Yet Dr. Johnson had himself by no means that willingness which he praised so much, and I think so justly; for who has not felt the painful effect of the dreary void, when there is a total silence in a company, for any length of time; or, which is as bad, or perhaps worse, when the conversation is with difficulty kept up by a perpetual effort? Johnson once observed to me, 'Tom Tyers described me the best: "Sir, (said he,) you are like a ghost: you never speak till you are spoken to.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

In that city, then, there shall be free will, one in all the citizens, and indivisible in each, delivered from all ill, Filled with all good, enjoying indefeasibly the delights of eternal joys, oblivious of sins, oblivious of sufferings, and yet
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

The intrinsic weakness of "affective morale," as psychologists call it, is that it puts both sides on the same mental and moral footing: it either justifies our opponents as well as ourselves, or it makes both sides the creatures of irrational emotion.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

He was extremely nervous and extremely jealous of other tenors and he covered his nervous jealousy with an ebullient friendliness.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce

[80] (4) Every provision which may be made by the Emperor in favour of the Empress Josephine, out of the funds of the Civil List, shall be obligatory on his successors."
— from Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 For the First Time Collected and Translated, with Notes Social, Historical, and Chronological, from Contemporary Sources by Emperor of the French Napoleon I

If God were always the sole object of our desire, we should the less easily be troubled by the erring judgment of our fancy.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas

But Luke says, in effect, there was no such person in the genealogical tree, or family line, as either Joram, Ozias or Uzziah.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

Get enough juice out of what they’re eating, I suppose,” he added, after a few minutes’ more thought.
— from The Peril Finders by George Manville Fenn

Pit-pit-pit you may hear sharply, excitedly jerked out of some bird's throat, and you wonder if a note so disagreeable can really come from the wonderful songster on the branch above your head.
— from Birds Every Child Should Know by Neltje Blanchan

"The police considered the precaution necessary," urged the magistrate, in reply to the scathing denunciations of the unprecedented outrage which fell from the lips of Mr. Ernest Jones, one of
— from The Dock and the Scaffold The Manchester Tragedy and the Cruise of the Jacknell by T. D. (Timothy Daniel) Sullivan

In the use of these job cards, a card is made out for each job or order, without regard to the number of different jobs an employee may have in a day.
— from Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 02 (of 10) by American School of Correspondence

Now the merriment of the small birds, and the clear voice of the waters, and the lowing of cattle in meadows, and the view of no houses (except just our own and a neighbour's), and the knowledge of everybody around, their kindness of heart and simplicity, and love of their neighbour's doings,—all these could not help or please me at all, and many of them were much against me, in my secret depth of longing and dark tumult of the mind.
— from Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

"But," she asked, frowning in her perplexity, "what good will it do to wait?" "Your evidence," he went on slowly, as though working the thing out for himself, "is enough to convince eleven jurors out of the twelve; now we must make sure of the twelfth.
— from Six Feet Four by Jackson Gregory

I was going to ask him to tell Mr. Simpson that I was very much obligated, though I hadn't the least idea what he meant by his free list, but that minit there was such a smashing of fiddles and drums and toot-horns inside that I eenamost jumped out of my skin.
— from High Life in New York A series of letters to Mr. Zephariah Slick, Justice of the Peace, and Deacon of the church over to Weathersfield in the state of Connecticut by Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens

A yellow bud caught her eyes just out of reach.
— from Blackthorn Farm by Arthur Applin

"You see they were all absolutely English; just of our own set, and our own surroundings.
— from The Upas Tree: A Christmas Story for all the Year by Florence L. (Florence Louisa) Barclay