All day the drums rumbled and whispered, while their menace reflected itself in the faces of our colored companions.
— from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

This was the sister to whom I once had read Leubald und Adelaide in a thunderstorm; the sister who had listened, filled with astonishment and sympathy, to that eventful performance of my first overture on Christmas Eve, and whom I now found married to one of the kindest of men, Hermann Brockhaus, who soon earned a reputation for himself as an expert in oriental languages.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

LXXXVIII ¶Tolosa, which was formerly at peace with the Romans but had revolted, under the influence of hope in the Cimbri, to the extent of imprisoning the garrison, was occupied by them at night: they were admitted unexpectedly by friends and plundered the temples, obtaining much other money besides, for the place had been wealthy from of old, containing among other offerings those of which the Gauls under the leadership of Brennus had once despoiled Delphi.
— from Dio's Rome, Volume 1 (of 6) An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

Reason's resources are in fact so limited that it is usually reduced to guerilla warfare: a general plan of campaign is useless when only insignificant forces obey our commands.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

There are numbers of 216 the like kind, especially if you include dreams, and predictions of astrology; but I have set down these few only of certain credit, for example.
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon

The generous king has let me know My stave, to please, must be framed so That my poor verse extol the fame Of one called Hakon Lump by name.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

But whether thus these things, or whether not, Whether the Sun predominant in Heav'n 160 Rise on the Earth, or Earth rise on the Sun, Hee from the East his flaming rode begin, Or Shee from West her silent course advance With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps On her soft Axle, while she paces Eev'n, And bears thee soft with the smooth Air along, Sollicit not thy thoughts with matters hid, Leave them to God above, him serve and feare; Of other Creatures, as him pleases best, Wherever plac't, let him dispose: joy thou 170 In what he gives to thee, this Paradise And thy faire Eve; Heav'n is for thee too high To know what passes there; be lowlie wise: Think onely what concernes thee and thy being; Dream not of other Worlds, what Creatures there Live, in what state, condition or degree, Contented that thus farr hath been reveal'd Not of Earth onely but of highest Heav'n.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

As the first order of wisdom is to know thyself, so the first order of charity is to be sufficient for thyself.
— 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.

Two hundred were deemed sufficient for a Frank of ordinary condition; but the meaner Romans were exposed to disgrace and danger by a trifling compensation of one hundred, or even fifty, pieces of gold.
— 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

When it comes to condemning one of our fellows, and withdrawing our esteem from him, we should act from our own convictions only.
— from The Brotherhood of Consolation by Honoré de Balzac

This castle, which is still in good condition, was built by the Armenian kings, and restored by Sultan Suleiman; it was constructed from the remains of the ancient city; fragments of old columns are embedded in its walls of cut stone.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

"Why, it was the first one, of course.
— from On the Makaloa Mat/Island Tales by Jack London

A. Excellent Zerrubbabel, the Council accept with gratification and joy your noble and generous offer, and will invest you with the necessary passports, by means of which you will be enabled to make yourself known to the favor of one Council wherever you may meet them; but in an undertaking of so much importance, it is necessary that you enter into a solemn obligation to be faithful to the trust reposed in you.
— from The Mysteries of Free Masonry Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge by William Morgan

It was owing, said Mr. F., to the freedom of our commerce.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

So it was that Mr. Viney, left alone to bear the firm's burdens, was loafing, sometimes about his house in Commercial Road, Stepney, sometimes in the back streets and small public-houses hard by; pondering, no doubt, the matter contained in a paper that had that afternoon stricken the colour from the face of one Crooks, ship-chandler, of Shadwell, and had hardly less disquieted others in related trades.
— from The Hole in the Wall by Arthur Morrison

Upon the right disposition of it are suspended, under God, interests of immeasurable value, and which stretch far out into the unseen future of our country and the world.
— from Three Prize Essays on American Slavery by R. B. (Richard Bowers) Thurston

From our first landing till our arrival at Porto Novo we lost four of our company, two at the place where we were driven ashore, and two in crossing the river.
— from Fifty-two Stories of the British Navy, from Damme to Trafalgar. by Alfred H. (Alfred Henry) Miles

There were two other forms of ordeal, called the cross and the corsned; the former consisted of two pieces of wood, which were covered over, one bearing the mark of the cross; if the accused drew this, he was considered innocent; if the piece that was unmarked, guilty.
— from History of the Anglo-Saxons, from the Earliest Period to the Norman Conquest Second Edition by Thomas Miller