MEGILLUS: Quite true. ATHENIAN: And would not men who had shared with one another many dangers, and were governed by a single race of royal brothers, and had taken the advice of oracles, and in particular of the Delphian Apollo, be likely to think that such states would be firmly and lastingly established? MEGILLUS: Of course they would. ATHENIAN: Yet these institutions, of which such great expectations were entertained, seem to have all rapidly vanished away; with the exception, as I was saying, of that small part of them which existed in your land.
— from Laws by Plato

They told him they thought he was dead and were about to burn his body.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

These two, as you may perceive, have a place in our State; D and the meaner desires of the many are held down by the virtuous desires and wisdom of the few.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

Pray, sir, do; and when That you have cleft my heart, you shall read there Mine innocence.
— from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

Having concerted the plan and settled our affairs that night, we departed next morning by daybreak, armed with a good cudgel each (my companion being charged with the furniture of us both crammed into one knapsack), and our money sewed between the linings and waistbands of our breeches, except some loose silver for our immediate expenses on the road, We travelled all day at a round pace, but, being ignorant of the proper stages, were benighted at a good distance from any inn, so that we were compelled to take up our lodging at a small hedge alehouse, that stood on a byroad, about half-a-mile from the highway: there we found a pedlar of our own country, in whose company we regaled ourselves with bacon and eggs, and a glass of good ale, be
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

"They threw things against the doors, and were quite beside themselves with joy, because the old year had disappeared.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

We do not see with the same eyes what does and what does not relate to us.
— from Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims by François duc de La Rochefoucauld

[218] Now, is it not more probable that the recollection of this motto in the windows of his paternal mansion, conveyed through the medium of coloured glass, indelibly stamped by sunshine (or daguerreotyped, as we might term it) upon the youthful mind of the gallant marquis those feelings of devoted loyalty which influenced his after conduct, and led him to inscribe with the point of his diamond ring the same motto upon the windows of Basing House? Be this as it may, it is gratifying to know that many of the panes of glass which bore that glorious yellow letter motto in Winchester House, at the period when it was doomed to be taken down, are preserved, having been with good taste presented to the present Marquis of Winchester; and two or three which were overlooked have come into the possession of Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence.
— from A Walk from London to Fulham by Thomas Crofton Croker

The principal portion of the emigrants from Languedoc (p. viii) and the south-eastern provinces of France crossed the frontier into Switzerland, and settled there, or afterwards proceeded into the states of Prussia, Holland, and Denmark, as well as into England and Ireland.
— from The Huguenots in France by Samuel Smiles

But the Tropics supply sundry and divers discomforts as well, and really offer too much; for with the flowers, vines, fruits and never-ending foliage go mosquitoes, tarantulas, and snakes that wiggle and sometimes bite.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 05 Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors by Elbert Hubbard

The column was engaged in bush or jungle fighting with the enemy almost every day, and if our casualties were not greater it was due as well to the precautions taken by the leader and to his skilful tactics as to the failure of the Kachins to defend their stockades.
— from The Pacification of Burma by C. H. T. (Charles Haukes Todd) Crosthwaite

The doctrine of a purpose in the individual existence being rejected, the Stoic argument that life was a thing to be laid down at will seemed reasonable enough.
— from A Marriage Under the Terror by Patricia Wentworth

The fact is, only the day before yesterday I chanced to be going up to town from my house at Phalerum, when an acquaintance of mine, who had caught sight of me from behind, called to me from a distance, and with a joke on my name as he called, exclaimed, " Ho there!
— from British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIV July and October, 1871 by Various

But they missed their companions, and the dance, and walked all the way 'round the head of the lake, home, this proud son of near- nobility doing obeisance to his untutored queen.
— from Our Nervous Friends — Illustrating the Mastery of Nervousness by Robert S. (Robert Sproul) Carroll

He knows why the measure was introduced, what it is, what it will do, and what will become of it.
— from Maxims and Opinions of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, Selected From His Writings and Speeches During a Public Life of More Than Half a Century by Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of

You are quite right in not wishing to become a Frenchman; apart from the fact that you would scarcely succeed, your task is a different and even a contrary one, viz., to Germanize the French in your sense of the word, or rather to inspire them and fill them with enthusiasm for more general, more comprehensive, more elevated, dramatic art- work.
— from Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 1 by Franz Liszt

Again swords were drawn; and Wallace, in attempting to beat down the weapons of Soulis and Buchan, aimed at Bothwell's heart, must have received the point of Soulis' in his own body, had he not grasped the blade, and wrenching it out of the chief's hand, broke it into shivers: "Such be the fate of every sword which Scot draws against Scot!" cried he.
— from The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter