kick off your straw and hie ye hither to my side, till I do pour into your unbelieving ears the wildest madcap dream that ever the spirits of night did conjure up to astonish the soul of man withal! .
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

And when she asked this, she was told, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee."
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

He accordingly conducted us to a certain lane, where stopping, he bade us observe him, and do as he did, and, walking a few paces, dived into a cellar and disappeared in an instant.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

My theory includes riches, and the getting of riches, and the amplest products, power, activity, inventions, movements, &c. Upon them, as upon substrata, I raise the edifice design'd in these Vistas.
— from Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Walt Whitman

THEY REPLACED THEIR TATTERED GARMENTS AND BEGAN TO BUILD THE CITY OF SILVER.—THE STRANGE MISFORTUNES THAT CAME UPON THEM, AND HOW THEY ROSE SUPERIOR
— from Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey by Ingersoll Lockwood

Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a power exists to us as can sterilise his lairs, so that he cannot use them as of old.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

No one follows me or obeys my commands upon the account of any friendship, betwixt him and me; there can be no contracting of friendship where there is so little relation and correspondence: my own height has put me out of the familiarity of and intelligence with men; there is too great disparity and disproportion betwixt us.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

It is true, that where treaties of commerce stipulate for the mutual appointment of consuls, whose functions are connected with commerce, the admission of foreign consuls may fall within the power of making commercial treaties; and that where no such treaties exist, the mission of American consuls into foreign countries may PERHAPS be covered under the authority, given by the ninth article of the Confederation, to appoint all such civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

Nor are kings content to have this seem the effect of their own authority, free will, and uncontrollable choice, unless they also take the whole honor to themselves, and make the people imagine that all good and wholesome decrees proceed entirely from their own head, that is, their own sole prudence and judgment.
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon

He had piled chairs upon tables, and climbed up where he could grasp the edge, but his strength had given out when one more effort would have freed him.
— from Children of the Tenements by Jacob A. (Jacob August) Riis

They rushed forward,—four thousand as brave fellows as ever fought in battle—and a few minutes later seventeen hundred of them lay stretched upon the field, their bodies riddled with Confederate bullets, while their comrades, unable to achieve the impossible, fell back as the remnants of the other divisions had done before.
— from The History of the Confederate War, Its Causes and Its Conduct, Volume 2 (of 2) A Narrative and Critical History by George Cary Eggleston

The moon was high in heaven when Salome and her brother came up the avenue; and, observing that the lights were extinguished in the front rooms, she surmised that the new-comers had retired very early, in consequence of fatigue from their long journey.
— from Vashti; Or, Until Death Us Do Part by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

Leaving the ancient cemetery, we returned to the city, and called upon the almost centenarian Captain Erastus Perkins, residing on Shetucket Street.
— from The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2 (of 2) or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence by Benson John Lossing

Close to this Alexander VI had constructed five formidable prison cells, using them at times as repositories for grain and oil, and a cistern, all of which are still in existence.
— from Italian Prisons St. Angelo; the Piombi; the Vicaria; Prisons of the Roman Inquisition by Arthur Griffiths

Well, gentlemen, I was standing with her just inside the window, in all innocence, as Heaven is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into the room, called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman, and welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

[***] Mary’s commissioners had used every expedient to ward this blow, which they saw coming upon them, and against which, it appears, they were not provided with any proper defence.
— from The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part D. From Elizabeth to James I. by David Hume

'I never saw (observes Lady Martin) a larger charity united to a more living faith.
— from Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge