But a writer may err by making his sentences too uniformly compact and periodic, and an occasional loose sentence prevents the style from becoming too formal and gives the reader a certain relief.
— from The Elements of Style by William Strunk

They were reduced to the necessity of employing fish-bones for the points of their weapons; but the custom of dipping them in a venomous liquor, that poisoned the wounds which they inflicted, is alone sufficient to prove the most savage manners, since a people impressed with a sense of humanity would have abhorred so cruel a practice, and a nation skilled in the arts of war would have disdained so impotent a resource.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

When the king's troops, when his household, or his officers of any kind, passed through any part of the country, the yeomanry were bound to provide them with horses, carriages, and provisions, at a price regulated by the purveyor.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

On the evening of the day before the wedding, the bride has a ceremonial bath, and performs the ceremony of growing a jasmine shoot, the flowers of which she should cull and present as an offering to the deity.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

Their abilities would probably draw to them more than their numerical share of the actual administration of government; as the Athenians did not confide responsible public functions to Cleon or Hyperbolus (the employment of Cleon at Pylos and Amphipolis was purely exceptional), but Nicias, and Theramenes, and Alcibiades were in constant employment both at home and abroad, though known to sympathize more with oligarchy than with democracy.
— from Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill

This noted he covered her softly up again, albeit, seeing her so fair, he was tempted to adventure his life and lay himself by her side; however, for that he had heard her to be so obdurate and uncomplying in matters of this kind, he hazarded not himself, but, abiding at his leisure in the chamber the most part of the night, took from one of her coffers a purse and a night-rail, together with sundry rings and girdles, and laying them all in his chest, returned thither himself and shut himself up therein as before; and on this wise he did two nights, without the lady being ware of aught.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

Meanwhile the leaders and members of the Four Hundred most opposed to a democratic form of government—Phrynichus who had had the quarrel with Alcibiades during his command at Samos, Aristarchus the bitter and inveterate enemy of the commons, and Pisander and Antiphon and others of the chiefs
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Babbitt had heard stories of what the Athletic Club called “goings on” at young parties; of girls “parking” their corsets in the dressing-room, of “cuddling” and “petting,” and a presumable increase in what was known as Immorality.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

These stories, in passing from hand to hand, and receiving all the usual variations, frequently come about to the persons concerned, and produce animosities and quarrels among people, whose intentions are the most innocent and inoffensive.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

How long before the whole of your prophecy will be fulfilled I cannot say, but under the shadow of so much fulfillment in so short a time, and with such threats from a man who is one of the most prominent exponents of the San Francisco mining-ring staring me and this whole community defiantly in the face and pointing to a completion of your augury, do you blame me for feeling that this communication is the last I shall ever write for the Press, especially when a sense alike of personal self- respect, of duty to this money-oppressed and fear-ridden community, and of American fealty to the spirit of true Liberty all command me, and each more loudly than love of life itself, to declare the name of that prominent man to be JOHN B. WINTERS, President of the Yellow Jacket Company, a political aspirant and a military General?
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain

The indefatigable Morgan then put himself in communication with some of the inferior actors at the theatre, and pumped them over their cigars and punch, and all agreed that Costigan was poor, shabby, and given to debt and to drink.
— from The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray

114 For the use of the emperor's countryman, a cathedral, a place, and an aqueduct, were speedily constructed; the public and private edifices were adapted to the greatness of a royal city; and the strength of the walls resisted, during the lifetime of Justinian, the unskilful assaults of the Huns and Sclavonians.
— from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4 by Edward Gibbon

He was trained in the hardest kind of farm labor, receiving, in addition, such education as the good common schools of that town could give, supplemented by a brief course at Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass.
— from Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men by Various

Look at Ben-Zayb, him with the face of a friar, who’s carrying a pencil and a roll of paper in his hand.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal

She was loaded with a full cargo of drugs, coffee, clothing, and provisions, and although she was a fast ship of 14 knots, she seems to have made a bad landfall on the morning of the 18th of August, 1863, and while she was heading for New Inlet, distant about eight miles, she was intercepted by the Federal gunboat Niphon , when she up helm and ran ashore, the crew escaping in boats.
— from Derelicts: An Account of Ships Lost at Sea in General Commercial Traffic And a Brief History of Blockade Runners Stranded Along the North Carolina Coast, 1861-1865 by James Sprunt

There are at the present time many little towns in New England along whose pleasant elm or maple shaded streets are scattered characters as pronounced as any in Pembroke.
— from Pembroke: A Novel by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

Socrates has just returned from the camp at Potidæa, and after answering the questions of his friends, has begun to satisfy his own curiosity:
— from Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Complete Series I, II, and III by John Addington Symonds

I’ll say I’ve caught another prisoner, and am taking him to my father for interrogation.” Again Michael forced back his emotions.
— from Highland Ballad by Christopher Leadem

We must be content to creep upwards step by step; planting each foot on the firmest finding of the moment; using the compass and such other instruments as we have; observing without either despair or contempt the clouds and precipices above and beneath us.
— from Philosophies by Ross, Ronald, Sir