At one moment she makes me like a beggar, and the next I am a young man with good clothes on my back; it is an easy matter for the gods who live in heaven to make any man look either rich or poor.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

There was every chance of my becoming a most miserable old bachelor, when, by the best luck in the world, I made a journey into another state, and was smitten by, and smote again, and wooed, won, and married, the present Mrs. Bullfrog, all in the space of a fortnight.
— from Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I am cold, I am afraid, and there are creatures which crawl over my body.”
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

As soon as was in condition to yield attention, she described the present situation of her mistress, who had no sooner reached her lodgings the night before, than she closeted her, and in a rapture of joy gave her to know that she had seen me at the ball, where I appeared in the character which she always thought my due, with such advantage of transformation that, unless my image had been engraven on her heart, it would have been impossible to know me for the person who had worn her aunt's livery; that by the language of my eyes, she was assured of the continuance of my passion for her, and consequently of my being unengaged to any other; and that, though she did not doubt I would speedily fall upon some method of being introduced, she was so impatient to hear of me, that she (Miss Williams) had been sent abroad this very morning, on purpose to learn the name and character I at present bore.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

And as we have a way of sporting that is carried on more by subtlety than force, as springing hares, and angling with line and hook, there is also the like amongst other animals.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

He was naturally frank; the continued absence of Perdita and myself became remarkable; and Raymond soon found relief from the constraint of months, by an unreserved confidence with his two friends.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

For they were to pick up Miss Bartlett at Summer Street, where she had been dropped as the carriage went down, to pay a call on Mr. Beebe’s old mother.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

The wine was brought, and the English champion, declaring he had no spleen against any man for differing in opinion from him, any more than for difference of complexion, drank to the good health of all present; the compliment was returned, and the conversation once more became unreserved though more general than before.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

It was this peculiarity in the costume of Mr. Banks, coupled with those true and tried qualities as a friend for which he was famous, that led his customers to proclaim him as stunningJoe Banks !
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

An instance of a Pyramid is met with in the crest of Malcolm, Bart., and an Obelisk in that of the town of Todmorden.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

Laugh at the color of me bally keb.”
— from The Raft by Coningsby Dawson

The water from this river, though probably not a fourth of the volume of the Yukon, discolors the water of the latter completely; and a couple of miles, below the junction the whole river appears almost as dirty as White River.
— from Klondyke Nuggets A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest by Joseph Ladue

But the fact of the incorruptibility of some bodies was ascribed by Plato, not to the condition of matter, but to the will of the artificer, God, Whom he represents as saying to the heavenly bodies: "By your own nature you are subject to dissolution, but by My will you are indissoluble, for My will is more powerful than the link that binds you together."
— from Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

And then at that instant, as I stood there, it was suddenly driven home to me how poor and purposeless a life I should lead while this crippled friend of ours and the companion of my boyhood were away in the forefront of the storm.
— from The Great Shadow and Other Napoleonic Tales by Arthur Conan Doyle

"But answer me this: suppose the proof could be obtained, suppose the box containing the contract of marriage between Charles Stuart and Lucy Walters could be obtained—what then?"
— from The Coming of the King by Joseph Hocking

The conclusion of Mrs. Barbara's field-day was perhaps the most signal achievement of all.
— from The Smuggler: A Tale. Volumes I-III by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

Passing on up the State road that leads through Independence, in Jackson county, I could not help but notice the change that had come over my brother.
— from The Border and the Buffalo: An Untold Story of the Southwest Plains The Bloody Border of Missouri and Kansas. The Story of the Slaughter of the Buffalo. Westward among the Big Game and Wild Tribes. A Story of Mountain and Plain by John R. Cook

“ The number of my years hath given me courage to tell you that, a short time since, I was considering the colour of my beard, which caused me to reflect on the few days which remain to me before my course shall end: and that has led me to admire the lilies and the corn, and many kinds of plants, whose green colours are changed into white when they are ready to yield their fruits.
— from Palissy the Huguenot Potter: A True Tale by C. L. (Cecilia Lucy) Brightwell

She woke Garth, and made him drink a cupful of milk, but he was too sleepy to eat.
— from 'Possum by Mary Grant Bruce