So he divided the army into three companies; and fell upon their enemies on every side on the sudden, and when they expected no such thing; and joining battle with them, they slew a great many of the Ammonites, as also their king Nabash.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

There is neither word, example, nor step they are not more perfect in than our books; ‘tis a discipline that springs with their blood, “Et mentem ipsa Venus dedit,” [“Venus herself made them what they are,” —Virg., Georg., iii. 267.] which these good instructors, nature, youth, and health, are continually inspiring them with; they need not learn, they breed it: “Nec tantum niveo gavisa est ulla columbo, Compar, vel si quid dicitur improbius, Oscula mordenti semper decerpere rostro, Quantum praecipue multivola est mulier.”
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

I bestir myself with great difficulty, and am slow in everything, whether in rising, going to bed, or eating: seven of the clock in the morning is early for me, and where I rule, I never dine before eleven, nor sup till after six.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Thou hast nor Eare, nor Soul to apprehend The sublime notion, and high mystery That must be utter'd to unfold the sage And serious doctrine of Virginity, And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know More happiness then this thy present lot.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

Cosi` disse 'l maestro; ed elli stessi mi volse, e non si tenne a le mie mani, che con le sue ancor non mi chiudessi.
— from Divina Commedia di Dante: Inferno by Dante Alighieri

For if, as we concluded just now, evil is nothing, 'tis clear that the wicked can effect nothing, since they are only able to do evil.'
— from The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

Were it wholly national, the supreme and ultimate authority would reside in the MAJORITY of the people of the Union; and this authority would be competent at all times, like that of a majority of every national society, to alter or abolish its established government.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

'Ay, (said he,) and the next line is a good one,' (pronouncing it contemptuously;) 'Give ample verge and room enough.'— 'No, Sir, there are but two good stanzas in Gray's poetry, which are in his Elegy in a Country Church-yard.'
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

As language grows more precise, there is less and less of the target outside the bull's eye, and the bull's eye itself grows smaller and smaller; but the bull's eye never shrinks to a point, and there is always a doubtful region, however small, surrounding it.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell

[299] Thus, for example, Nennius states that Arthur in one battle slew single handed more than nine hundred men; and, again, that the number of Arthur’s always-successful battles was twelve, as though Arthur were the sun or a sun-god, and his battles the twelve months of the solar year.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. (Walter Yeeling) Evans-Wentz

Sublime and grand in the majesty of her beauty was the voluptuous—wanton—unprincipled Perdita,—(for on this occasion we must give her the name which so admirably represents her character),—as, drawn up to her full height, and with heaving bosom, flashing eyes, and expanding nostrils, she thus addressed her mother.
— from The Mysteries of London, v. 4/4 by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

With a native mistrust of la belle phrase ; of "temps doré," "ferveur," "belle confiance" , etc., and with an equally native superiority to any publication not printed LARGE, I opened La Wallonie .
— from Instigations Together with An Essay on the Chinese Written Character by Ezra Pound

It follows naturally from what has been said that it is our duty towards our fellows to speak in such a way that nothing jars on their ear, nothing strains their attention.
— from The Sounds of Spoken English: A Manual of Ear Training for English Students (4th edition) by Walter Ripman

There is no attempt to hide Page 300 {300} away real stumbling-blocks under rhetorical stucco; no resort to the tu quoque device of setting scientific blunders against theological errors; no suggestion that an honest man may keep contradictory beliefs in separate pockets of his brain; no question that the method of scientific investigation is valid, whatever the results to which it may lead; and that the search after truth, and truth only, ennobles the searcher and leaves no doubt that his life, at any rate, is worth living.
— from Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions by Thomas Henry Huxley

The peaks rising from the plateau, often as high as the canyon walls, and with flat tops a mile or more in width, made the canyon even narrower, so that at times we were in canyons close to a mile in depth, and little over four miles across at the tops.
— from Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico by E. L. (Ellsworth Leonardson) Kolb

I can conceive no personal calamity greater than to have any necessity arise to make it necessary for us to sever our relations—and I cannot, even now, see that any such occasion exists.
— from The Lever: A Novel by William Dana Orcutt

Battel had evidently not seen the animal, and with his negro informants he confounds the gorilla and the "bushman;" yet he possibly alludes to a species which has escaped M. du Chaillu and other modern observers.
— from Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, Volume 1 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

My theory was that there existed no such thing as 'the divine spark of love' between men and women not related by blood, no reaching out of one soul for another—no faith, no purity, no union between man and woman but that could be broken by low passions.
— from Philip Steele of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police by James Oliver Curwood

Starting from the cold springs at its source Captain Glazier followed the windings of the greatest river on our continent from the pine forests and the wheat lands of the extreme Northern States, through all the varying phases of climate and industries, to the cotton and sugar-cane section of the South; past the orange and banana groves, and on to the broad Gulf.
— from Sword and Pen Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier by John Algernon Owens

Till all His foes subdued shall bow the knee To Him who died on Calvary’s bloody tree, For lost and guilty men, of every race, Of every nation, station, time and place.
— from Rand and the Micmacs by Jeremiah S. Clark