He is deficient also in feeling confidence, but he is most clearly seen as exceeding in the case of pains; he is a fainthearted kind of man, for he fears all things: the Brave man is just the contrary, for boldness is the property of the light-hearted and hopeful.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

My conclusion from both is, that since all our perceptions are different from each other, and from every thing else in the universe, they are also distinct and separable, and may be considered as separately existent, and may exist separately, and have no need of any thing else to support their existence.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

A minute passes in profound silence; the van does not move, it stands still, but vague sounds begin to come from beneath it, like the crunch of snow under sledge-ru
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

In South America the Dutch West India Company had owned nearly three hundred leagues of coast from Bahia in Brazil northward; but much had recently escaped from their hands.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

The outer door would not open to our knock, and nothing more substantial than a torrent of bad language came from behind it.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

She had found a phrase by which to describe her, a term of contempt that rose to her lips, called forth by I know not what confused and mysterious mental ratiocination.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Eating and drinking, crying for cheaper food, bawling in taverns, without decent conversation, or behaviour or manners.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

While each to each proud challenge flings Borne in the song the wild bee sings.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

For me, the ransom of my bold attempt Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face; But if I thrive, the gain of my attempt The least of you shall share his part thereof.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Professor Challenger fell back into his chair with his face buried in his hands, while the audience gave one long, deep sigh of relief as they realized that the incident was over.
— from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

Thus the amount voided by the cow, for example, is much greater than that voided by the horse; so that, in this way, the inferior quality of the former is, to some extent, compensated for by its greater quantity.
— from Manures and the principles of manuring by Charles Morton Aikman

“Only last Sunday,” returned Bessie brightly; “but I always put on my best things when I drive with you, that your daughter may do you credit;” for Bessie in her heart thought her father the handsomest man in Cliffe; and indeed many people admired the doctor’s clever, refined face, and quiet, genial manners.
— from Our Bessie by Rosa Nouchette Carey

About this time he married one Mrs. Herbert, a gentlewoman of a very good family, but no widow, as the Oxford Antiquary has reported; she had a competent fortune, but it was most of it unfortunately lost, by being put out on ill securities, so that it was of little advantage to him.
— from Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late Wars by Samuel Butler

The monkey crawled farther back into the hole in the ground where the tiger's paw could not reach him.
— from Fairy Tales from Brazil: How and Why Tales from Brazilian Folk-Lore by Elsie Spicer Eells

Margaret might have asked whether Hester had been reasonable when she had had neither husband nor lover to care for; but, instead of this, she opened the piano, and tempted her sister away from her watch to practise a duet.
— from Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau

This is not true; the feeling called forth by intercourse with these people, strange as it may sound, was a distinctly agreeable one.
— from What to Do? Thoughts Evoked By the Census of Moscow by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

But about three o'clock on the second day, specks of ice began to flicker here and there on the horizon, then larger bulks came floating by in forms as picturesque as ever—(one, I particularly remember, a human hand thrust up out of the water with outstretched forefinger, as if to warn us against proceeding farther), until at last the whole sea became clouded with hummocks that seemed to gather on our path in magical multiplicity.
— from Letters from High Latitudes Being Some Account of a Voyage in 1856 of the Schooner Yacht "Foam" to Iceland, Jan Meyen, and Spitzbergen by Dufferin and Ava, Frederick Temple Blackwood, Marquis of

Scruples of conscience as to the propriety of all theatrical representations (which appear to be exclusively entertained by the Gallican church, for both in Italy and Spain men of religion and piety have thought very differently on this subject,) prevented the representation in St. Cyr; it appeared in print, and was universally abused and reprobated; and this reprobation of it long survived its author.
— from Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by August Wilhelm von Schlegel

Mabel let the curtain fall back into place; she had been peering out into the street, and turned to face him.
— from To Love by Margaret Peterson

Any lover of his kind, any one who longs for fame, could find both it and the blessing of the homeless by this means, and in the end get a fair return for his investment.
— from Euthenics, the science of controllable environment A plea for better living conditions as a first step toward higher human efficiency by Ellen H. (Ellen Henrietta) Richards