Now this latter supposition is obviously realised in the case of persons of leisure in civilised society; whose needs of food, clothing, shelter, etc., are abundantly supplied through the complex social habit which we call the institution of private property: and I know no empirical ground for supposing that a cultivated man tends, in consequence of the keen and varied pleasure which he seeks and enjoys, to live longer than a man who goes through a comparatively dull round of monotonous routine activity, interspersed by slightly pleasurable intervals of repose and play.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

He said, it was very reasonable to think, not only that the species of men were originally much larger, but also, that there must have been giants in former ages; which as it is asserted by history and tradition, so it hath been confirmed by huge bones and skulls, casually dug up in several parts of the kingdom, far exceeding the common dwindled race of man in our days.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift

He said “it was very reasonable to think, not only that the species of men were originally much larger, but also that there must have been giants in former ages; which, as it is asserted by history and tradition, so it has been confirmed by huge bones and skulls, casually dug up in several parts of the kingdom, far exceeding the common dwindled race of men in our days.” He argued, “that the very laws of nature absolutely required we should have been made, in the beginning of a size more large and robust; not so liable to destruction from every little accident, of a tile falling from a house, or a stone cast from the hand of a boy, or being drowned in a little brook.”
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

[The Chouans.] COUDRAI (Du), register of mortgages at Alencon, time of Louis XVIII.
— from Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z by Anatole Cerfberr

I got to Turin at the beginning of December, and at Rivoli I found the Corticelli, who had been warned by the Chevalier de Raiberti of my arrival.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

—Ciertamente, por medio de carros de reparto o mandaderos.
— from Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader by Ernesto Nelson

Mrs. Richmond assented heavily; then turned in her 74 chair directly round on me. '
— from The Romantic Lady by Michael Arlen

I was haunted last night when I was in bed by the most cold, desolate recollections of my past life here; I was glad to try and think of the forest, and warm my hands at the thought of it.
— from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson — Volume 1 by Robert Louis Stevenson

That, according to the La Crosse Daily Republican , of March 20, 1886, darkness suddenly settled upon the city of Oshkosh, Wis., at 3 P.M. , March 19.
— from The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort

At the end of three months the poor child died resting on my left arm."
— from Celebrated Claimants from Perkin Warbeck to Arthur Orton by Anonymous

H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 368: "This brute put his foot in a crabhole, and came down, rolling on my leg.''
— from Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Edward Ellis Morris

These extraordinary variations in the total and partial hairy coat of the body, which are so noticeable, not only in comparing different races of men, but also in comparing different families of the same race, can only be explained on the assumption that in man the hairy coat is, on the whole, a rudimentary organ, a useless inheritance from the more thickly-coated apes.
— from The Evolution of Man — Volume 2 by Ernst Haeckel

This is not strange when we stop to consider that this bird is more or less irregular in its occurrence, apparently fluctuating in numbers in different localities and perhaps choosing different routes of migration.
— from Life Histories of North American Wood Warblers, Part One and Part Two by Arthur Cleveland Bent

Strangely enough, while it commences with a supernatural oracle, there is not a trace of fatalism in it; but through all, a clear, distinct recognition of moral responsibility, of the power to resist evil, and the guilt of yielding to it.
— from Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 by Harriet Beecher Stowe

“I may as well tell you, Nelson, that the fortune and happiness of two orphan children, distant relatives of mine, depend on the finding of that old pocketbook.”
— from Airship Andy; Or, The Luck of a Brave Boy by Frank V. Webster

When dey was nearly 'cross de river Old Master dip up some water and wash his face a little, then he look at Ned and he say, "Ned you look sick, I believe you've got lepersy."
— from Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Oklahoma Narratives by United States. Work Projects Administration