You do it for increase: O strange excuse!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

If you have any lingering thought that I could envy the happiness you will confer; that I could not resign you to a dearer protector, of your own choosing; that I could not, from my removed place, be a contented witness of your joy; dismiss it, for I don’t deserve it!
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

"Religion," says M. Réville, [33] "is the determination of human life by the sentiment of a bond uniting the human mind to that mysterious mind whose domination of the world and itself it recognizes, and to whom it delights in feeling itself united."
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

Too far did I fly into the future: a horror seized upon me.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

There is another thing, too, that is wanting; for supposing we find a king who is at war and has a beautiful daughter, and that I have won incredible fame throughout the universe, I know not how it can be made out that I am of royal lineage, or even second cousin to an emperor; for the king will not be willing to give me his daughter in marriage unless he is first thoroughly satisfied on this point, however much my famous deeds may deserve it; so that by this deficiency I fear I shall lose what my arm has fairly earned.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

And when I reflected on my former Performances of that Duty, I found I had run it over as a matter of Form, in comparison to the Manner in which I then discharged it.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

But the last, I fear, I am deficient in, for I am often very irritable and impatient.'
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

When he came, and I requested admittance and tried to open the door, I found it locked; and Heathcliff bid us be damned.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Now, this word fashion hath by long use lost its original meaning, from which at present it gives us a very different idea; for I am deceived if by persons of fashion we do not generally include a conception of birth and accomplishments superior to the herd of mankind; whereas, in reality, nothing more was originally meant by a person of fashion than a person who drest himself in the fashion of the times; and the word really and truly signifies no more at this day.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

Among Jews I did indeed find it, but not among Germans.
— from Ecce Homo Complete Works, Volume Seventeen by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

CANTO XVI NOW came I where the water's din was heard, As down it fell into the other round, Resounding like the hum of swarming bees: When forth together issu'd from a troop, That pass'd beneath the fierce tormenting storm, Three spirits, running swift.
— from The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Hell, Volume 06 by Dante Alighieri

Notwithstanding her popularity and patronage, she died in France in great obscurity and penury.
— from The Every Day Book of History and Chronology Embracing the Anniversaries of Memorable Persons and Events in Every Period and State of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time by Joel Munsell

[539] This word, which meant much the same as, fop or dandy , is found in Bk.
— from Life of Johnson, Volume 5 Tour to the Hebrides (1773) and Journey into North Wales (1774) by James Boswell

The rustics exploit, as communal property, all the forests, all the possessions of the emigrants; and this operation is radical; for example, a band, on finding a new barn of which the materials strike them as good, demolish it so as to share with each other the tiles and timber.—In Corrèze, fifteen thousand armed peasants, who have come to Tulle to disarm and drive off the supporters of the non-jurors, break everything in suspected houses, and a good deal of difficulty is found in sending them off empty-handed.
— from The French Revolution - Volume 1 by Hippolyte Taine

"And yet," I answered, "if we took off very much, I don't suppose they would wait for us to dress; in fact, I don't think I could dress, and when I came in, it seemed to be getting cool outsi—" "Ssssshh!
— from The Diary of a Freshman by Charles Macomb Flandrau

The enemy remained for a long time in the houses of St. Eloi , but the high ground was of primary, perhaps even decisive, importance; for it gave us a bird’s-eye view of the country east of Ypres , where the mass of the British field artillery was in position.
— from Ypres 1914: An Official Account Published by Order of the German General Staff by Otto Schwink

So I told him that I was but a child in years and knowledge, and he a wise and learned man; but if he would not deem it forward in me, I would fain know whether the Scripture did anywhere lay down the particular fashion of wearing the hair.
— from Margaret Smith's Journal Part 1 from Volume V of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier by John Greenleaf Whittier

And upon them the presence of a strong soul, with its carelessness of toil, its contempt of danger, its faith in the better things that shall be, its trust in God, its generous self-abandonment to men, passes like a breath of inspiration, bringing shame at once and strength
— from Strong Souls A Sermon by Charles Beard

Both there and when I issue the Dramatic Interludes (five in all) I shall send them forth under my anagram, H. P. Siwäarmill.
— from William Sharp (Fiona Macleod): A Memoir Compiled by His Wife Elizabeth A. Sharp by Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Amelia) Sharp

With what joy did I fly into the dear, open arms of this most venerable of women!
— from The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 1 by Fanny Burney