The doctor looked at him with pity, and glanced for a moment at his neighbor's red face, his short, thick neck, his “corporation,” as Chenet called it to himself, his two fat, flabby legs, and the apoplectic rotundity of the old official; and raising the white Panama hat from his head, he said with a snigger: “I am not so sure of that, old fellow; your mother is as tough as nails, and I should say that your life is not a very good one.”
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

I then instructed and authorized him to hold on to all trains that arrived at Nashville from Louisville, and to allow none to go back until he had secured enough to fill the requirements of our problem.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

I say so because it is my will and pleasure that one of you should follow letters, another trade, and the third serve the king in the wars, for it is a difficult matter to gain admission to his service in his household, and if war does not bring much wealth it confers great distinction and fame.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

This body of men, remarkable for their high character, was able at last to bring about an understanding with the Filipino leaders and to assure them of the unselfish and honorable purposes of the American government.
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows

But we can far less afford to allow grace to be interfered with by what is characteristic than even beauty, for graceful position and movement are demanded for the expression of the character also; but yet it must be achieved in the way which is most fitting, appropriate, and easy for the person.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

The spoils of war had restored and improved his private property; he was admitted to the table of his former lord; and the apostate Greek blessed the hour of his captivity, since it had been the introduction to a happy and independent state; which he held by the honorable tenure of military service.
— 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

I misinterpreted this, fancied it was a reflection of my flickering lamp, and turned again to the stores in the shed.
— from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

22 Note 22 ( return ) [ The sixth Panegyric represents the conduct of Maximian in the most favorable light, and the ambiguous expression of Aurelius Victor, "retractante diu," may signify either that he contrived, or that he opposed, the conspiracy.
— 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

Thenceforth this bow, the gem of bows, That freed the God of Gods from foes, Stored by our great forefathers lay A treasure and a pride for aye.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

He wished to have the assistance of so skilful a hand to polish his lines; and yet he shrank from the humiliation of being beholden for literary assistance to a lad who might have been his grandson.
— from William Wycherley [Four Plays] by William Wycherley

That is probably right, or it would not happen; it seems to be in the general scheme, like millionairism and pauperism; but it becomes a question, then, whether the newspapers, with all their friendship for literature, and their actual generosity to literary men, can really help one much to fortune, however much they help one to fame.
— from The Man of Letters as a Man of Business by William Dean Howells

[10] The federal law against the African slave trade could not be enforced.
— from Expansion and Conflict by William Edward Dodd

ien, with all his good sense, consider that Voltaire, master as he was of the French language and the art of poetry, failed in a similar attempt, though that attempt was made in Paris, in the midst of the sanctuary!
— from Memoirs of the life, exile, and conversations of the Emperor Napoleon. (Vol. III) by Las Cases, Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné, comte de

The shield was of an oblong or oval shape, with an iron boss jutting out in the middle, to glance off stones or darts; [51] it was four feet long and two and a half broad, made of pieces of wood joined together with small plates of iron, and the whole covered with a bull's hide.
— from Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology For Classical Schools (2nd ed) by Charles K. (Charles Knapp) Dillaway

After half an hour's march up the bed of a fiumara, leading apparently to a cul de sac of lofty rocks in the hills, we quitted it for a rude zig-zag winding along its left side, amongst bushes, thorn trees, and huge rocks.
— from First Footsteps in East Africa by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

For some time we seemed to hold our own with her, even after the breeze fell light, almost to a calm; and it was 9 p.m. before she actually passed us, steaming ahead full speed.
— from The Last Voyage: To India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' by Annie Brassey

His mind, once receiving a proper direction, could go forward at leisure, of its own motion; a guide was wanting only to show the path and to mark out the course; it was for Lawrence alone to arrive at the goal.
— from Memoirs of the Generals, Commodores and other Commanders, who distinguished themselves in the American army and navy during the wars of the Revolution and 1812, and who were presented with medals by Congress for their gallant services by Thomas Wyatt

My dear Moshes , Giv us yer congraterlations old chap, for luck as turned at last.
— from The Comic Almanack, Volume 2 (of 2) An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities by Gilbert Abbott À Beckett