A good conversationalist, however, is not too serious.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

Margaret had always a thirst for knowledge, and she felt more desirous than ever to cultivate her intellect, now that she found how agreeable it was to converse, or to listen to persons who talked well.
— from Margaret Capel: A Novel, vol. 1 of 3 by Ellen Wallace

It is bewailing the dead, and good cause has it now to sound its notes— Aye de me !”
— from Manco, the Peruvian Chief Or, An Englishman's Adventures in the Country of the Incas by William Henry Giles Kingston

Consequently, he is not the successful angler that his qualifications entitle him to be.
— from Chats on Angling by H. V. Hart-Davis

He and all his household had departed from the ancient religion of the Jews, and were believers in the doctrines of the Christians, for which cause he is now to suffer; and of that, although I have not spoken to him this evening, I think he has already received some intelligence, for certain of his friends passed in to him, and they covered their faces as they went in, as if weeping.”
— from Valerius. A Roman Story by J. G. (John Gibson) Lockhart

He reverted to his military début at Toulon, the circumstances that first called him into notice, the sudden ascendency which he acquired by his first successes, and the ambition with which they inspired him: “And yet,” said he, “I was far from entertaining a high opinion of myself.
— from Memoirs of the life, exile, and conversations of the Emperor Napoleon. (Vol. IV) by Las Cases, Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné, comte de

This “firmament,” that God made, and “called Heaven,” is not the same as mentioned in the first verse, but is included in the words: “The heavens and the earth.”
— from A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

The idleness and pretension of all classes in the capital had increased now to such an extent, that practically the whole of the necessary work had to be done by foreigners; there being as many as 40,000 French subjects in Madrid dressing as Spaniards, and calling themselves Burgundians or Walloons, to escape the special tax on foreigners.
— from The Court of Philip IV.: Spain in Decadence by Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp) Hume

As Truth can brook no compromises, has it not the same limitations that surround social and domestic hospitality?
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII. Interviews by Robert Green Ingersoll

Thus reasoning, I lay down with a light heart in my caboose, having invoked, not the saints, but every decent Christian I could find, to take care that I might be aroused at four p.m., in order that I might have a good wash before I started on my little run of 1,500 miles, as far as Port Arthur.
— from Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual Experiences by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie