I saw clear as daylight how strange it is that not a single person living in this mad world has had the daring to go straight for it all and send it flying to the devil!
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Which when I proposed to be considered and discussed, he, so far modestly, shrunk from the burthen.
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

To save the expense of a gardener, Mary and I undertook to keep the garden in order; and all the cooking and household work that could not easily be managed by one servant-girl, was done by my mother and sister, with a little occasional help from me: only a little, because, though a woman in my own estimation, I was still a child in theirs; and my mother, like most active, managing women, was not gifted with very active daughters: for this reason—that being so clever and diligent herself, she was never tempted to trust her affairs to a deputy, but, on the contrary, was willing to act and think for others as well as for number one; and whatever was the business in hand, she was apt to think that no one could do it so well as herself: so that whenever I offered to assist her, I received such an answer as—‘No, love, you cannot indeed—there’s nothing here you can do. Go and help your sister, or get her to take a walk with you—tell her she must not sit so much, and stay so constantly in the house as she does—she may well look thin and dejected.’
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Sebastian, however, tore himself free from Sir Toby's clutches, and drawing his sword would have fought them both, but that Olivia herself, having heard of the quarrel, came running in, and with many reproaches sent Sir Toby and his friend away.
— from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Fernandez (for that was her brother's name)—tho' the camp-bed was as soft as any one in Alsace, yet he could not shut his eyes in it.—As soon as it was day he rose, and hearing Diego was risen too, he entered his chamber, and discharged his sister's commission.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Destruction sure o'er all your heads impends Ulysses comes, and death his steps attends.
— from The Odyssey by Homer

and on the king turning angrily to him and saying, "What are you talking about?" he replied, "I admit that I am vexed and put out, when I see that all you descendants of Zeus alike take delight in flatterers and jesters, for Hercules had his Cercopes, and Dionysus his Sileni, and with you too
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

On the whole he gave us a metrical and emotional composition actually describing his sensations, not even omitting sympathetic reference to the sufferings of the victim.
— from The Literature of Ecstasy by Albert Mordell

Still, his brother's message chilled and depressed his spirits.
— from The Mystery of Lincoln's Inn by Robert Machray

"Let's sit here, Miller," he said, having selected a seat near the rear of the car and deposited his suitcase in a rack.
— from The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. (Charles Waddell) Chesnutt

And verely Cato himselfe the elder of that name signified thus much in a letter missive which he wrote unto his sonne: wherein he straitly charged him, that if he had accomplished the full time of his service, and that his captain had given him his conge and discharge, he should immediately returne: or in case he had leifer stay still in the campe, that he should obtaine of his captaine permission and licence to hurt and kill his enemie .
— from Plutarch's Romane Questions With dissertations on Italian cults, myths, taboos, man-worship, aryan marriage, sympathetic magic and the eating of beans by Plutarch

The father affected to doubt his son’s capacity, and designed him still to follow the same calling as himself; but the student had no inclination to drive fat oxen or consort with unlettered hinds, and stole away to “a cloister” some twenty miles off, where the monks cordially welcomed him.
— from Witch, Warlock, and Magician Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland by W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport) Adams

Croc, croc ," and down he sails to the earth.
— from The Wild Turkey and Its Hunting by Charles L. Jordan

Not satisfied with this great acquisition, Akbar resolved to recover the town and districts of Basseen and Daman, which had formerly belonged to Cambaya, and were now possessed by the Portuguese; and as this intention became known to Luis de Almeyda who commanded at Daman, he sent notice to the viceroy, who immediately sent him succours and prepared to follow there in person, going accordingly from Goa about the end of December 1571, with nine gallies, five gallions, eight galliots, and ninety smaller vessels.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Robert Kerr

In the remainder of the painting, were seen the two sisters showing Tereus the relics of his supper, the head and hands of his own child; fear and bitter laughter are depicted on their faces; Tereus is leaping up from his couch and drawing his sword against them, and he has struck out his foot against the table
— from The Greek Romances of Heliodorus, Longus and Achilles Tatius Comprising the Ethiopics; or, Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea; The pastoral amours of Daphnis and Chloe; and the loves of Clitopho and Leucippe by of Emesa Heliodorus

Napoleon III. was unlike all these, for with transcendent cunning and duplicity he stole his throne, and then sacrificed the interests of France to support his usurpation.
— from Beacon Lights of History, Volume 10: European Leaders by John Lord