I love a poetic progress, by leaps and skips; ‘tis an art, as Plato says, light, nimble, demoniac.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Luther's message was deposition and abolition to all false Popes and Potentates, but life and strength, though afar off, to new genuine ones.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

When they saw the tribes summoned by Licinius and Sextius to announce their votes, surrounded by bands of patricians, they neither suffered the bills to be read, nor any other usual form for taking the votes of the commons to be gone through.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

By land and saw the arches, which are now almost done and are very fine, and I saw the picture of the ships and other things this morning, set up before the East Indy House, which are well done.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

So, it being late, after supper they away home.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

There are in human life dangers every day bravely met and overcome which are not less terrible than those which face the soldier, in whom patriotism may be less a sentiment than a duty, and whose cowardice must be dearly paid.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant

Helen Keller has been dumb, stone deaf, and stone blind, ever since she was a little baby a year-and-a-half old; and now at sixteen years of age this miraculous creature, this wonder of all the ages, passes the Harvard University examination in Latin, German, French history, belles lettres, and such things, and does it brilliantly, too, not in a commonplace fashion.
— from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain

"He raised his huge fists higher and higher, and all his body lifted and strained, towering and trembling, while his face was that of a righteous and angry god.
— from The Mysterious Rider by Zane Grey

“But it’s a known fact he’s better looking and smarter than all the other Star reporters put together.”
— from Swamp Island by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt

He drew a breath again presently, and tried to speak; but his voice broke like a shattered trumpet, and he could not command it….
— from Come Rack! Come Rope! by Robert Hugh Benson

Should your partner have turned up the Right Bower, lead a small trump as soon as you can; by so doing you will be sure to weaken your adversary's hand.
— from Hoyle's Games Modernized by Professor Hoffmann

{228} ” “Why, my dear boy,” he replied, gayly, “that is easy enough: dry them a little, put them in bags labeled, and set them aside in a dry place, where the mice can not get at them to make a daily meal at your expense.”
— from Five Acres Too Much A truthful elucidation of the attractions of the country, and a careful consideration of the question of profit and loss as involved in amateur farming, with much valuable advice and instruction to those about purchasing large or small places in the rural districts by Robert Barnwell Roosevelt

Arrived at Aden, orders awaited the Commander to proceed at once to Suez, which he accordingly did; but the circumstance caused a good deal of excitement in the gallant Enniskillings, among whom the wish was father to the belief that they were sure to be landed and sent to Abyssinia.
— from Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army Gwalior and the Battle of Maharajpore, 1843; the Gold Coast of Africa, 1847-48; the Indian Mutiny, 1857-58; the expedition to China, 1860-61; the Siege of Paris, 1870-71; etc. by Gordon, Charles Alexander, Sir

It is the devil himself who does the biting, not the fish; it is he who is fishing for you ; for Bill Larkin, and Sam Trimble, and Hugh Williams, and scores of others; he's got you now, and you will be scaled and dressed for his table unless you escape instantly;" and then, to impress his illustration, he soared away into a flight of eloquence just suited to his hearers; rough and fiery, plain and pointed, neither above nor below the capacity of those he addressed.
— from The Puddleford Papers; Or, Humors of the West by Henry Hiram Riley

He materialised a cold turkey, a brown loaf, and some tomatoes; and he even achieved table-napkins.
— from The Right Stuff: Some Episodes in the Career of a North Briton by Ian Hay