In which conclusion, however, as it regarded myself, I beg to assure him, if he should be among my readers, that he was mistaken.
— from Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey

True principles of justice, true types of beauty, all moral relations between man and man, all ideas of order, these are engraved on his understanding; he sees the right place for everything and the causes which drive it from that place; he sees what may do good, and what hinders it.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

They are the general favourites of the whites, form the best and most reliable servants, and traders who have resided long among them compare them favourably with other natives.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

And, again, the positive laws that ought to be obeyed as such must be the commands issued by a (morally) rightful authority: and though these will ordinarily coincide with the commands legally enforced, we cannot say that this is always the case; for the courts may be temporarily subservient to a usurper; or, again, the sovereign hitherto habitually obeyed may be one against whom it has become right to rebel (since it is generally admitted that this is sometimes right).
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

Afterwards, a maid, Who kept our holy faith among her kin In secret, entering, loosed and let him go.' To whom the monk: 'And I remember now That pelican on the casque: Sir Bors it was Who spake so low and sadly at our board; And mighty reverent at our grace was he: A square-set man and honest; and his eyes, An out-door sign of all the warmth within, Smiled with his lips—a smile beneath a cloud, But heaven had meant it for a sunny one: Ay, ay, Sir Bors, who else?
— from Idylls of the King by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

His birth and misfortunes recommended him to the generosity of his cousin Louis the Ninth; but the martial zeal of the saint was diverted from Constantinople to Egypt and Palestine; and the public and private poverty of Baldwin was alleviated, for a moment, by the alienation of the marquisate of Namur and the lordship of Courtenay, the last remains of his inheritance.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Domestic Animals, Pets and the Like. —Could there be anything more repugnant than the sentimentality which is shown to plants and animals—and this on the part of a creature who from the very beginning has made such ravages among them as their most ferocious enemy,—and who ends by even claiming affectionate feelings from his weakened and mutilated victims!
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The streets are all beset by Patrols: Saint-Huruge is stopped at the Barriere des Bon Hommes; he may bellow like the bulls of Bashan; but absolutely must return.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

They accredit such degree of belief as may remain, in this enlightened age, to some remote part—to the south, if they dwell in the north; to the north, if they dwell in the south.
— from British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes

The virtues of that prince will scarcely allow us to suspect that he was actuated by a mean resentment against the favorites of his predecessor; and it is more reasonable to believe, that in the prosecution of his general design to restore the purity of Roman manners, he was desirous of delivering the empire from what he condemned as a recent and criminal superstition.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

But whether, even then, she has the moral right to lessen some good girl's chances of getting a husband by taking two for herself, has ever been and must remain a mooted question in my mind.”
— from At Last: A Novel by Marion Harland

When the banquet is over, the head is carried away into the depth of the forest and deposited on a heap of bears’ skulls, the bleached and mouldering relics of similar festivals in the past.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

[Pg 549] by a minor, remained for years unpaid; and the importunities of his creditors were one of the strongest motives for his early traveling abroad.
— from Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2) by William Howitt

This morning, Bertha and Mrs. Robins having joined us, we all set forth in a tram from the Piazza della Signoria for Fiesole.
— from Italian Days and Ways by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

Every player watches the ball and makes ready to try and catch it in his racket when it descends.
— from Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs by Alice C. (Alice Cunningham) Fletcher

Not that they are by any means reconciled to the new system; but they find their mandates of less force, their influence nearly extinguished, and their numbers considerably decreased: at least, they bear no proportion to the cahars from the country; who now ply for teeka , i.e. job-work, in every quarter.
— from The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2) or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company. by Thomas Williamson

Dean Sparre, with his wife and daughter Barbara, were in the front row of the pew which belonged to them; while behind were Pastor Martens with the other Miss Sparres; and behind, again, Mrs. Rasmussen, the chaplain's housekeeper.
— from Garman and Worse: A Norwegian Novel by Alexander Lange Kielland

What can be more base and more ridiculous? Nor is this all; it is said they have in themselves a principle of motion to avoid a vacuum.
— from The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal by Blaise Pascal

Some deer, Jereed goats, an ostrich, &c., were sent to Mr. R. after his return, and both Captain B. and Mr. R. have had every reason to be extremely gratified with the hospitality and kind attentions of the "Bey of the Camp."
— from Travels in Morocco, Volume 2. by James Richardson

A week before all London had been mystified and horrified by a most remarkable explosion which had occurred one night in a house in one of the outer suburbs, whereby the place had been set on fire and utterly demolished.
— from The Bomb-Makers Being Some Curious Records Concerning the Craft and Cunning of Theodore Drost, an Enemy Alien in London, Together with Certain Revelations Regarding His Daughter Ella by William Le Queux