Here my mistress first began her part, with telling me that I must have good spirits, and learn to be free with her; that she had not taken me to be a common servant, to do domestic drudgery, but to be a kind of companion to her; and that if I would be a good girl, she would do more than twenty mothers for me; to all which I answered only by the profoundest and the awkwardest curtsies, and a few monosyllables, such as "'yes!
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

Simmias said: I must confess, Socrates, that doubts did arise in our minds, and each of us was urging and inciting the other to put the question which we wanted to have answered and which neither of us liked to ask, fearing that our importunity might be troublesome under present at such a time.
— from Phaedo by Plato

She could see that Drouet did not have the keenest sensibilities.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser

With this, Mr. Bob Sawyer having handed the old lady to a chair, shut the door, drew another chair close to her, and waited to hear detailed the symptoms of some disorder from which he saw in perspective a long train of profits and advantages.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

I can see them dwarfed, diseased, stunted, their little lives broken, and their hopes blasted, because in this high noon of our twentieth century civilization, money is still so much more important than human life.
— from The Debs Decision by Scott Nearing

The falconer who hammered at my door last night, as if he would have beaten your Lordship's house about my ears, could tell me nothing of the cause of this sudden convocation, save that Driving Dick had come in hot haste from James Town with letters that had set the mansion here all agog, from his Lordship's closet down to the scullery.
— from Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's. Vol. 1 (of 2) by John Pendleton Kennedy

True politicians only pay For solid work, but not for play: Nor ever choose to work with tools Forged up in colleges and schools, Consider how much more is due To all their journeymen than you: At table you can Horace quote; They at a pinch can bribe a vote: You show your skill in Grecian story; But they can manage Whig and Tory; You, as a critic, are so curious To find a verse in Virgil spurious; But they can smoke the deep designs, When Bolingbroke with Pulteney dines.
— from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 by Jonathan Swift

Then he assembled the cleargie in the church of Saint Peter in Yorke, and there held a synod for reformation of things amisse in the church, and amendment of manners in the cleargie, so that diuerse decrées were made, the which for bréefenesse we omit to speake of in particular.
— from Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (06 of 12) Richard the First by Raphael Holinshed

But if you persist in this cold silence, this deadly disdain, you will make me think you fear me.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

They have secretly adopted the idea of throwing themselves upon your resources, without which they cannot stop this detestable design, which would be the total ruin of the empire and a manifest loss to your kingdom.
— from A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4 by François Guizot

'Your days of honour and happiness will come, said the doctor, 'days when you will think no more of Miss Pew than of an insect which once stung you.'
— from The Golden Calf by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

BEING A Chaste, Elegant, and Humourous COLLECTION OF SONGS, for the ENTERTAINMENT of: The TENDER MAID, the PINING LOVER, the CHOICE SPIRIT, the DROLL DOG, the JOVIAL SPORTSMAN, the DARING SOLDIER and the ROUGH, HONEST TAR: and for all those who would wish to render themselves agreeable, divert the Company, kill Care, and be joyous; where the high-seasoned WIT and HUMOUR will be sufficient Apology for a bad Voice, and by which such as have a tolerable one will be able to Shine without repressing the Laugh of the merrily disposed, or offending the Ear of the chastest Virgin.
— from The Amateur Gentleman by Jeffery Farnol

The lower the rate at which his Paris agent can secure the drafts drawn on London, the greater the amount of pounds sterling which the gold will buy.
— from Elements of Foreign Exchange: A Foreign Exchange Primer by Franklin Escher

The secretions brought forth by that self-inflicted pain may combat successfully the depression due to the loss of a dearly beloved person.
— from Psychoanalysis, Sleep and Dreams by André Tridon