The aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honorable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own wheresoever they were found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or barbarians.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

[Next prepare the following] ONE WHOLE [2] GLASS BROTH, A GLASS OF WATER, A GLASS OF VINEGAR AND A GLASS OF OIL, PROPERLY MIXED; PUT THIS IN AN EARTHEN BAKING DISH [immerse meat pieces] FINISH ON THE FIRE AND SERVE.
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius

Besides his dirtyness is more perceptible in an open garment; he must be attended to more frequently.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The crocodile and the alligator, besides being susceptible of many horrible variations [ 381 ] in pictorial treatment, were particularly acceptable to the Christian propaganda, because of the sanctity attached to them by African tribes,—a sanctity which continues to this day in many parts of that country, where to kill one of these reptiles is believed to superinduce dangerous inundations.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

In reflecting on any action, which I am to perform a twelve-month hence, I always resolve to prefer the greater good, whether at that time it will be more contiguous or remote; nor does any difference in that particular make a difference in my present intentions and resolutions.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

The king of Limasaua, and his brother, the king of certain districts in Mindanao, prove most helpful, and are completely won over by a judicious presentation of gifts.
— from The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century by Antonio Pigafetta

But from there Portions began to fly asunder, and like With like to join, and to block out a world, And to divide its members and dispose Its mightier parts—that is, to set secure The lofty heavens from the lands, and cause The sea to spread with waters separate, And fires of ether separate and pure Likewise to congregate apart.
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus

The manifest content of dreams is most profuse and individually varied, and I have shown very explicitly what analysis may glean from this content.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

“Yes; but, Jimmy, about that doctor,” implored Miss Polly, feverishly.
— from Pollyanna by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter

I still found more difficulty in mastering problems in mathematics than I did in any other of my studies.
— from The Story of My Life With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy by Helen Keller

Sir F. Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the accuracy of the military details in my picture.
— from An Autobiography by Elizabeth (Elizabeth Southerden Thompson) Butler

Now, what would any man do in my place, if he was a man?”
— from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson

These went to the root of Christianity, and if they could not be destroyed it must perish.
— from The Expositor's Bible: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians by James Denney

"No," said Mr Rowdy, "I have lately had great doubts as to my own identity, and I am going to try some experiments to see whether I am now the same person I was when I signed the articles, and did duty in my parish."
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 404, June, 1849 by Various

More--I doubted if Miss Patricia Reeves and I ever should be intimate, as I understood intimacy.
— from Confessions of a Young Lady: Her Doings and Misdoings by Richard Marsh

By drying in the position in which it has been held by contact with the glass, the distortion becomes fixed, and if the print is mounted while in this state the distortion is made permanent.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885 by Various

The cat, though inferior to the dog in many points, is a most loving mother, and very sagacious in protecting her young.
— from Kindness to Animals; Or, The Sin of Cruelty Exposed and Rebuked by Charlotte Elizabeth

Similarly, I have never had any desire to prove to anybody whatever that the influence of either Molière or Beaumarchais cannot be detected in my plays.
— from Mysterious Psychic Forces An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants by Camille Flammarion

The animal does not worry about right or wrong, nor, with few exceptions, does it make provision for the future.
— from Nature Cure: Philosophy & Practice Based on the Unity of Disease & Cure by Henry Lindlahr