The society of mortals spread abroad through the earth everywhere, and in the most diverse places, although bound together by a certain fellowship of our common nature, is yet for the most part divided against itself, and the strongest oppress the others, because all follow after their own interests and lusts, while what is longed for either suffices for none, or not for all, because it is not the very thing.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

We catch only the impersonal aspect of our feelings, that aspect which speech has set down once for all because it is almost the same, in the same conditions, for all men.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson

If the design of those who are writing on this subject is merely to draw public attention to it, and to discourage the practice of flogging, and bring it into disrepute, it is well; and, indeed, whatever may be the end they have in view, the mere agitation of the question will have that effect, and, so far, must do good.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

She managed to catch one of his hands and gripped it convulsively, drawing it to her face, and bathing it in her tears.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

At this time an architect from Aradus, Callias by name, coming to Rhodes, gave a public lecture, and showed a model of a wall, over which he set a machine on a revolving crane with which he seized an helepolis [316] as it approached the fortifications, and brought it inside the wall.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

“It occurred to me to pop in under the shed where our horses were standing, to see whether they had their fodder; and, besides, it is never any harm to take precautions.
— from A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov

“Fly away before it is too late.
— from Bliss, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

If it (the deer) be a buck, you shall have him for a brother; If it be a doe, you shall have her for a wife.”
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

Their frank approval of whatever the other may do or say is very charming; and even more so is their obvious friendliness toward all people, of wanting the whole world beautiful for all because it is so beautiful to them.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

“My thoughts are my own,” answered De Bracy; “the fiend laughs, they say, when one thief robs another; and we know, that were he to spit fire and brimstone instead, it would never prevent a Templar from following his bent.”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

Many months ago this Second Book was printed off; but on my arrival in town from Montauban (whither I purpose to return), I found there were so many faults and blunders in it throughout, that I was under the necessity of condemning five hundred copies to the inglorious purpose of defending pye bottoms from the dust of an oven....
— from Notes and Queries, Number 201, September 3, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

If it be that of a professor little known or little esteemed, only those of his own faculty attend; but if it be the funeral of a man distinguished for his eminent talents as a teacher, for the excellence of his character, and for his services to the university, they scarcely omit one of their number.
— from The Student-Life of Germany by William Howitt

The root has not merely one orifice for absorbing, but it imbibes upon the whole surface, from its being still immersed in the chemical menstruum.
— from Elements of Physiophilosophy by Lorenz Oken

Being Trooper Cotton, I should never have presumed to send a costly present, and you do not for a moment suppose Miss Lucille would appreciate the trifle for anything beyond its intrinsic utility.
— from The Mistress of Bonaventure by Harold Bindloss

With but few and brief interruptions it enjoyed peace and prosperity.
— from History of the United States by John Clark Ridpath

And St. Hilaire declares, "Love for all beings is its nucleus; and to love our enemies, and not prosecute, are the virtues of this people."
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

I expect that Asia Minor was too completely civilized in a pre-dolmen period to have [Pg 446] adopted this form afterwards; but it is dangerous to speculate about a country of whose early history, as well as of whose modern geography, we really know so little.
— from Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses by James Fergusson

“Well, I am not pining to dress up for anybody, but if I must, I must.
— from The Carter Girls' Mysterious Neighbors by Nell Speed