To criticise or praise the genius that creates these men and women is to criticise or praise humanity itself.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

c. A young man is like a fair new house, the carpenter leaves it well built, in good repair, of solid stuff; but a bad tenant lets it rain in, and for want of reparation, fall to decay, &c. Our parents, tutors, friends, spare no cost to bring us up in our youth, in all manner of virtuous education; but when we are left to ourselves, idleness as a tempest drives all virtuous motions out of our minds, et nihili sumus , on a sudden, by sloth and such bad ways, we come to nought.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

"Sir Knight," replied the trader, "I entreat your worship in the name of this present company of princes, that, to save us from charging our consciences with the confession of a thing we have never seen or heard of, and one moreover so much to the prejudice of the Empresses and Queens of the Alcarria and Estremadura, your worship will be pleased to show us some portrait of this lady, though it be no bigger than a grain of wheat; for by the thread one gets at the ball, and in this way we shall be satisfied and easy, and you will be content and pleased; nay, I believe we are already so far agreed with you
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

If the thing is composed of parts, then we suppose that the thought of the thing must be composed of the thoughts of the parts.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

Thus in Rhenish Bavaria the navel-string is kept for a while wrapt up in a piece of old linen, and then cut or pricked to pieces according as the child is a boy or a girl, in order that he or she may grow up to be a skilful workman or a good sempstress.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

Patience—patience;—with the shades of all the good and great for company; and for solace, the perspective of your own infinite life; and for work, the study and the communication of principles, the making those instincts prevalent, the conversion of the world.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

80 Both in civil and criminal proceedings, the plaintiff, or accuser, the defendant, or even the witness, were exposed to mortal challenge from the antagonist who was destitute of legal proofs; and it was incumbent on them either to desert their cause, or publicly to maintain their honor, in the lists of battle.
— 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

I went to the Wayanda and showed them to Mr. Chase, with whom I had a long and frank conversation, during which he explained to me the confusion caused in Washington by the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the sudden accession to power of Mr. Johnson, who was then supposed to be bitter and vindictive in his feelings toward the South, and the wild pressure of every class of politicians to enforce on the new President their pet schemes.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

Mitimbuy (nagtimbuy) siyag písus sa ílang kapunúngan, He contributed one peso to their organization.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

People are accustomed to believe, and have been encouraged in the belief by some who aspire to the character of philosophers, that their feelings, on subjects of this nature, are better than reasons, and render reasons unnecessary.
— from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill

“I heard speak of you one day when I was visiting the President of the Council,” said Chichikov, on perceiving that no one else had a mind to begin a conversation.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

The centre of the street door was perfectly covered with a great brass-plate, on which was engraved 'Mrs. Micawber's Boarding Establishment for Young Ladies;' but I never found that any young lady had ever been to school there; or that any young lady ever came, or proposed to come; or that the least preparation was ever made to receive any young lady.
— from Life of Charles Dickens by Marzials, Frank T. (Frank Thomas), Sir

But even in crystallization from watery solution of chlorate of potash the bias in favour of thorough homogeneousness is not in every contingency decisive.
— from The Molecular Tactics of a Crystal by Kelvin, William Thomson, Baron

It was; therefore, obviously the cue of Parma to promise the immediate departure of the troops.
— from PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete by John Lothrop Motley

With this course of argument conscience was convinced, or pretended to be, and curled itself up and slept, and would have continued thus in charmed repose, but for this new disturbance.
— from The Maid of Honour: A Tale of the Dark Days of France. Vol. 2 (of 3) by Lewis Wingfield

With a cry of pity the Duchess would have taken the stricken girl in her arms, but Hylda held out a shaking hand with the letter in it which had brought this new woe and this crisis foreseen by Lord Windlehurst.
— from The Weavers: a tale of England and Egypt of fifty years ago - Volume 5 by Gilbert Parker

" 27:1 When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.
— from The World English Bible (WEB), Complete by Anonymous

But until then I can only put the police here on the track.'
— from The Dictator by Justin McCarthy

The captains of past times who fell upon the field of battle used to make their last confession to the cross on the hilt of their sword; if there was no priest at hand, it was the sword that received and kept the last confidences between a human soul and God.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

And ours as much above it, As, Renault, thou'rt superior to Cethegus, Or Pierre to Cassius.
— from Venice Preserved: A Tragedy by Thomas Otway