, depth of knowledge, and experience with men; to remember the mutual indispensability of genius and cultivation; to combine the pleasant and the useful; to deny one's self the indulgence of mediocrity; never to compose unless under inspiration; to give heed to solid critical counsel; to lock up one's manuscript for nine years before giving it to the world; to destroy what does not measure up to the ideal; to take ever-lasting pains; to beware of the compliments of good-natured friends?
— from Horace and His Influence by Grant Showerman

I rode up and seen that it was two bears and I made a lunge at 'em and the old bear run off and the little cub ran up a tree.
— from Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 3 by United States. Work Projects Administration

It would mean finally a voluntary federation of the nations, with the establishment of a world court of justice; but no weak-kneed, spineless arbitration court: rather a court of justice, comparable to those established over individuals, whose judgments would be enforced by an international military and naval police, contributed by the federated nations.
— from The Soul of Democracy The Philosophy of the World War in Relation to Human Liberty by Edward Howard Griggs

This was the home of a woman who had lived in a comfortable and commodious house in Boston, as its mistress and head, with a large and interesting family around her.
— from The Mormon Prophet and His Harem Or, An Authentic History of Brigham Young, His Numerous Wives and Children by C. V. (Catherine Van Valkenburg) Waite

We discussed diplomatic topics, and he assured me that I should be accredited in May, and that he would give me instructions as to the part I was to play.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 18: Return to Naples by Giacomo Casanova