Let him write as he feels and can, but let him spare me his nonsense.
— from The Sea-Gull by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

God bless me from a challenge! BENEDICK.
— from Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

[ The soldiers rush forward and crush beneath their shields Salomé, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judæa. ]
— from Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act by Oscar Wilde

that the issue cannot be the same, whether a man has behaved candidly or falsely, fairly or violently, even though up to his life’s end, as far as can be seen, he has met with no happiness for his virtues, no punishment for his vices.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

He soon procured her friendship and confidence; but Apollo, who was his rival, having discovered his fraud, one day redoubled the heat of the sun.
— from The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII by Ovid

For having, by the assistance of his friends and clients, bought up corn from Etruria at his private expense, (which very circumstance, I think, had been an impediment in the endeavour to reduce the price of corn by the exertions of the state,) he set about giving out largesses of corn: and having won over the commons by this munificence, he drew them with him wherever he went, conspicuous and consequential beyond the rank of a private citizen, insuring to him as undoubted the consulship by the favour (they manifested towards him) and the hopes (they excited in him.)
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

With amazement did his eagle and serpent gaze upon him: for a coming bliss overspread his countenance like the rosy dawn.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

A far more correct imagination than that of the pseudo-Herschel* had created them; and if they had been placed in rank and file, and copied by some skilful painter's hand, one would, without doubt, have exclaimed involuntarily, “What a beautiful arabesque!”
— from Andersen's Fairy Tales by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

The water holds the fumes, and can be used in making sulphuric acid.
— from Diggers in the Earth by Eva March Tappan

Commending her to the care of their heavenly Father, and cheered by the manifest tenderness with which she had thus far been treated, they set out on their melancholy journey homeward, trusting that some future effort would be more effectual for the recovery of their little girl.
— from Wau-Bun: The Early Day in the Northwest by Kinzie, John H., Mrs.

The situation, as it stands at this moment, is infinitely worse than it could have been for a century back, if at any moment during those hundred years we had done what we always ought to have done, and declared that the anachronism of Turkey being in Europe was more intolerable than anything that could happen in consequence of her expulsion.
— from Crescent and Iron Cross by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

Four or five refrigerator cars, loaded with meats, vegetables, and such fruits as can be obtained, are sent out on the night freight to distant points, and every morning a supply train of about 16 cars, of which number six to eight are refrigerator cars, leaves Cristobal at 4.30 to distribute foodstuffs and laundry to the local commissaries along the line, where the employees make their purchases, and where the hotels, messes, and kitchens secure their supplies for the day.
— from The Panama Canal: A history and description of the enterprise by J. Saxon (John Saxon) Mills

But the next minute the exploring desire was strong upon him, and he plunged in amongst the bronze, pillar-like stems of the fir-trees, and began wandering on and on in a kind of twilight, flecked and cut by vivid rays of sunshine, which came through the dense, dark-green canopy overhead.
— from The Vast Abyss The Story of Tom Blount, his Uncles and his Cousin Sam by George Manville Fenn

And American officers were found amidst Canadian battalions, shouting stentorian command: "Level low!
— from Canada: the Empire of the North Being the Romantic Story of the New Dominion's Growth from Colony to Kingdom by Agnes C. Laut

January 12th, Mr. Sumner presented a memorial from citizens of Virginia then in Washington, claiming to represent the loyal people of that State, in which they declare themselves “anxious for the prompt admission of the State to representation upon such terms that a loyal civil government may be maintained and the rights of loyal men secured; which,” they say, “we feel assured cannot be the case, if any condition less than the application of the test oath to the Legislature shall be imposed by the Congress.”
— from Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 17 (of 20) by Charles Sumner

The Mexicans, at the time of the Spanish conquest, were looking for a celestial benefactor.
— from Oriental Religions and Christianity A Course of Lectures Delivered on the Ely Foundation Before the Students of Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1891 by Frank F. (Frank Field) Ellinwood

"Vote, therefore, freely as citizens; but, as soldiers do not forget that passive obedience to the orders of the Chief of the State is the rigorous duty of the Army, from the general to the private soldier.
— from The History of a Crime The Testimony of an Eye-Witness by Victor Hugo

There had been nothing patronizing in his manner so far, and Claude began to wonder why he felt ill at ease with him.
— from One of Ours by Willa Cather