Alas, we know very well that Ideals can never be completely embodied in practice.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

[C] engage in petting.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

I suppose she too must have lacked the saving dullness—and her career ended in Patusan.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

The history of institutions, that is to say, the family, the church, economic institutions, political institutions, etc., leads inevitably to comparison, classification, the formation of class names or concepts, and eventually to the formulation of law.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

Ils communiquent et interagissent par leur boîte à lettres, ouverte au public.
— from Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas by Marie Lebert

The costly education in politics had led to political torpor.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

But the Cock expostulated in piteous tones from his perch: “If you kill me, who will announce to you the appearance of the dawn?
— from Aesop's Fables Translated by George Fyler Townsend by Aesop

" "Antinous," answered Telemachus, "I cannot eat in peace, nor take pleasure of any kind with such men as you are.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

v [B16; c] engage in prostitution.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

In a remote corner, embowered in palms, was a cottage piano, with a copy of the 'Kensington Coil' open on the music-stand.
— from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. The Man Of Property by John Galsworthy

A cause which can excite immense passion when it is associated with war, is simply a subject for boredom when it becomes a problem of peace-time organisation.
— from The Fruits of Victory A Sequel to The Great Illusion by Norman Angell

No doubt in each case the failure of good measures admits, like every calamity either in private or in public life, of explanation, and after the event it is easy to see why, for example, the Poor Law when extended to Ireland did not produce even the good effects, such as they are, which in England are to be set against its numerous evils; or why an emigration of unparalleled proportions has diminished population without much diminishing poverty; why the disestablishment of the Anglican Church has increased rather than diminished the hostility to England of the Catholic priesthood; or why two Land Acts have not contented Irish farmers.
— from England's Case Against Home Rule by Albert Venn Dicey

The preachings were forbidden, and the ministers and congregations arrested and chastised, even in places where the custom had been established previously to the 23d August.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 11: 1566, part II by John Lothrop Motley

[26] A very curious example is printed from Harl.
— from Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie by Thomas Tusser

Cyrus made directly at his brother, darting his javelin with so true an aim as to strike him in the breast, and wound him through the cuirass; though the wound (afterwards cured by the Greek surgeon Ktesias) could not have been very severe, since Artaxerxes did not quit the field, but, on the contrary, engaged in personal combat, he and those around him, against this handful of assailants.
— from History of Greece, Volume 09 (of 12) by George Grote

But after what has been previously said (II. 19 ff), we can only allow this narrative to have a value for the conceptions existing in Persian epic poetry about the foundation of the empire of Assyria, and the campaigns of Assyrian rulers to the distant East.
— from The History of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (of 6) by Max Duncker

"You see I cannot enjoy it, papa.
— from The Seaboard Parish Volume 1 by George MacDonald

Nor did he cross over to Britain, before he had carefully examined, in person [81], the navigation, the harbours, and the most convenient point of landing in the island.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 01: Julius Caesar by Suetonius

“Yes, I know what you are going to tell me, monsieur; I know that there is an order of the king’s to prevent all secret communications with the defenders of Belle-Isle, and that is exactly why I do not offer to communicate except in presence of my staff.”
— from The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

Carrera's failure at Chillan cost him his prestige, his rivals at Santiago took advantage of his absence to expel him from the junta, his violent measures at Concepcion exasperated its people to revolt, and his own troops became mutinous.
— from The South American Republics, Part 2 of 2 by Thomas Cleland Dawson