Now in all common and ordinary cases, there is nothing which I have found to answer so well as this—— ——Certainly, if there is any dependence upon Logic, and that I am not 208 blinded by self-love, there must be something of true genius about me, merely upon this symptom of it, that I do not know what envy is: for never do I hit upon any invention or device which tendeth to the furtherance of good writing, but I instantly make it public; willing that all mankind should write as well as myself.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Now in all common and ordinary cases, there is nothing which I have found to answer so well as this— —Certainly, if there is any dependence upon Logic, and that I am not blinded by self-love, there must be something of true genius about me, merely upon this symptom of it, that I do not know what envy is: for never do I hit upon any invention or device which tendeth to the furtherance of good writing, but I instantly make it public; willing that all mankind should write as well as myself.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Guicciardini, a man most unapt to believe lies, relates how that Ferdinand his father's ghost who before had died for grief, came and told him, that he could not resist the French King, he thought every man cried France, France; the reason of it (saith Cominseus) was because he was a vile tyrant, a murderer, an oppressor of his subjects, he bought up all commodities, and sold them at his own price, sold abbeys to Jews and Falkoners; both Ferdinand his father, and he himself never made conscience of any committed sin; and to conclude, saith he, it was impossible to do worse than they did.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The exceptional position of Pompeius even under the Gabinian, and much more under the Manilian, law was incompatible with a republican organization.
— from The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) by Theodor Mommsen

I gazed at my map upon the table as one might gaze into a magician's globe.
— from The Watchers: A Novel by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason

There must have been twelve thousand Cape Colonists under arms before the recent appeal, and, as things are now going, we shall get as many more under that appeal—a truly remarkable achievement under a purely voluntary system.
— from Lord Milner's Work in South Africa From its Commencement in 1897 to the Peace of Vereeniging in 1902 by W. Basil (William Basil) Worsfold

"Sire, I do not only suppose it, I know it," said M. Mälzl, gravely; "a man may use these limbs and feet as easily and naturally as though he were born with them.
— from Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

He found Grant and Mori making up the invoices for a cargo of lacquered ware.
— from Yankee Boys in Japan; Or, The Young Merchants of Yokohama by Henry Harrison Lewis

The compromising documents disappeared within the warm hollow of her muff, and with a last glance around, Mrs. Marteen unlocked the door and descended to the street, where her walnut-brown limousine awaited her.
— from Out of the Ashes by Ethel Watts Mumford Grant

The good Abbe Marcelin married us then!
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

Many were his congratulations upon Drusus's manly growth, and many more upon the windfall of Vibulanus's fortune, which, as he declared, was too securely conveyed to the young man to be open to any legal attack.
— from A Friend of Cæsar: A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. by William Stearns Davis

The King had remained in his palace, humbled, dismayed, and bewildered, “feeling,” says Clarendon, “the trouble and agony which usually attend generous and magnanimous minds upon their having committed errors;” feeling, we should say, the despicable repentance which attends the man who, having attempted to commit a crime, finds that he has only committed a folly.
— from Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays; Vol. 2 With a Memoir and Index by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron