A railway here in Asia—in the dreamy realm of the Orient—in the fabled land of the Arabian Nights—is a strange thing to think of.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

From the fair line of Troy a Caesar shall arise, who shall limit his empire with ocean, his glory with the firmament, Julius, inheritor of great Iülus' name.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil

Full many a fowl, and many a cheese, Made up for loss of time and ease.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

and I don’t know the first letter of the A B C. What will become of me if my master takes a fancy to be an archbishop and not an emperor, as is usual and customary with knights-errant?” “Be not uneasy, friend Sancho,” said the barber, “for we will entreat your master, and advise him, even urging it upon him as a case of conscience, to become an emperor and not an archbishop, because it will be easier for him as he is more valiant than lettered.”
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Fanny wrote several times before and about her marriage, pursuing that fond legend of their "ancient friendship," and giving her happiness in the fullest detail.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

A letter which Nelson addressed at this time to the First Lord of the Admiralty, shows in what manner he contemplated the possible issue of the storm, it was in these words:—"My dear lord, there is an old saying, that when things are at the worst they must mend: now the mind of man cannot fancy things worse than they are here.
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey

The facts which we are about to relate belong to that dramatic and living reality, which the historian sometimes neglects for lack of time and space.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The low price at which this corn was distributed to the people, must necessarily have sunk the price of what could be brought to the Roman market from Latium, or the ancient territory of Rome, and must have discouraged its cultivation in that country.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The distinction implied is rather between two stages in the life of the civilised man—the stage of preparation for the full life of the adult citizen, and the stage of the actual exercise or enjoyment of citizenship.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

That was the time he needed dinners, and went weak and faint for lack of them and lost weight from sheer famine.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London

From the Book of Dignities a curious list might be made out of Chancellors ignorant of the principles of equity, and First Lords of the Admiralty ignorant of the principles of navigation, of Colonial ministers who could not repeat the names of the Colonies, of Lords of the Treasury who did not know the difference between funded and unfunded debt, and of Secretaries of the India Board who did not know whether the Mahrattas were Mahometans or Hindoos.
— from Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays; Vol. 6 With a Memoir and Index by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Presently rose and delivered slashing speech, laying low the Reverberating COLOMB as if he had been set up in the Place Vendôme; reviewing the British Fleet in masterly style; nimbly running up the mainmast and sighting Jerusalem and Madagascar, to the absolute confounding of the First Lord of the Admiralty.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, March 14, 1891 by Various

The houses are generally situated in long and narrow alleys, with lofty buildings on each side; or in a small and confined court, which has but a single opening, and that perhaps a low gateway: such a court is in fact little other than a well.
— from A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 2 (of 2) From the Extinction of Plague to the Present Time by Charles Creighton

The first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Spencer, accompanied by Lord Arden and Admiral Young, repaired accordingly to Portsmouth, where they directly proceeded to take into consideration the petition that had been transmitted to the board.
— from Fifty-two Stories of the British Navy, from Damme to Trafalgar. by Alfred H. (Alfred Henry) Miles

Yes, he could sing; he could launch great songs for love of the ancients and their magnificence.
— from The Crest-Wave of Evolution A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 by Kenneth Morris

137-140) with the line ὀψὲ κακῶς νεῖαι ὸλέσας ἄπο πάντας ἑταίρους· The first line of the addition to Teiresias' original prophecy (xi. 115) is also found with a slight variant in ix.
— from The Authoress of the Odyssey Where and when she wrote, who she was, the use she made of the Iliad, and how the poem grew under her hands by Samuel Butler

Grenville, Thomas, first lord of the admiralty, 49 .
— from The Political History of England - Vol XI From Addington's Administration to the close of William IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) by John Knight Fotheringham

There, in a tiny reception room with golden-spotted walls and a cerulean ceiling, some dozen gentlemen and about half a dozen ladies assembled; among the company being the young aesthetic poets, Botticelli Jones and Omar Milde; Lady Milde, mother of the bard, known in her girlhood as the fair ‘Lachryma’ of the albums; Gass and Barbius, Ponto’s brother-critics; the editor of the ‘Megatherium’; Clothilde Max, daughter of the Teutonic patriot, Hermann Max; and a few others.
— from The Martyrdom of Madeline by Robert Williams Buchanan