"Because it requires incalculable strength to keep one's self in these strata and resist their pressure.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

And not because it really is so, but because there is always a swarm of enchanters in attendance upon us that change and alter everything with us, and turn things as they please, and according as they are disposed to aid or destroy us; thus what seems to thee a barber’s basin seems to me Mambrino’s helmet, and to another it will seem something else; and rare foresight it was in the sage who is on my side to make what is really and truly Mambrine’s helmet seem a basin to everybody, for, being held in such estimation as it is, all the world would pursue me to rob me of it; but when they see it is only a barber’s basin they do not take the trouble to obtain it; as was plainly shown by him who tried to break it, and left it on the ground without taking it, for, by my faith, had he known it he would never have left it behind.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

But its rôle is something more than this, surely.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

It don’t seem natural, but I reckon it’s so.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

But, whatever might be the distress of Catherine's mind, as she thus advanced towards the parsonage, and whatever the humiliation of her biographer in relating it, she was preparing enjoyment of no everyday nature for those to whom she went; first, in the appearance of her carriage—and secondly, in herself.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

The fair beggars talked of returning me the alms I had given them, but I replied in such a way that they said no more about it.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

He did so, and returned nominally to Poitou, but in reality in secret to Paris.
— from Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims by François duc de La Rochefoucauld

For, be it remembered, I shall not undertake to prove that the souls of men do not live after the death of the body.
— from The Law of Psychic Phenomena A working hypothesis for the systematic study of hypnotism, spiritism, mental therapeutics, etc. by Thomson Jay Hudson

Certain of the baboon tribes which live among the rocks of high mountains and cliffs, if pursued by enemies, protect themselves by ingeniously rolling immense stones down upon their foes.
— from The Human Side of Animals by Royal Dixon

"When I come into t' town yesterday, and to thy house to-day, the streets were full o' crowds of folks gathered as thick as owt to see me, just a cause I happ'd to be dressed different frae other folk; and as I were waiting out yonder i' t' fore-chamber, there were one o' thy sarvants burst out laughing at me; but I reckon I spoiled his ruffled shirt for him and punished his impertinence."
— from Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

I have never yet led my Nautilus so far into southern seas; but, I repeat, it shall go further yet.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

Some believe it was given to the plant because its root is so white; then again, in the old days lions were pictured with teeth yellow as dandelion blossoms.
— from The Rainbow Bridge by Frances Margaret Fox

Imitation may come in but its role is subordinate.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

Horses were to be in readiness in some neighbouring inn.
— from Political Women, Vol. 1 by Menzies, Sutherland, active 1840-1883

It was only on the 19th of April that Alexander visited her, the King of Prussia coming in his turn on the 22d; but Bourrienne is right in saying that Maria Louisa complained bitterly of having to receive Alexander, and considered that she was forced by her father to do so.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon by Various