Si seoit sur cet arbre une grant oysel qui avoit en son chief une creste qui estoit semblable au paon, et les plumes du col resplendissants come fin or.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

For as iron receives its consistency and temper by first being submitted to fire and so made soft and then dipped into cold water, so when friends have been first warmed and melted with praises we can afterwards use gentle remonstrance, which has a similar effect to that of dipping in the case of the metal.
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

Thus there is a relation and connection between reality and negation, or rather a transition from the former to the latter, which makes every reality representable to us as a quantum; and the schema of a reality as the quantity of something in so far as it fills time, is exactly this continuous and uniform generation of the reality in time, as we descend in time from the sensation which has a certain degree, down to the vanishing thereof, or gradually ascend from negation to the quantity thereof.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

“Monsieur,” replied the count, with a chilling air, “I am very happy to have been the means of preserving a son to his mother, for they say that the sentiment of maternity is the most holy of all; and the good fortune which occurred to me, monsieur, might have enabled you to dispense with a duty which, in its discharge, confers an undoubtedly great honor; for I am aware that M. de Villefort is not usually lavish of the favor which he now bestows on me,—a favor which, however estimable, is unequal to the satisfaction which I have in my own consciousness.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Public opinion is the mixed result of the intellect of the community acting upon general feeling.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

It was dark before all the prisoners were collected and under guard, including the regiment that arrived after the fight.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

For I had not known or learned that neither was evil a substance, nor our soul that chief and unchangeable good.
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

Therefore, now, Dame Campan whisks assiduous to this mantua-maker and to that: and there is clipping of frocks and gowns, upper clothes and under, great and small; such a clipping and sewing, as might have been dispensed with.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

That he was surnamed Thurinus, I can affirm upon good foundation, for when a boy, I had a small bronze statue of him, with that name upon it in iron letters, nearly effaced by age, which I presented to the emperor 113 , by whom it is now revered amongst the other tutelary deities in his chamber.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

When Count de Villefort, with Blanche, came to the convent to give Emily the advice of the advocate, he was informed of the contents of M. Quesnel's letter, and gave her his sincere congratulations, on the occasion; but she observed, that, when the first expression of satisfaction had faded from his countenance, an unusual gravity succeeded, and she scarcely hesitated to enquire its cause.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

This little girl came an unwelcome guest to a mother who hated the father, and to Dr. Fawcett, not only because he had outgrown all liking for crying babies, but because, as in his excited disturbance he admitted to his wife, his fortune was reduced by speculations in London, and he had no desire to turn to in his old age and support another child.
— from The Conqueror: Being the True and Romantic Story of Alexander Hamilton by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

He has given them back their strong armour and their weapons of war, and if they get loose and come among us, great havoc will they make of us, therefore smite him down and destroy him!”
— from Household stories from the Land of Hofer; or, Popular Myths of Tirol by Rachel Harriette Busk

Extracts from the diary of a captured submarine commander were circulated among us, giving ground for our confidence, in the frequent admissions of failure—"owing to a sudden and unexpected alteration of course."
— from Merchantmen-at-arms : the British merchants' service in the war by David W. (David William) Bone

Argentina Geography Location: Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile and Uruguay Geographic coordinates: 34 00 S, 64 00 W Map references: South America Area: total: 2,766,890 sq km land: 2,736,690 sq km water: 30,200 sq km Area - comparative: slightly less than three-tenths the size of the US Land boundaries: total: 9,665 km border countries:
— from The 2001 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

There did not seem to be a great deal of bustle connected with this establishment; as a matter of fact, there was no sign of life at all unless you count an unshaven gentleman in white woolen socks and a calico shirt, who lent the support of his back to a post on the piazza and snored feebly.
— from Sudden Jim by Clarence Budington Kelland

Our official communiqué, as usual, gave us no details, but one of the boys in our town was wounded, and is in a near-by ambulance, where he has been seen by his mother; she brings back word that it was, as he called it, "a bloody slaughter in a hand-to-hand fight."
— from On the Edge of the War Zone From the Battle of the Marne to the Entrance of the Stars and Stripes by Mildred Aldrich

When Othello came upon the stage the foreign actor received but a cool and unenthusiastic greeting.
— from Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1876 by Various

There is a custom among us gentlemen of fortune, that when we follow the same chase, and take the wind out of each other’s sails, we think sixty yards of the sea-beach, and a brace of rifles, are no bad way of making our odds even.”
— from The Pirate Andrew Lang Edition by Walter Scott

Clem, as usual, gave them various messages for the "folks at home" and assured them with gracious smiles, that they "would ever be the subject of his most distinguished consideration."
— from A Canyon Voyage The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on Land, in the Years 1871 and 1872 by Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh