"Unethical" indicates, therefore, that a man is not sufficiently sensible to the higher, finer impulses which the present civilization has brought with it, or is not sensible to them at all; it indicates backwardness, but only from the point of view of the contemporary degree of distinction.—The comparative classification of enjoyments itself is not determined according to absolute ethics; but after each new ethical adjustment, it is then decided whether conduct be ethical or the reverse.
— from Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Before either of the other men could run to Abel's and warn him Henchard appeared in the garden doorway.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

[3] in France, who held the office by election or the concurrence of the people.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

For it cannot be presumed that the same degree of sound policy, prudence, and foresight would uniformly be observed by each of these confederacies for a long succession of years.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

Where, when there was no one to meet them, not even an unarmed person, and they passed through every place destitute not only of troops, but even of the cultivation of the husbandman, they reached as far as the third stone on the Gabinian road.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

She thought it was impossible that her poor services could ever repay the debt of gratitude that she owed to the family who had brought her up, although the obligation must have been entirely on their side.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

This news gave a tremendous impulse to the brimming eyes of the housekeeper, niece, and Sancho Panza his good squire, making the tears burst from their eyes and a host of sighs from their hearts; for of a truth, as has been said more than once, whether as plain Alonso Quixano the Good, or as Don Quixote of La Mancha, Don Quixote was always of a gentle disposition and kindly in all his ways, and hence he was beloved, not only by those of his own house, but by all who knew him.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

He made some commonplace observation upon the baneful effect of the night air at the season.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin

And if some, with a vanity monstrous in proportion to its rarity, have become enamoured of themselves because they can be stimulated and excited by no emotion, moved or bent by no affection, such persons rather lose all humanity than obtain true tranquillity.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

By this elaborate historical example we have endeavoured to make it clear that tragedy perishes as surely by evanescence of the spirit of music as it can be born only out of this spirit.
— from The Birth of Tragedy; or, Hellenism and Pessimism by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The transformation was rapid for the reason that it was natural, seeing that it had been Europe only that, like a Circe, had bewitched them into beastial shapes, “sharks”, and “bulls”, and “bears”, mediæval Jews, for example, having been debarred from every pursuit save commerce: so that Shylock was obliged to turn into a Venetian; and, in ceasing to be a Hebrew, became more Venetian than the Venetians, for the reason that he had more brains, ready to beat them at any game they cared to mention; but the genuine self of Shylock was a vine-dresser or sandal-maker, as Hillel was a wood-chopper, David a shepherd, Amos a fig-gatherer, Saul an ass-driver, Rabbi Ben Zakkai a sail-maker, Paul a tent-maker: so that the return to simplicity and honesty was quickly accomplished.
— from The Lord of the Sea by M. P. (Matthew Phipps) Shiel

I remember well you seemed to have but small delight in the bright eyes of the young Italians, and I often thought that it must be some remembered love of the past that kept you thus heart-whole."
— from Corse de Leon; or, The Brigand: A Romance. Volume 1 (of 2) by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

Charles came out into Half Moon Street and the pale sunshine of the spring afternoon, in a sort of black exaltation of the spirit.
— from Thorley Weir by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

Access {137} to the joint may be obtained by either of the two methods already described.
— from A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Joseph Bell

For, in short, all things touch, all things go hand to hand; all things obey the same invisible principles, the identical exigencies; all things share in the same spirit, in the same substance, in the terrifying and wonderful problem; and the most modest victory gained in the matter of {104} a flower may one day disclose to us an infinity of the untold.... {105} V B ECAUSE of these things I love the chrysanthemum; because of these things I follow its evolution with a brother’s interest.
— from Old Fashioned Flowers, and other out-of-door studies by Maurice Maeterlinck

He could not return to his village, for there was a perpetual edict of banishment issued against him; so, as the stockman offered him a chance to remain at Circle Ranch, and be entered on the regular payroll as a scout, hunter, and tracker of lost cattle, Havasupai settled down to his new life.
— from The Saddle Boys at Circle Ranch; Or, In at the Grand Round-Up by Carson, James, Captain

That stronghold, it will be [p. 229] remembered, had been seized by the bold exploit of the student Zagalo; it was now garrisoned by 300 British marines, so that the disembarkation would be safe from disturbance by anything save the heavy Atlantic surf, which always beats against the western coast of Portugal.
— from A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. 1, 1807-1809 From the Treaty of Fontainbleau to the Battle of Corunna by Charles Oman