Two utterly dissimilar races on the same soil—with equal political and civil rights—almost equal in numbers, but terribly unequal in intelligence and responsibility—each pledged against fusion—one for a century in servitude to the other, and freed at last by a desolating war, the experiment sought by neither but approached by both with doubt—these are the conditions.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

Men in this deplorable state of mind find a comfort in spreading the contagion of their spleen.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

Fresh, unperplexed, it is the image of man as he springs first from the sleep of nature; his white light taking no colour from any one-sided experience, characterless, so far as character involves subjection to the accidental influences of life.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater

Some little disappointment, caused by the unsatisfactory shortness of Miss Halcombe's letter, mingled itself with these feelings, and contributed its share towards upsetting my serenity for the day.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Therefore, because in plain ordinary relations of life it is expedient to say without circumlocution: I want [91] this, I have done this, and the like; therefore, because the way of freedom and certainty is surer than that of ruse.—But if it happens that a child is brought up in sinister domestic circumstances, it will then indulge in falsehood as matter of course, and involuntarily say anything its own interests may prompt: an inclination for truth, an aversion to falsehood, is quite foreign and uncongenial to it, and hence it lies in all innocence.
— from Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Humbled by a public confession, emaciated by fasting and clothed in sackcloth, the penitent lay prostrate at the door of the assembly, imploring with tears the pardon of his offences, and soliciting the prayers of the faithful.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

But however clever he may be, the man who, anxious to appear or even to be great, forces fate and creates impossible situations that he may act a leading part before the world, is only a schemer.
— from Maximilian in Mexico: A Woman's Reminiscences of the French Intervention 1862-1867 by Sara Yorke Stevenson

She therefore consented to take the voyage, and set out early in April 1795, with a document drawn up by Imlay appointing her as his representative, and describing her as “Mary Imlay, my best friend, and wife,” and concluding: “Thus, confiding in the talent, zeal, and earnestness of my dearly beloved friend and companion; I submit the management of these affairs entirely and implicitly to her discretion: Remaining most sincerely and affectionately hers truly, G. Imlay.”
— from The Love Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft to Gilbert Imlay by Mary Wollstonecraft

Alert to seize every opportunity which the revolutions of the wheel of destiny within their Faith offers them, and undismayed by the prospect of spasmodic convulsions that must sooner or later fatally affect those who have refused to embrace its light, they, and those who will labor after them, must press forward until the processes now set in motion will have each spent its force and contributed its share towards the birth of the Order now stirring in the womb of a travailing age.
— from The Advent of Divine Justice by Effendi Shoghi

All these people must have shelter, and food, and clothes; I say they must.
— from Missing Friends Being the Adventures of a Danish Emigrant in Queensland (1871-1880) by Thorvald Peter Ludwig Weitemeyer

—Take half a sheet of note-paper; fold and crease it so that two opposite corners exactly meet; then fold and crease it so that the remaining two opposite corners exactly meet.
— from Notes and Queries, Number 211, November 12, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

One would not therefore, on a flight and cursory inspection, suspect this of being a painter's country, where no prominence of features arrests the sight, no expression of latent meaning employs the mind, and no abruptness of transition tempts fancy to follow, or imagination to supply, the sudden loss of what it contemplated before.
— from Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Hester Lynch Piozzi

[From the French of Louis Honore Fréchette] A child, I set the thirsting of my mouth To the gold chalices of loves that craze.
— from In Divers Tones by Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir

He may be very angry, he may be very hungry, he may have been just disappointed in taking his prey, or he may be accompanied by the female and cubs; in short, the animal's temper may have been ruffled, and in this case he becomes dangerous.
— from The Mission by Frederick Marryat

She is a great favorite of mine: full of thought, and feeling, and character, it seems to me.
— from The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Volume 2 of 2) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning