Nothing is more dangerous for the freedom and the tranquillity of a people than an army afraid of war, because, as such an army no longer seeks to maintain its importance and its influence on the field of battle, it seeks to assert them elsewhere.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

In some parts, these earthy or tufaceous beds pass into jaspery and into beautifully mottled and banded porcelain rocks, which break into splinters, translucent at their edges, hard enough to scratch glass, and fusible into white transparent beads: grains of quartz included in the porcelainous varieties can be seen melting into the surrounding paste.
— from Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — Complete by Charles Darwin

When he wrote that book it seemed that all the experiences of which hitherto he had been only partially conscious became clear to him; that all the clever but unrelated literary efforts which he had hitherto made found here their clue and connecting link, their inspired synthesis.
— from Personality in Literature by R. A. (Rolfe Arnold) Scott-James

"But I sent three advertisements to each of the best known Paris newspapers," said Heathcote.
— from Wyllard's Weird: A Novel by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

"Until now my coat of mail was a good conscience; but I see that after this evening I shall have to wear it.
— from Isabella Orsini: A Historical Novel of the Fifteenth Century by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi

Cibber must have joined Betterton, I should think, about the end of 1696.
— from An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Volume 1 (of 2) Written by Himself. A New Edition with Notes and Supplement by Colley Cibber

We have been induced somewhat to anticipate the earliest of the Imrama, and to give the greater part of the description of Manannán’s Elysium contained in the Voyage of Bran, in order to present in a single view the different forms in which the Otherworld was conceived by the ancient Irish.
— from An Irish Precursor of Dante A Study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell ascribed to the Eighth-century Irish Saint Adamnán, with Translation of the Irish Text by Charles Stuart Boswell

But if he does not wish to serve the bishop in any of these departments of the bishop’s household, he may pay four denars every time the bishop is summoned by the king to call out his men for the purpose of fighting, and six when the bishop is summoned to accompany the emperor to Rome, and he must attend the three regular sessions of court which are held every year, and then he may serve whomsoever he wishes.
— from A Source Book for Mediæval History Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age by Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph) Thatcher

I had already seen two seasons for departure pass, and a third was close at hand, but I suffered this also to elapse in inactivity, although I was repeatedly and strongly urged by Bhudrinath and others to try my fortune and head another band to penetrate into Bengal, where we were assured of ample employment and success.
— from Confessions of a Thug by Meadows Taylor

I am certain that it is right, that you should be happy, that Monsieur Pontmercy should have Cosette, that youth should espouse the dawn, that there should be around you, my children, lilacs and nightingales, that your life should be a lawn bathed in sunlight, that all the enchantments of Heaven should fill your souls, and that I who am good for nothing should now die.
— from Les Misérables, v. 5/5: Jean Valjean by Victor Hugo

It consists not in abandoning our rights, but in supporting them as they exist and where they exist,— on the ocean as well as on the land ."
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 44, June, 1861 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various