He would never have been easy to call his action anything else than duty; but in this case, contending motives thrust him back into negations.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

Above all his capacity for lying and for taking a shrewd and dreadful revenge, his being equal to circumstances, his appearing to be nobler than the noblest when necessary, his ability to be everything he desired, his heroic pertinacity, having all means within his command, possessing genius—the genius of Ulysses is an object of the admiration of the gods, they smile when they think of it—all this is the Greek ideal!
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

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

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

The titles on the backs of his books have retired into the binding; everything that can have a lock has got one; no key is visible.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

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

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

If he remained where he stood, the probability was that he would be seized; if he exhibited any fear or hurry, it would be equivalent to condemning himself, and he and his companions would be shot without mercy, as they attempted to escape.
— from The Pirate of the Mediterranean: A Tale of the Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

The Jewish Cabalists say, their Messiah was to ride on a great huge Ass , big enough to carry him and all true Israelites, and that the Ministers of Antichrist would then hang an A-ss .
— from Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses by Thomas Woolston

Well, what do you say, did the fellow betray his confidence and bring enemies to carry him away?"
— from Boy Scouts in the Philippines; Or, The Key to the Treaty Box by G. Harvey (George Harvey) Ralphson

"How easily some men lose their tempers, don't they—Jeems?" The little break in her voice, her brave effort to control herself, and the whimsical bit of smile that accompanied her words made him want to do what the gentle pressure of her hands had kept him from doing a few moments before—pick her up in his arms.
— from The Valley of Silent Men: A Story of the Three River Country by James Oliver Curwood

To become specific lives, life had to emphasise and bring exclusively to consciousness, here and there, special possibilities of living; and where these special lives have their chosen boundary
— from Winds Of Doctrine: Studies in Contemporary Opinion by George Santayana

“He has brass enough to carry him anywhere.
— from For the Honor of Randall: A Story of College Athletics by Lester Chadwick

But why should a man be expected to call himself a "miscreant" or an "infidel"?
— from Collected Essays, Volume V Science and Christian Tradition: Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley

Don Jozé, being of a far milder temperament than his brother, endeavoured to calm his anger, by pointing out to him the possibility of his wife’s having spoken the truth; that if their mother was aware of the King’s visit, at all events there was some excuse for her; but, at the same time, he pledged himself to aid him by every means in his power, if his worst suspicions were confirmed.
— from The Prime Minister by William Henry Giles Kingston