this case, I say, there had been no danger either to master or man, in corporal Trim's peeping in: the moment he had beheld my father and my uncle Toby fast asleep—the respectfulness of his carriage was such, he would have retired as silent as death, and left them both in their arm-chairs, dreaming as happy as he had found them: but the thing was, morally speaking, so very impracticable, that for the many years in which this hinge was suffered to be out of order, and amongst the hourly grievances my father submitted to upon its account—this was one; that he never folded his arms to take his nap after dinner, but the thoughts of being unavoidably awakened by the first person who should open the door, was always uppermost in his imagination, and so incessantly stepp'd in betwixt him and the first balmy presage of his repose, as to rob him, as he often declared, of the whole sweets of it.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

But no doubt every thing is for the best— Of which the surest sign is in the end: When things are at the worst they sometimes mend.
— from Don Juan by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

It was strictly enjoined that the project of starving you by degrees should be kept a secret, but the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the books, none dissenting except Bolgolam, the admiral, who, being a creature of the empress, was perpetually instigated by her majesty to insist upon your death, she having borne perpetual malice against you, on account of that illegal method you took to remove her and her children the night of the fire.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift

If he were to violate his honor by telling a lie, or by cheating, or by not doing exactly a given task, when trusted on his honor, he may be directed to hand over his scout badge.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook The First Edition, 1911 by Boy Scouts of America

Those who expect to pass at death into a non-spatial and super-temporal world, where there will be no detestable extended and unthinking substances, and nothing that need be counted, will find their hard-learned mathematics sadly superfluous there.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

All these beliefs no doubt exist side by side, and they are all compatible with, and indeed express, the underlying emotional attitude; the comforting action of the valuables.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

Though really the informers brought no decided evidence forward for any important charge, one of them, when asked how he recognised the faces of the statue-breakers, answered that he saw them by the light of the moon: a signal falsehood, because it was done on the night of the new moon.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

No masterpiece can be produced whole by such means; but neither does even the higher form of religious inspiration suffice for the religious life; even the most exalted mystic must return to the world, and use his reason to employ the results of his experience in daily life.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal

Lo que digo es 10 que estos pobres y menguados habitantes de Orbajosa son piadosos y buenos cristianos, si bien ninguno de ellos sabe filosofía alemana; por lo tanto no debes despreciar públicamente sus creencias.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós

Hanna was plain, but not disagreeable, especially when her face became animated with good humor.
— from The Emigrants Of Ahadarra The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two by William Carleton

There could be no doubt either as to the woman or the sleep.
— from A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus by Arthur Conan Doyle

“’Tis tempting,” said Gray; “but—” “But what?—Why do you hesitate?” “Would there be no danger even between the threshold of this house and the deck of the vessel which was to convey me and my fortunes from England for ever?” “Danger?—a—What danger?”
— from Ada, the Betrayed; Or, The Murder at the Old Smithy. A Romance of Passion by James Malcolm Rymer

And for the knacker's yard—that's not my destined bed: No donkey ever yet saw himself there lying dead.
— from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by George MacDonald

[73] The above were the three most important changes made in the law of Savings Banks under Mr. Goulburn's Act, but there were several minor clauses introduced into the bill which deserve mention, and which were, there can be no doubt, equally with the more important sections, the direct results of the systematic frauds already described.
— from A History of Banks for Savings in Great Britain and Ireland by William Lewins

In the United States the movement has not found a firm foothold because there has been no dominant, enslaving tradition to protest against.
— from A Text-Book of the History of Architecture Seventh Edition, revised by A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster) Hamlin

Calote bethought her, sorrowful, that there would be no Dame Emma and kindly Hobbe to take up her quarrel in other taverns.
— from Long Will by Florence Converse

So far, many curious phenomena were alleged to have occurred, but now Dr. Edmunds, who started the whole inquiry, sent in a separate report.
— from Cock Lane and Common-Sense by Andrew Lang

Diligent, assiduous, industrious, laborious, active, busy, notable, diligently employed, busily engaged.
— from A Dictionary of English Synonymes and Synonymous or Parallel Expressions Designed as a Practical Guide to Aptness and Variety of Phraseology by Richard Soule

There had been no difficulty, even at this late moment, in obtaining very good back seats,—seats from which one could command an excellent view of the audience, if not of the stage; and Hope at once began a careful survey of this audience, her far-seeing young eyes roving rapidly from section to section in keen investigation.
— from Hope Benham: A Story for Girls by Nora Perry