“I don't know what you mean by venture,” cries the fellow; “it seems I must venture whether you will return the lady her money or no; but I hope your worship will consider—” “Come, come,” said Partridge, “tell his honour your name, and where you may be found; I warrant you will never repent having put the money into his hands.”
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Everything in nature is a puzzle until it finds its solution in man, who solves it in some way with God, and so completes the circle of creation.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

“If I may not be your wife, dear lord,” she answered, “I must die.” “Alas!” said he, “I pray heaven that may not be; for in sooth I may not be your husband.
— from The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Knowles, James, Sir

For as yet We know not who side with us, and the fort Is strong in man and musket.
— from Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca

You consider a difficult psychological case in all its aspects, and suddenly, without knowing how or why, you have found its solution: “It must have been so and not otherwise; he has acted so and so for this reason, etc.”
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

I found it simple, in my ignorance, my confusion, and perhaps my conceit, to assume that I could deal with a boy whose education for the world was all on the point of beginning.
— from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Then I did what others do when all else fails to sustain them; I turned to God: not humbly, not devoutly or trustfully, but doubtfully, bitterly, and rebelliously; for I said in my despairing heart, 'If there is a God, let Him help me, and I will believe.'
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

If, now, light strikes one eye, say the right, the left fin is set in motion and the animal's body is set rotating toward the right like a rowboat with one oar.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

It is popularly supposed that a bald head is the result of great mental activity, but I have not found it so in my practice.
— from The Substitute Millionaire by Hulbert Footner

I have found it so in my own case.
— from Francis Beaumont: Dramatist A Portrait, with Some Account of His Circle, Elizabethan and Jacobean, And of His Association with John Fletcher by Charles Mills Gayley

In order to give a plant more food it suffices in most cases to grow it separately, and thus prevent other plants robbing its roots.
— from The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2 by Charles Darwin

Having finished this machine, on which I bestowed no small labour, I was hugely pleased with it, and only wished I had a beast, if it were but an ass, to draw it; however, that task I was satisfied to perform myself, since there was no help for it; so I made a good strong cord out of my fishing-lines, and fixed that to drag it by.
— from The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, Complete (Volumes 1 and 2) by Robert Paltock

"'My father,' I said, 'I might make you swear on your crucifix that you will stay here quietly until someone comes and finds you.'
— from Stromboli and the Guns by Francis Henry Gribble

I can make her understand—” I stopped at a certain expression which I fancied I saw in Mrs. Gray's face.
— from Through the Eye of the Needle: A Romance by William Dean Howells