Her great blue eyes had a pretty, mournful look, in charming unison with the soft pressure of her little hand, and that friendly, though perhaps rather stereotyped speech, in which she told her visitors how she was so sorry to lose them, and how she didn't know what she should do till they came once more to enliven the court by their charming society.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

The question of its economical application to some purposes is still unsettled, but experiment has already proved that it will propel a street car better than a gas jet and give more light than a horse.
— from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

Thus possession alone, and first possession, is supposed to convey property, where no body else has any preceding claim and pretension.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

This work finished, he returned to Florence together with Giovanni, the Milanese, and there, both within the city and without, they made very many panels and pictures of importance; and in process of time he gained so much, turning all into capital, that he laid the foundation of the wealth and the nobility of his family, being ever held a prudent and far-sighted man.
— from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi by Giorgio Vasari

You may reckon on my discretion, and I hope the affair may be ended honourably and prosperously for you.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Her brother, eyeing her askance, ‘Pardon me, sister (said he) I should be a savage, indeed, were I insensible of my own felicity, in having such a mild, complaisant, good-humoured, and considerate companion and housekeeper; but as I have got a weak head, and my sense of hearing is painfully acute, before I have recourse to plugs of wool and cotton, I’ll try whether I can’t find another lodging, where I shall have more quiet and less music.’
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Then I fell to read over a silly play writ by a person of honour (which is, I find, as much as to say a coxcomb), called “Love a la Mode,”’ and that being ended, home, and played on my lute and sung psalms till bedtime, then to prayers and to bed.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.
— from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yet it is base, inasmuch as it generally shows, that a man is affected by excessive hatred, anger, pride, avarice, &c. He who, by reason of his folly, knows not how to return benefits, is not ungrateful, much less he who is not gained over by the gifts of a courtesan to serve her lust, or by a thief to conceal his thefts, or by any similar persons.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza

Melville was in the house at the time, and on entering the room the dying boy embraced him and passed away with the words of the Apostle on his lips—διδασκαλε, τον δρομον τετελεκα—'Master, I have finished my course.'
— from Andrew Melville by William Morison

Sunday evening was an odd time to call a press confer- ence, but everyone had a pretty good idea that the subject was going to be computers.
— from Terminal Compromise by Winn Schwartau

The evolutionist labors to construct a psychology; but Emerson has a psychology ready-made, and scatters its affirmations with a liberal hand through every chapter of his writings.
— from Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1899 Volume LIV, No. 4, February 1899 by Various

What may probably be the great Business this black Emperor has at present upon his Hands, either in this World or out of it, and by what Agents he works.
— from The History of the Devil, As Well Ancient as Modern: In Two Parts by Daniel Defoe

The moral being whom the fear of punishment alone would deter from doing evil, by threats would be equally hindered, and perhaps more so, from doing good.
— from The Ordinance of Covenanting by John Cunningham

She had lost her hat, and the wind had tossed up her curls, her cheeks were pale and streaked with tears, and her big brown eyes had a pitiful look in them that would have softened a tiger, let alone a man that had half a dozen little ones of his own at home; while every now and then the great heavy sighs came struggling up, as if she had almost cried her heart out.
— from Bessie and Her Friends by Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews

A whining, complaining, pinching, pilfering class that listens for the whistle, watches the clock, that works only when under the menacing eye of the boss, and stands in eternal fear of the blue envelope here, and perdition hereafter, can never be made free by legislative enactment.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 09 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers by Elbert Hubbard

The 26th July we were halfway between Priaman and Tecu, about three leagues from the shore, the two hummocks of Tecu, with high land over them, bearing N. by W. and S. by E. half a point east.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08 by Robert Kerr

Epileptics are saved to breed epileptics; haemophiliacs are preserved, neurotics are ironed out, weaknesses of all kinds are kept alive to breed their strain of weakness."
— from Highways in Hiding by George O. (George Oliver) Smith

Sir, at this moment we have in the legislative bodies of this Capitol and in the States, twenty-odd furnaces in full blast, emitting heat and passion, and intemperance, and diffusing them throughout the whole extent of this broad land.
— from The American Union Speaker by John D. (John Dudley) Philbrick