But in the matter of this enormous waste and unlimited expenditure we are not very greatly astonished, and that, too, though by it no extreme need is relieved, no dignity is enhanced, and the very gratification of the populace is but for a brief, passing moment; such pleasure as it is, too, is confined to the most frivolous, and even in these the very memory of their enjoyment dies as soon as the moment of gratification is past."
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

She lugged it home, cut it up, and boiled it in the big pot, mashed some of it with salt and butter, for dinner.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Yet it is not necessary that a minister should feel like a man, when a bold push might shake his seat.
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects by Mary Wollstonecraft

The criterion of divine activity could not be placed more squarely and unequivocally in the good.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

When I took my leave of them, they both pressed me so much to come and dine before they went away, that I could not refuse.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

And although there be those that say it was so contrived on purpose by Chorea, that Caius should not be killed at one blow, but should be punished more severely by a multitude of wounds; yet does this story appear to me incredible, because the fear men are under in such actions does not allow them to use their reason.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

The following morning I sought out Behari Pundit, my Sanskrit professor at Scottish Church College.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Box party, meaning sitting in a box at the theater.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project").
— from Recipes Tried and True by Ohio). Ladies' Aid Society First Presbyterian Church (Marion

Above all, let it be remembered that the inhabitants of Jamaica did not brew their 1903 cyclone with the idea of giving Englishmen a little shock in order that British philanthropists might send cheques to the West Indies.
— from The West Indies by John Henderson

At six o'clock we took supper and then came family worship—all the servants being present Mr. Spurgeon followed my prayer with the most wonderful prayer that perhaps I have ever heard from human lips, and I said afterwards to my friend Hall, "To-night we got into 'the hidings of his power,' for a man who can pray like that can outpreach the world.
— from Recollections of a Long Life: An Autobiography by Theodore L. (Theodore Ledyard) Cuyler

It was direct, too, and seemed (but perhaps merely seemed) to be the speech of an honest people.
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, December 1884, No. 3 by Chautauqua Institution

Taxes were authorized more reluctantly than loans, they became profitable more slowly, and did not, until the last year of war, reveal the fiscal capacities of the United States.
— from The New Nation by Frederic L. (Frederic Logan) Paxson

Musard, Madame, and her petroleum stock. NAPOLEON III., Emperor, introduced to Madame on the ice by Prince Murat; skates with Madame; invites Madame to sing at the Tuileries; the domino his favorite disguise; dances the Virginia reel; places Madame next to him at dinner; a distorted joke; takes command of the army; his death.
— from In the Courts of Memory, 1858-1875; from Contemporary Letters by L. de (Lillie de) Hegermann-Lindencrone

But Peter Mink said, "Ha, ha!"
— from The Tale of Grumpy Weasel Sleepy-Time Tales by Arthur Scott Bailey

After this one of the group gave his memories of the famous speed trial on the Lake Shore road, when five locomotives in relays, driven by picked men, set out to beat all records in a run of 510 miles from Chicago to Buffalo.
— from Careers of Danger and Daring by Cleveland Moffett