I mention this circumstance, because I think it probable that hereafter the individual in question may attempt a balloon ascension with the novel gas and material I have spoken of, and I do not wish to deprive him of the honor of a very singular invention.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

20 A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted, Hast thou the master mistress of my passion, A woman’s gentle heart but not acquainted With shifting change as is false women’s fashion, An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling: Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth, A man in hue all hues in his controlling, Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.
— from Alice in Wonderland A Dramatization of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Alice Gerstenberg

To the office and there all the morning, where Sir W. Pen, like a coxcomb, was so ready to cross me in a motion I made unawares for the entering a man at Chatham into the works, wherein I was vexed to see his spleene, but glad to understand it, and that it was in no greater a matter, I being not at all concerned here.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

The grieved are many, I am told; The reason deeper lies, — Death is but one and comes but once, And only nails the eyes.
— from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete by Emily Dickinson

"Gloves are more important than anything else; you can't dance without them, and if you don't I should be so mortified."
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

After the scene which had taken place, the vile crowd of prisoners stood gazing at me in stupid silence, and Marazzini came up to me and begged me to use my offices for him.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Back in the gloom of the cavern I heard the clink of a little bell, and then this exclamation: “Hello Central! Is this you, Camelot?—Behold, thou mayst glad thy heart an thou hast faith to believe the wonderful when that it cometh in unexpected guise and maketh itself manifest in impossible places—here standeth in the flesh his mightiness The Boss, and with thine own ears shall ye hear him speak!”
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

They were close together: he, tall, dark, with long whiskers and the rather vulgar manners of a good-looking man who is very well satisfied with himself; she, small, fair, and pink, a little Parisian, born in the back room of a shop, half cocotte and half bourgeoise, brought up to entice customers to the store by her glances, and married, in consequence, to a simple, unsophisticated man, who saw her outside the door every morning when he went out and every evening when he came home.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

To whom with healing words Adam reply’d. Daughter of God and Man, immortal Eve , For such thou art, from sin and blame entire: Not diffident of thee do I dissuade Thy absence from my sight, but to avoid Th’ attempt it self, intended by our Foe.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

After the death of Massinissa (605), Scipio had divided the sovereign functions of that prince among his three sons, the kings Micipsa, Gulussa, and Mastanabal, in such a way that the firstborn obtained the residency and the state-chest, the second the charge of war, and the third the administration of justice.(10) Now after the death of his two brothers Massinissa's eldest son, Micipsa,(11) reigned alone, a feeble peaceful old man, who was fond of occupying himself more with the study of Greek philosophy than with affairs of state.
— from The History of Rome, Book IV The Revolution by Theodor Mommsen

The park of Versailles is grander and more imposing; but it has not the picturesque irregularity, the fantastic and unexpected beauties, of the park of Schoenbrunn, and more closely resembles the park at Malmaison.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon by Various

He ordered up the thousand men under General Stanhope and made prodigious exertions to get some guns and mortars into position upon the newly won ramparts.
— from The Bravest of the Brave — or, with Peterborough in Spain by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

He could not speak for excitement, then put one into his mouth, glanced at me in triumph, like a child at last being given its favourite toy, and said: "'How good they are!'
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Hereupon the Gauls begin to see how great a man is Cæsar.
— from The Commentaries of Cæsar by Anthony Trollope

We have seen what became of “Aaron’s land,” and that of the “son of Abraham” did not escape confiscation, for we find that in Edward I. ’s reign—“Thomas de Palmere was granted a messuage in the great street of Winchester, valued at four shillings a year.
— from Royal Winchester: Wanderings in and about the Ancient Capital of England by A. G. K. (Alfred Guy Kingan) L'Estrange

Elsewhere the wall of the cloaca and cloacal groove are merely in contact but do not communicate.
— from The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 1 (of 4) Separate Memoirs by Francis M. (Francis Maitland) Balfour

The former two girls had been assigned the "Baby Table" for the simple reason that there were not enough upperclassmen to take charge, and they, of all the younger girls, appeared most interested.
— from The Girl Scouts' Good Turn by Edith Lavell

Let us take for granted (and may it prove correct to do so), that in none of Her Majesty’s Hospitals Orderlies’ time will be wasted in cleaning any ornamental things, whether unnecessary furniture, flourishes, or cornices, &c. , &c. , on necessary furniture; supernumerary shelves, nooks and corners, &c. , &c. Once provided, all these things must be carefully and constantly cleaned, or they become receptacles of dust and breeders of fleas; and to clean them involves enormous waste of time.
— from Subsidiary Notes as to the Introduction of Female Nursing into Military Hospitals in Peace and War by Florence Nightingale

"But in the largest states, if the abuses of the government should at any time be great and manifest; if the servants of the people, forgetting their masters and their masters' interest, should pursue a separate one of their own; if, instead of considering that they are made for the people, they should consider the people as made for them; if the oppressions and violation of right should be great, flagrant, and universally resented; if the tyrannical governors should have no friends but a few sycophants, who had long preyed upon the vitals of their fellow-citizens, and who might be expected to desert a government whenever their interests should be detached from it: if, in consequence of these circumstances, it should become manifest that the risk which would be run in attempting a revolution would be trifling, and the evils which might be apprehended from it were far less than those which were actually suffered and which were daily increasing; in the name of God, I ask, what principles are those which ought to restrain an injured and insulted people from asserting their natural rights, and from changing or even punishing their governors--that is, their servants--who had abused their trust, or from altering the whole form of their government, if it appeared to be of a structure so liable to abuse?" As a Dissenter, subject to the operation of the Corporation and Test Acts, and as a Unitarian excluded from the benefit of the Toleration Act, it is not surprising to find that Priestley had very definite opinions about Ecclesiastical Establishments; the only wonder is that these opinions were so moderate as the following passages show them to have been:-- "Ecclesiastical authority may have been necessary in the infant state of society, and, for the same reason, it may perhaps continue to be, in some degree, necessary as long as society is imperfect; and therefore may not be entirely abolished till civil governments have arrived at a much greater degree of perfection.
— from Science & Education: Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley