Since thou hast sought to make us break our vows, Which we durst never yet, and with strain’d pride To come betwixt our sentences and our power, Which nor our nature, nor our place can bear, Our potency made good, take thy reward.
— from The Tragedy of King Lear by William Shakespeare

+ Sodaya, Soldaia , or Soldachia , called by Orientals Súdak , stands on the S.E. coast of the Crimea, west of Kaffa.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

There the philosopher applies such a strong medicine to a fresh grief as would be quite unnecessary in one of any continuance; nor, if this very book had been sent to the captives some years after, would it have found any wounds to cure, but only scars; for grief, by a gentle progress and slow degrees, wears away imperceptibly.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

After the Conquest, the combined bishoprics of Sherborne and Ramsbury (founded in 909 for Wiltshire) had their see established at Old Sarum.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, the Venerable, Saint

If he could but once set eyes on him, he thought the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether away, as was the habit of mysterious things when well examined.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

I could wish that Paluel or Pompey, those two noted dancers of my time, could have taught us to cut capers, by only seeing them do it, without stirring from our places, as these men pretend to inform the understanding without ever setting it to work, or that we could learn to ride, handle a pike, touch a lute, or sing without the trouble of practice, as these attempt to make us judge and speak well, without exercising us in judging or speaking.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

But the tax-collector, who dined there every day, complained bitterly of such companionship.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

A school of European sociologists represented by Gumplowicz, Ratzenhofer, and Novicow stressed conflict as the characteristic behavior of social groups.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

When you behold a large and beautiful house, surely no one can persuade you it was built for mice and weasels, though you do not see the master; and would it not, therefore, be most manifest folly to imagine that a world so magnificently adorned, with such an immense variety of celestial bodies of such exquisite beauty, and that the vast sizes and magnitude of the sea and land were intended as the abode of man, and not as the mansion of the immortal Gods?
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

The seeds of evergreens should be kept dry and cold, but other seeds, as a rule, are best packed in a box of slightly moist sand set in a cold place or buried in the ground.
— from Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study by Ontario. Department of Education

Dostoyevsky, on the other hand, triumphs in his dialogue; one sees his characters because one shares all their sadness, their passions, their intelligence, and their sensibility.
— from Contemporary Russian Novelists by Serge Persky

A narrow canal, bordered with banks of flowers, conducted the canoe from the gateway to a little stone basin, planted round with trees, at the roots of which were placed carved blocks of stone, as if designed for seats.
— from The Infidel; or, the Fall of Mexico. Vol. II. by Robert Montgomery Bird

He holds her estates; and therefore Count Orso, whose respect for law causes him to have a keen eye for matrimonial alliances, is now paternally willing, and even anxious to bestow Michiella upon him when the Pontifical divorce can be obtained; so that the long-coveted fruitful acres may be in the family.
— from Vittoria — Complete by George Meredith

But the young gallants were chiefly bent on speculating on the vision of loveliness that had flashed on the eyes of some early visitants at the well.
— from The Prince and the Page: A Story of the Last Crusade by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

“Then you can be of service to me, that is, if you know it well enough.
— from Try and Trust; Or, Abner Holden's Bound Boy by Alger, Horatio, Jr.

"Dear woman," he urged, "not all the fathers in Florence can bind our spirits.
— from The God of Love by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy

I felt sure that she was trying to understand the manner of man I was, so that she might make up her mind how far I could be of service to her.
— from The Coming of the King by Joseph Hocking