I shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after the sunrise, and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn it.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

Such is that beautiful allegorical vignette of Lavater's, which must be so heartening to every defender of truth: a hand holding a light is stung by a wasp, while gnats are burning themselves in the flame above; underneath is the motto: “ And although it singes the wings of the gnats, Destroys their heads and all their little brains, Light is still light; And although I am stung by the angriest wasp, I will not let it go. ”
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

And if any of you believe that what we urge is expedient, but fear to act upon this belief, lest it should lead to a breach of the treaty, you must remember that on the one hand, whatever your fears, your strength will be formidable to your antagonists; on the other, whatever the confidence you derive from refusing to receive us, your weakness will have no terrors for a strong enemy.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

True is it I have loved and love Guiscardo, and what while I live, which will be little, I shall love him, nor, if folk live after death, shall I ever leave loving him; but unto this it was not so much my feminine frailty that moved me as thy little solicitude to remarry me and his own worth.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

I am fearful to boast, lest I should lose what I boast of: but I think I have achieved a victory over my evil spirits here: for they have full opportunity to come, and I often observe their approaches, but
— from Letters of Edward FitzGerald, in Two Volumes. Vol. 1 by Edward FitzGerald

The sentinels were posted as usual, and Captain Stuart, repairing according to his wont to a post of observation in the block-house tower of the northwest bastion, turned his glass upon the country beyond, lowered it suddenly, looking keenly at the lens, as if he could not believe his eyes, and again lifted it.
— from The Story of Old Fort Loudon by Mary Noailles Murfree

I rather deplore its position at the gates of a bustling city—it ought rather to be lodged in some lonely fold of the Apennines.
— from Italian Hours by Henry James

Being lodged in so large a house, that, though it seems incredible, contained so many capacious rooms, with bedchambers, that one hundred and fifty Spaniards could all lie single.
— from Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines by Lewis Henry Morgan

In the only freshwater species in which they have been found to form a habitual means of reproduction, namely in Spongilla proliferens , they have much the appearance of abortive branches, and it is possible that they have been overlooked for this reason in other species, for they were noticed by Laurent in Spongilla lacustris as long ago as 1840 (CR.
— from Freshwater Sponges, Hydroids & Polyzoa by Nelson Annandale

While sipping his champagne at dinner he exclaimed: “I’m astonished, madam, that in these times you can be living in such luxury!”
— from Old Times in Dixie Land: A Southern Matron's Memories by Caroline E. (Caroline Elizabeth) Merrick

But what made you think of buying 'Lebanon'?" "I should like to build a house there, a larger house than the present one."
— from St. Peter's Umbrella: A Novel by Kálmán Mikszáth

I suppose it was on account of the fact of his being taken in some measure unawares, that I caught him on two or three occasions regarding me fixedly in a way that disquieted me somewhat, having been lately in so little society; till my glance aroused him from his reverie, and he looked elsewhere in some confusion.
— from A Changed Man, and Other Tales by Thomas Hardy

There is, in truth, but little in savage life, to furnish materials for such biographies.
— from The American Indians Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft