But the man of Perfected Self-Mastery is in the mean with respect to these objects: that is to say, he neither takes pleasure in the things which delight the vicious man, and in fact rather dislikes them, nor at all in improper objects; nor to any great degree in any object of the class; nor is he pained at their absence; nor does he desire them; or, if he does, only in moderation, and neither more than he ought, nor at improper times, and so forth; but such things as are conducive to health and good condition of body, being also pleasant, these he will grasp at in moderation and as he ought to do, and also such other pleasant things as do not hinder these objects, and are not unseemly or disproportionate to his means; because he that should grasp at such would be liking such pleasures more than is proper; but the man of Perfected Self-Mastery is not of this character, but regulates his desires by the dictates of right reason.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

Like the pioneer, this woman is in the prime of life; her appearance would seem superior to her condition, and her apparel even betrays a lingering taste for dress; but her delicate limbs appear shrunken, her features are drawn in, her eye is mild and melancholy; her whole physiognomy bears marks of a degree of religious resignation, a deep quiet of all passions, and some sort of natural and tranquil firmness, ready to meet all the ills of life, without fearing and without braving them.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

I have sent orders to Banks, by private messenger, to finish up his present expedition against Shreveport with all dispatch; to turn over the defense of Red River to General Steels and the navy, and to return your troops to you, and his own to New Orleans; to abandon all of Texas, except the Rio Grande, and to hold that with not to exceed four thousand men; to reduce the number of troops on the Mississippi to the lowest number necessary to hold it, and to collect from his command not less than twenty-five thousand men.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

But these forces increase as we go higher, so that we have a spiral which in defiance of reason rests upon the apex and not on the base.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

A Dirge The Twa Herds; Or, The Holy Tulyie 1785 Epistle To Davie, A Brother Poet Holy Willie's Prayer Epitaph On Holy Willie Death and Doctor Hornbook Epistle To J. Lapraik, An Old Scottish Bard Second Epistle To J. Lapraik Epistle To William Simson Postcript One Night As I Did Wander Tho' Cruel Fate Should Bid Us Part Song—Rantin', Rovin' Robin^1 Elegy On The Death Of Robert Ruisseaux^1 Epistle To John Goldie, In Kilmarnock
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

The Atheist has not found his Post tenable, and is therefore retired into Deism, and a Disbelief of revealed Religion only.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

[She was daughter of Ratiya Rāna, and was married to Kūmbha in 1413.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

I depend on getting through another book before dinner, but there is really a good deal of respectable reading in your forty-eight pages.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen Selected from the compilation of her great nephew, Edward, Lord Bradbourne by Jane Austen

‘I did once,’ replied Ralph, composedly; ‘you scarcely need ask me whether I will again.’
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Fifty years later, when the Renaissance began to mingle with this unity which was so severe and yet so varied, the dazzling luxury of its fantasies and systems, its debasements of Roman round arches, Greek columns, and Gothic bases, its sculpture which was so tender and so ideal, its peculiar taste for arabesques and acanthus leaves, its architectural paganism, contemporary with Luther, Paris, was perhaps, still more beautiful, although less harmonious to the eye, and to the thought.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

But I do think the Saturday was meant for Palestine, not for the lands of the Exile, where another day of rest rules.
— from Ghetto Comedies by Israel Zangwill

“It certainly isn’t Sunday in the sense of a day of rest,” remarked Bob gloomily.
— from Nothing But the Truth by Frederic Stewart Isham

Just as their door opened, Rectus ran up to me.
— from A Jolly Fellowship by Frank Richard Stockton

We found in the camp, water, camels' milk, and dry, or rather rotten fish.
— from Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 Undertaken by Order of the French Government, Comprising an Account of the Shipwreck of the Medusa, the Sufferings of the Crew, and the Various Occurrences on Board the Raft, in the Desert of Zaara, at St. Louis, and at the Camp of Daccard. to Which Are Subjoined Observations Respecting the Agriculture of the Western Coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Mouth of the Gambia. by Alexandre Corréard

During our rough ride to this place, they had exhibited a wonderful surefootedness.
— from The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent Notices of the Gold Region from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources by John Charles Frémont

And I beseech thee, ere in utter ruin We perish and make desolate our race, Refrain thy rage.
— from The Seven Plays in English Verse by Sophocles

In 1815, being in Belgium, he deserted, or rather resumed his liberty and nationality, and married at Brussels, where he fell into hallucinations which occasioned his transportation to Gheel.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 07, April 1868 to September, 1868 by Various

Not finding aid, it would be pushed and driven over rough, rocky places and through the wilderness until it again went into the sea.
— from Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian by W. D. (William Drake) Westervelt