"Never, perhaps, does a fine woman strike more deeply, than when, composed into pious recollection, and possessed with the noblest considerations, she assumes, without knowing it, superiour dignity and new graces; so that the beauties of holiness seem to radiate about her, and the by-standers are almost induced to fancy her already worshipping amongst her kindred angels!" Why are women to be thus bred up with a desire of conquest?
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects by Mary Wollstonecraft

“Our fellows say dinners are no good,” said Egerton; “and they certainly are a cursed bore: but you may depend upon it they do for the burgesses.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

If his attachment is agreeable to you, I leave you to do as nature, good sense, and delicacy shall direct you.
— from A Father's Legacy to His Daughters by John Gregory

An endless battle had surged up against its walls, but in spite of all their desperate attacks no German soldier had set foot inside the city except as a prisoner of war.
— from Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs

The wars between Austria and Turkey, however, began the gradual emancipation of the Greek people from servitude, by putting an outside pressure on the Turkish Government; the Russians continued the process; and the new friendly relations now set up between Greek and other Christians developed a new Greek sentiment of racial hostility to the Turks.
— from A Short History of Christianity Second Edition, Revised, With Additions by J. M. (John Mackinnon) Robertson

While the inventor naturally and perforce must lead, he should be discreet, and not go so far ahead that he cannot get the people to follow.
— from Learn to Invent, First Steps for Beginners Young and Old Practical Instuction, Valuable Suggestions to Learn to Invent by Samuel Evans Clark

In the daytime a Noble Guard stood on sentry duty before the door, but the latter was now free of access, and the room within proved as empty as all the others.
— from The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Complete by Émile Zola

Ever anxious for thy safety and for thy glory, I have consulted auguries and oracles, and, although these things have no great weight with thee or with me as matters of religious faith, the oracles were always valuable portents to show the drift of popular opinion and desire; and no great statesman can afford to despise them, for that which the multitude long after doth sooner or later come to pass; and all the divinations portend calamity to thee and thy house from the Arians."
— from Arius the Libyan: A Romance of the Primitive Church by Nathan C. (Nathan Chapman) Kouns