An Ape asked a Fox to spare him some part of her exceeding length of tail, with which he might be enabled to cover his most unseemly hinder parts.
— from The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes by Phaedrus

The Lord had used up so much material in the making of his head that there had not been enough to complete his legs; but he got about on the platform, and when he shook his raven whiskers the pillars of capitalism rocked.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

I have just heard a mass of Gruan's; it would be easy to compose half a dozen such in a day.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This morning, it being expected that Colonel Hacker and Axtell should die, I went to Newgate, but found they were reprieved till to-morrow.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

If awkward inquiries were made, how could he be expected to compromise himself, for the sake of a man who had declined to deal with him?
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

But when the figure was nearest to them (it flew past quickly, however, like a shadow, in the direction of the volcano), then did they recognise with the greatest surprise that it was Zarathustra; for they had all seen him before except the captain himself, and they loved him as the people love: in such wise that love and awe were combined in equal degree.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I spent many a day to find out a great stone big enough to cut hollow, and make fit for a mortar, and could find none at all, except what was in the solid rock, and which I had no way to dig or cut out; nor indeed were the rocks in the island of hardness sufficient, but were all of a sandy, crumbling stone, which neither would bear the weight of a heavy pestle, nor would break the corn without filling it with sand.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Thus peradventure Callias, Thrasimachus, Polus, Aristophanes, or some of his adversaries and emulators might object; but neither they nor [4425] Anytus and Melitus his bitter enemies, that condemned him for teaching Critias to tyrannise, his impiety for swearing by dogs and plain trees, for his juggling sophistry, &c., never so much as upbraided him with impure love, writing or speaking of that subject; and therefore without question, as he concludes, both Socrates and Plato in this are justly to be excused.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The Americans have admitted that the head of the executive power, who has to bear the whole responsibility of the duties he is called upon to fulfil, ought to be empowered to choose his own agents, and to remove them at pleasure: the legislative bodies watch the conduct of the president more than they direct it.
— from American Institutions and Their Influence by Alexis de Tocqueville

“Yes, I know him—not awfully well, but enough to call him anything I like.
— from The Luminous Face by Carolyn Wells

Man can no more be saved by ethics than can he live by bread alone.
— from The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by James E. (James Edward) Talmage

"I'm all right now," she said, making a brave effort to control her faltering voice, "but, you see, the Indians passed here this morning.
— from The Long Dim Trail by Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper) Hooker

She had never seemed quite at her ease with him, and he was beginning to follow up the idea, in his slow, tenacious way, that his wooing, when he should be ready for it, would have to be done all over again—that it might not be easy to claim her for his own.
— from The Squire's Daughter: Being the First Book in the Chronicles of the Clintons by Archibald Marshall

The latter, after staring with an amazed and inquiring look, let his head again drop, and appeared to be endeavouring to conceal his countenance with his hands, while Prior, taking me by the shoulder, led me out of the cavern.
— from Mark Seaworth by William Henry Giles Kingston

After old country topics had been exhausted, the conversation had drifted to religious themes, and especially to the doctrine expressed in the song "O my Father;" but they now sat silently looking into the fire.
— from Added Upon A Story by Nephi Anderson

On retiring to his own lodging in the Gloucester Coffee-house, Uncle Sam, to make all sure, gave positive orders to Poole’s landlady, who respected in Uncle Sam the man who might pay what Poole owed to her, on no account to let in any of Dolly’s profligate friends, but especially the chap he had found there; adding, “‘T is as much as my nephew’s life is worth; and, what is more to the purpose, as much as your bill is.”
— from What Will He Do with It? — Complete by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

[905] It is bitter experience that causes him to say: “The day will dawn when Christ shall come to free us from sin and death.”
— from Luther, vol. 5 of 6 by Hartmann Grisar