Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work; and Brown, as though he had been really great, had a satanic gift of finding out the best and the weakest spot in his victims.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

John was requested to order home a dozen or so of little pots and an extra quantity of sugar, for their own currants were ripe and were to be attended to at once.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

All display in conversation will not depend on the accidental and external quality of strength of voice, as it must do where a loud and contentious style of talking is allowed; the soft-toned and the weak-lunged will have as good a chance as their more robust neighbors; and it will be possible for all both to speak and to hear.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in All His Relations Towards Society by Cecil B. Hartley

we found the Antelope extreemly shye and watchfull insomuch that we had been unable to get a shot at them; when at rest they generally seelect the most elivated point in the neighbourhood, and as they are watchfull and extreemly quick of sight and their sense of smelling very accute it is almost impossible to approach them within gunshot; in short they will frequently discover and flee from you at the distance of three miles.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

mais bien pour eux, quand on sait de quoi, comment et où vivent ces gens-là.
— from Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas by Marie Lebert

The fog continued thick untill 12 oClock, we Coasted, and halted at the mouth of a large river on the Lard Side, This river throws out emence quanty of Sand and is verry Shallow, th narrowest part 200 yards wide bold Current, much resembling the river Plat, Several Islands about 1 mile up and has a Sand bar of 3 miles in extent imedeately in its mouth, discharging it waters by 2 mouths, and Crowding its Corse Sands So as to throw the Columbian waters on its Nothern banks, & confdg it to 1/2 ms. in width Passed a Small Prarie on the Stard.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

The elementary qualities of sensation, bright, loud, red, blue, hot, cold, are, it is true, susceptible of being used in both an objective and a subjective sense.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

For this, one of his men was mainly to blame; that worthy, in his great unwisdom, having picked over the sample of an enormous quantity of second-rate corn which Henchard had in hand, and removed the pinched, blasted, and smutted grains in great numbers.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

However immediately the excellent quality of such gifts and skills may be recognised and admired, reflection shows that they are only valuable on account of the good or desirable conscious life in which they are or will be actualised, or which will be somehow promoted by their exercise.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

Dissolve indigo in diluted sulphuric acid, and add to it an equal quantity of solution of carbonate of potass.
— from How to Behave and How to Amuse: A Handy Manual of Etiquette and Parlor Games by George H. (George Henry) Sandison

Burgh, Elizabeth de, wife of Robert, King of Scots; See Elizabeth, Queen of Scots.
— from The History of England From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) by T. F. (Thomas Frederick) Tout

Three features must characterize any new agreement: The South must be dealt with as a unit; it must be given a "sphere of influence"—to use our modern term—which would fully satisfy all its impulses of expansion; and in that sphere, every question of slavery must be left entirely, forever, to local action.
— from Lincoln; An Account of his Personal Life, Especially of its Springs of Action as Revealed and Deepened by the Ordeal of War by Nathaniel W. (Nathaniel Wright) Stephenson

He stood charged with the entire question of sin.
— from The Great Commission. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IV by Charles Henry Mackintosh

The stock in which the chestnuts are boiled can be used for the soup, when its sweetness is not objected to, or it may, in part, be added to it; and the rule is, that 3/4 lb. of chestnuts should be given to each quart of soup.
— from The Book of Household Management by Mrs. (Isabella Mary) Beeton

“Genius must be estimated according to its utility; and Parmentier, who brought potatoes into general use, Jacquart, the inventor of silk looms; Papin, who first discovered the elastic quality of steam, are men of genius, to whom statues will some day be erected.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

Possession, in short, of the essential qualifications of sovereignty by the insurgents and the conduct of the war by them according to the received code of war are no less important factors toward the determination of the problem of belligerency than are the influences and consequences of the struggle upon the internal polity of the recognizing state.
— from Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents William McKinley, Messages, Proclamations, and Executive Orders Relating to the Spanish-American War by William McKinley