Towards the close of the campaign, the arms of Sapor incurred some disgrace by an unsuccessful enterprise against Virtha, or Tecrit, a strong, or, as it was universally esteemed till the age of Tamerlane, an impregnable fortress of the independent Arabs.
— 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

Perhaps he did not believe in 'goodness' and 'badness' any more than his son; but as he would have said: He didn't know—couldn't tell; there might be something in it; and why, by an unnecessary expression of disbelief, deprive yourself of possible advantage?
— from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. The Man Of Property by John Galsworthy

The place was bare and ugly enough, Mary thought, as she stood and stared about her.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

They wanted to see the little girl, but she had gone to church and would not be back again until evening, so they all went out for a stroll in the country.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Or does each of them which exists, being an unmixed essence by itself, continue always the same, and in the same state, and never undergo any variation at all under any circumstances?"
— from Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Plato

But it is unfortunate that I can give no description of the arduous steps by which he reached such mastery over his art as he ever acquired; for if I could show him undaunted by failure, by an unceasing effort of courage holding despair at bay, doggedly persistent in the face of self-doubt, which is the artist's bitterest enemy, I might excite some sympathy for a personality which, I am all too conscious, must appear singularly devoid of charm.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

This Burns appeared under every disadvantage: uninstructed, poor, born only to hard manual toil; and writing, when it came to that, in a rustic special dialect, known only to a small province of the country he lived in.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

The outcome of the theory in practice was shown to be an undue emphasis upon the training of narrow specialized modes of skill at the expense of initiative, inventiveness, and readaptability—qualities which depend upon the broad and consecutive interaction of specific activities with one another.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

There seemed no reason why the Harmon millions should not be as usefully employed in regilding the dilapidated Fitzhugh coat-of-arms as those of the late Mr. Phelps.
— from By Right of Conquest: A Novel by Arthur Hornblow

If they were like kings of bygone ages, unquestionably every day thousands of souls would have been deprived of life in Persia.
— from Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas by `Abdu'l-Bahá

The key of the offender's chamber was then intrusted to madam's own woman, Mrs. Martha, a sour spinster, matured not by years only, but by an unfortunate experience of the other sex, which secured her from the danger of erring on the side of leniency where they were concerned.
— from Sophia: A Romance by Stanley John Weyman

The Cambridge eleven of 1878 had a most extraordinary run of success, never, as far as we know, equalled by any University eleven.
— from Cricket by A. G. (Allan Gibson) Steel

Israel Kafka still knelt beside her, motionless and hardly breathing, like a dangerous wild animal startled by an unexpected enemy, and momentarily paralysed in the very act of springing, whether backward in flight, or forward in the teeth of the foe, it is not possible to guess.
— from The Witch of Prague: A Fantastic Tale by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford

It was a fine phrase to deliver impromptu, but an uncritical estimate.
— from Peter Abélard by Joseph McCabe

But it must never be lost sight of that all materials of an elastic nature, when fitted tightly to the figure, not only have the power of expanding on the application of force, but are unceasingly exercising their own extensive powers of contraction.
— from The Corset and the Crinoline A Book of Modes and Costumes from Remote Periods to the Present Time by William Barry Lord

[363] a If the purpose of the unlawful assembly be to alarm and frighten any person, or persons, by appearing in disguise, so that the real persons so acting and assembling can not be readily known, and by using language or gestures calculated to produce in such person or persons the fear of bodily harm, all persons engaged therein shall be punished by fine not less than one hundred, nor more than one thousand dollars each; and if such unlawful assembly shall take place at any time of the night—that is, between sunset and sunrise—the fine shall be doubled; and if three or more persons are found together disguised and armed with deadly weapons, the same shall be primâ facie evidence of the guilty purpose of such persons, as above described; and if any other unlawful assembly, mentioned in this chapter, consist in whole or in part of persons disguised and armed with deadly weapons, the fine to be assessed upon each person so offending shall be double the penalty hereinbefore described.
— from K. K. K. Sketches, Humorous and Didactic Treating the More Important Events of the Ku-Klux-Klan Movement in the South. With a Discussion of the Causes which gave Rise to it, and the Social and Political Issues Emanating from it. by James Melville Beard

ah-h!" said Mrs. Smiley, looking down upon the sleeping beauty, and understanding everything at a glance.
— from Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope