His mind went back to the night when he had been frightened by thoughts of a giant that might come to rob and plunder him of his possessions, and again as on that night when he had run through the fields crying for a son, he became excited to the edge of insanity.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson

But it seemed childish to relinquish a plan which I had once thought wise and well-laid, just because I myself did not receive all the honour and consequence due to the originator.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

His father, Xanthippus, defeated the Persian generals at Mykalé, while his mother, Agariste, was a descendant of Kleisthenes, who drove the sons of Peisistratus out of Athens, put an end to their despotic rule, and established a new constitution admirably calculated to reconcile all parties and save the country.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

They continued to reside at Paris; but missionaries from among them often visited Versailles—and such was the power of assertions, however false, yet vehemently iterated, over the ready credulity of the ignorant and fearful, that they seldom failed in drawing over to their party some from among our numbers.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

But it was not now in his power 186 to return to justice, and restore his citizens their rights and privileges; for, by the indiscretion of youth, he had engaged in so many wrong steps and committed such extravagances, that, had he attempted to have returned to a right way of thinking, he must have endangered his life.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

The delegation partook of luncheon at the conclusion of which the dusky potentate, in the course of a happy speech, freely translated by the British chaplain, the reverend Ananias Praisegod Barebones, tendered his best thanks to Massa Walkup and emphasised the cordial relations existing between Abeakuta and the British empire, stating that he treasured as one of his dearest possessions an illuminated bible, the volume of the word of God and the secret of England’s greatness, graciously presented to him by the white chief woman, the great squaw Victoria, with a personal dedication from the august hand of the Royal Donor.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

After the victory he left the paid force in the enemy's country, to ravage and plunder the Carthaginian dominions, and himself proceeded to Syracuse.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

Amen. 23 which claimed the rights and privileges of being stroken and sworn by—by all these beards together then——I vow and protest, that of the two bad cassocks I am worth in the world, I would have given the better of them, as freely as ever Cid Hamet offered his——to have stood by, and heard my uncle Toby ’s accompanyment.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea; Neither have I money nor commodity To raise a present sum; therefore go forth, Try what my credit can in Venice do; That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost, To furnish thee to Belmont to fair Portia.
— from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

If he should be low-spirited at my sending back his picture, you may tell him I have no occasion for a picture, while the original continues engraved on my—But no; I would not have you tell him that neither; because there must be an end of our correspondence—I wish he may forget me, for the sake of his own peace; and yet if he should, he must be a barbarous—But it is impossible—poor Wilson cannot be false and inconstant: I beseech him not to write to me, nor attempt to see me for some time; for, considering the resentment and passionate temper of my brother Jery, such an attempt might be attended with consequences which would make us all miserable for life—let us trust to time and the chapter of accidents; or rather to that Providence which will not fail, sooner or later, to reward those that walk in the paths of honour and virtue.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Locke, however, was too conscientious to retain a place with large emoluments, of which he felt that he could no longer perform the duties to his own satisfaction.
— from Locke by Thomas Fowler

The farmer knew only of the young squire's proposal, which had been made direct to him; and he had left it to Robert to state the case to Rhoda, and plead for himself.
— from Rhoda Fleming — Volume 5 by George Meredith

A sea of cloudy vapors, serene and motionless, changed to rose and pink; and a red curve slid up over the distant horizon.
— from The U. P. Trail by Zane Grey

… PricewaterhouseCoopers have not carried out any verification work which may be construed to represent audit procedures … We have not been provided access to Ost West Handelsbank (the recipient of a large part of the $4.8 IMF tranche)"
— from Russian Roulette: Russia's Economy in Putin's Era by Samuel Vaknin

Vergium, a fort in Spain, a receptacle of robbers, is taken by Cato; the robbers are put to death, and the guilty part of the inhabitants sold, xxxiv. 21.
— from The History of Rome, Books 37 to the End with the Epitomes and Fragments of the Lost Books by Livy

He was a very good fellow, like thousands of others, of the middle-class, and he had artistic aspirations: he was one of those people who would like to practise an art, but are afraid of compromising their reputation and position.
— from Jean-Christophe in Paris: The Market-Place, Antoinette, the House by Romain Rolland

In case the relationships are purely external, and consequently do not reach deeply into the practical, the latent form of conflict discharges this service, i.e., aversion, the feeling of reciprocal alienation and repulsion, which in the moment of a more intimate contact of any sort is at once transformed into positive hatred and conflict.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

"So I just cut the rope and picked up the youngster.
— from Six Little Bunkers at Uncle Fred's by Laura Lee Hope