Nay, it may be inferred, that reason has whispered some doubts, for it generally happens that people assert their opinions with the greatest heat when they begin to waver; striving to drive out their own doubts by convincing their opponent, they grow angry when those gnawing doubts are thrown back to prey on themselves.
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects by Mary Wollstonecraft

At present, even under temporary disadvantages, the use of flesh is greater here than anywhere else; it is continued without any interruption of Lents or meagre days; it is sustained and growing even with the increase of our taxes.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

After I had finished, I got him to lend me a little ink from his veins; and with this and a sliver I wrote on a piece of bark— Put him in the Man-factory— and gave it to him, and said: “Take it to the palace at Camelot and give it into the hands of Amyas le Poulet, whom I call Clarence, and he will understand.”
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

His duty it was to call upon old Sedley and his wife, and to keep the former in good humour: to draw Jos and his brother-in-law nearer together, so that Jos's position and dignity, as collector of Boggley Wollah, might compensate for his father's loss of station, and tend to reconcile old Osborne to the alliance: and finally, to communicate it to the latter in such a way as should least irritate the old gentleman.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

] Ask him what the origin of his fortune is! Get him to tell you how he sold to a stockbroker a Cabinet secret.
— from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

When I expressed my surprise at this metamorphosis, he laughed, and told me it was done by the advice and assistance of a friend, who lived over the way, and would certainly produce something very much to his advantage; for it gave him the appearance of age, which never fails of attracting respect.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Having renewed our protestations of friendship, I bade the honest Welshman and his spouse farewell, and, taking post-horses, arrived at London that same night, where I found my father in good health, to whom I imparted what I had learned of Narcissa.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Beauty even gave a right to fame; and we find in Greek histories the most beautiful people distinguished.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater

Perhaps he did not really think this when he met women—even probably he did not, for in general he thought very little—but his looks and manner gave that impression.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

"Your Father is George Harrison, the Convict!"
— from Kathleen's Diamonds; or, She Loved a Handsome Actor by Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.

The accuracy with which machinery executes its work is, perhaps, one of its most important advantages: it may, however, be contended, that a considerable portion of this advantage may be resolved into saving of time; for it generally happens, that any improvement in tools increases the quantity of work done in a given time.
— from On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures by Charles Babbage

It was lucky they did, because the town fell into German hands that evening.
— from With the Doughboy in France: A Few Chapters of an American Effort by Edward Hungerford

The palisaded meeting-house square, the fortified isolated garrison houses, the massacres and captivities are familiar features of New England's history.
— from The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner

Her fur is grey, her table manners perfect, and in disposition she is kind and affectionate.
— from The Red Cow and Her Friends by Peter McArthur

"Here, Tilly," said Marsden, at the same time, "here's the yeast-cake; but I don't see what ma wants with it, fur I gev her two this arfternoon."
— from Flint: His Faults, His Friendships and His Fortunes by Maud Wilder Goodwin

Yet, while in classical colonialism, the colony at least received some recompense for its goods – here the poor country is actually the poorer for its exports.
— from After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Samuel Vaknin

Combining affability with size, the whale will blow out three deep roars of salute from its great horn, that will be echoed by a like number of shrill notes from the treble whistle of the minnow.
— from Spanish America, Its Romance, Reality and Future, Vol. 2 (of 2) by C. Reginald (Charles Reginald) Enock

The next best thing to being a member of the nobility is for a Briton to belong to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, for it gives him the cachet to everything Asiatic.
— from East of Suez Ceylon, India, China and Japan by Frederic Courtland Penfield