30 301 This spirit of persecution reflects dishonor on the religion of Zoroaster; but as it was not productive of any civil commotion, it served to strengthen the new monarchy, by uniting all the various inhabitants of Persia in the bands of religious zeal.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

with fruitless toil Of rites austere a child I sought: Thus seed cast forth on barren soil Still lifeless lies and comes to naught.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

The observation is that the anxiety dreams often have a content which is entirely free from distortion and in which the censorship is, so to speak, eluded.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

The maid begged her pardon for coming in, saying that she had fancied the bell rang.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

The coffin laid upon two line-tubs, between the vice-bench and the open hatchway; the Carpenter caulking its seams; the string of twisted oakum slowly unwinding from a large roll of it placed in the bosom of his frock.—Ahab comes slowly from the cabin-gangway, and hears Pip following him.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

Then the stewardess came in; she trod softly and leaned her hand on grandma's bunk.
— from The Garden Party, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

And to any one in the same circumstances I suspect the same thing would occur.
— from Fairy Tales from Spain by José Muñoz Escámez

In the second book named, Andrew Crawford is sent to sea, in consequence of the mercantile reverses of his father, with a due charge of good advice from the latter.
— from British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIII January and April, 1871 by Various

The Jewish deputy Vinaver delivered a powerful speech, in which, among other things, he spoke as follows: From this platform, from which so much has been said about political liberties, we Jews, the representatives of one of the most tortured nationalities in the land, have not uttered a single word about ourselves, because we did not consider it seemly to speak here of civil inequality....
— from History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 3 [of 3] From the Accession of Nicholas II until the Present Day by Simon Dubnow

The rise of Christianity is simply the success of a system which, on a good economic foundation, copied from that of the Jewish synagogues, assimilates the main attractions of similar worships, while availing itself of exoteric and democratic as well as esoteric methods.
— from The Evolution of States by J. M. (John Mackinnon) Robertson

I tell this small story, partly for my own pleasure, and as a tribute to that remarkable man, who stands alongside of Burns, and Scott, Chalmers, and Carlyle, the foremost Scotsmen of their time,—a rough, almost rugged nature, shaggy with strength, clad with zeal as with a cloak, in some things sensitive and shamefaced as a girl; moody and self-involved, but never selfish, full of courage, and of keen insight into nature and men, and the principles of both, but simple as a child in the ways of the world; self-taught and self-directed, argumentative and scientific, as few men of culture have ever been, and yet with more imagination than either logic or knowledge; to the last as shy and blate as when working in the quarries at Cromarty.
— from Spare Hours by John Brown

I killed Artiaga of Cadiz; I scuttled the ship at Alonso, drowned the nuns, and stole the church-plate—Call Magdalena—Where's Magdalena?—You are murdering me!
— from The Infidel; or, the Fall of Mexico. Vol. I. by Robert Montgomery Bird

What object could I seek to serve?”
— from The Lion's Skin by Rafael Sabatini

When they reached the rocket, Larkwell circled it several times, studying it from all angles.
— from First on the Moon by Jeff Sutton

But now I'll crunch it so that she'll only have the empty bag left!
— from One of Life's Slaves by Jonas Lie