Though it was the most serious despair in nature to the corporal—he could not forbear smiling.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

And here I cannot but smile to think how I have paid myself in showing the foppery of this kind of learning, who myself am so manifest an example; for, do I not the same thing throughout almost this whole composition?
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

We had done the journey in twenty-five minutes, although the distance is nearly ten miles.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

They are very polite, but the smoke, growing each moment denser, is not to be overlooked.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

"Peascod" Street in Windsor of course derives its name therefrom.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

But it has been suggested that the corpse discovered, is not that of the Marie Rogêt for the conviction of whose assassin, or assassins, the reward is offered, and respecting whom, solely, our agreement has been arranged with the Prefect.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe

Strive, too, that in reading your story the melancholy may be moved to laughter, and the merry made merrier still; that the simple shall not be wearied, that the judicious shall admire the invention, that the grave shall not despise it, nor the wise fail to praise it.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

CLEINIAS: You mean to say, I suppose, that the best government is produced from a tyranny, and originates in a good lawgiver and an orderly tyrant, and that the change from such a tyranny into a perfect form of government takes place most easily; less easily when from an oligarchy; and, in the third degree, from a democracy: is not that your meaning? ATHENIAN: Not so; I mean rather to say that the change is best made out of a tyranny; and secondly, out of a monarchy; and thirdly, out of some sort of democracy: fourth, in the capacity for improvement, comes oligarchy, which has the greatest difficulty in admitting of such a change, because the government is in the hands of a number of potentates.
— from Laws by Plato

My cousins say they are sure I have made a conquest; but for my part I declare I never think about him from one hour's end to another.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I have had no news of my father and mother for twelve years or so, and, in my earlier days, I never thought of providing myself with a wife—and now, you know, it wouldn’t do.
— from A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov

muttered Boris lowly to himself, "did I not tell the woman even now?—Gretchen!"
— from Joan of the Sword Hand by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

For the towne is not fortefied with walls; nether will the King of China suffer them to doe it, nor to make any fortifecations, nor mount noe ordinance upon any plotforme; and ¾ partes of the inhabetantes are Chinas.
— from Diary of Richard Cocks, Volume 2 Cape-Merchant in the English Factory in Japan, 1615-1622, with Correspondence by Richard Cocks

Did I not tell you so? Pamela Can it be possible that Jules— De Verby I am authorized to make a promise to you.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

Malt, to produce intoxication, must be used in such large quantities as would very much diminish, if not totally exclude, the brewer's profit."
— from A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy by Friedrich Christian Accum

“‘The goodwife’s pleasure must be done’; is not that my Finnward?”
— from The Waif Woman by Robert Louis Stevenson

In summer three days is the longest time allowed for the meat to remain in this pickle; but in winter eight days is not too long.
— from The International Jewish Cook Book 1600 Recipes According to the Jewish Dietary Laws with the Rules for Kashering; the Favorite Recipes of America, Austria, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Roumania, Etc., Etc. by Florence Kreisler Greenbaum

The truth seems to be that if the clue is to be caught at all, it will be caught where we least expect it; and, for the catching of it, what we have to do is not to let our theories, our principles, our convictions, our opinions, impede our vision—but now and then to lay them aside; but whether with them or without them, to be prepared —for the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and we cannot tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth!
— from Visions and Revisions: A Book of Literary Devotions by John Cowper Powys

In view of this, as well as of the known fact that the Indian race is everywhere gradually diminishing in numbers, the writer cannot close without invoking for this unfortunate people renewed kindliness, sympathy and benevolent attention.
— from Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians by Elias Johnson

Yes! then indeed will it be, (I doubt it not) that some of our spiritual fathers will make it plain to all men wherein our great “strength p. 121 lieth,” and show that we depend not upon “an arm of flesh;” that there are men of all ranks and circumstances among us, willing to “count all things but loss,” so they may “keep the faith,” and that in deed and in truth the Church is separable from the establishment .
— from A Second Letter to the Rev. William Maskell, M.A. Some thoughts on the position of the Church of England, as to her dogmatic teaching by Mayow Wynell Mayow

Did I not tell you of the time I hired his horse and chaise?
— from Aunt Phillis's Cabin; Or, Southern Life As It Is by Mary H. (Mary Henderson) Eastman