And while Solon justly prided himself upon his having been offered the opportunity to make himself despot, with the full consent of his fellow-countrymen, and yet having refused it, Poplicola deserves even greater credit for having been placed in an office of almost despotic power, and having made it more popular, not using the privileges with which he was entrusted.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

On this occasion, however, in the resort to arms of June 25th, 1832, the great city felt something which was, perhaps, stronger than itself.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

be hopeful &c. adj.; look on the bright side of, view on the sunny side, voir en couleur de rose[Fr], make the best of it, hope for the best; put a good face upon, put a bold face upon, put the best face upon; keep one's spirits up; take heart, take heart of grace; be of good heart, be of good cheer; flatter oneself, "lay the flattering unction to one's soul" catch at a straw[hamlet], hope against hope, reckon one's chickens before they are hatched, count one's chickens before they are hatched.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

Whatever may have been the immediate causes of the world-war, the more remote sources of the conflict must undoubtedly be sought in the great cosmic forces which have broken down the barriers which formerly separated the races and nationalities of the [Pg 619] world, and forced them into new intimacies and new forms of competition, rivalry, and conflict.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

The platter had served its purpose at the Aid bazaar and had then been returned to the Green Gables closet, for Anne would not trust anybody but herself to take it back to town.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

And the Word of God came from heaven, raised him out of the water, and said to him, "Go up the high bank to Eve."
— from The First Book of Adam and Eve by Rutherford Hayes Platt

The [3272] Greeks had their Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean games, in honour of Neptune, Jupiter, Apollo; Athens hers: some for honour, garlands, crowns; for [3273] beauty, dancing, running, leaping, like our silver games.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

She rouged regularly now; and—and her maid got Cognac for her besides that which was charged in the hotel bill.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Berthe, at first delighted with her room upholstered in thuja and blue silk, had shown the greatest contempt for it after visiting a friend who had just married a banker.
— from Piping Hot! (Pot-Bouille): A Realistic Novel by Émile Zola

Sad, sad to tell, the night, the friendly night, like a slighted ally, was gone; and with it the golden chance for vengeance to the warrior, deliverance to the captive.
— from Burl by Morrison Heady

Self-preservation is suicide; self-immolation is not only self-preservation, but self-glorification with glory caught from Jesus.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. Luke by Alexander Maclaren

The Governor-General's first act was to read a personal message from the King, acknowledging the many proofs of loyalty displayed by South Africa in common with the rest of the Empire, and of its determination to play a part in the great conflict forced upon Great Britain.
— from How the Nations Waged War A companion volume to "How the War Began" by J. M. (John McFarland) Kennedy

The iron Duke himself,—whose soldier fame To England's proudest ship had given her name, And whose white hairs in this my earliest scene Had scarce more honour'd than accustom'd been,— Was two years since to his last haven past: I had seen his castle-flag to fall half-mast One morn as I sat looking on the sea, When thus all England's grief came first to me, Who hold my childhood favour'd that I knew So well the face that won at Waterloo.
— from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas by Robert Bridges

When the gentlemen contend for its supremacy, they also admit in this point some qualifications; according to their doctrine, it is not to be supreme over the head of the constitution, but in every [Pg 655] other respect they contend that it shall be unlimited, supreme, undefined.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 1 (of 16) by United States. Congress

Plays about miracles wrought by holy men or saints or the sufferings and fortitude of martyrs were performed, usually at the great church festivals.
— from Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776 by S. A. Reilly

They were all dressed in the first style: gold chains festooned over waistcoats of the most recent Parisian fashion; and brilliantly polished boots, without a speck of mud upon them
— from The Mysteries of London, v. 2/4 by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

This young chap may be a good customer, for he handles plenty of money."
— from The Midnight Passenger : A Novel by Richard Savage

Men are found to acquire in this school month by month a growing application of better things, a readier apprehension of truth and a heartier sympathy with virtue, and best of all, a greater capacity for sustained and consistent effort in practical undertakings.
— from A Plea for the Criminal Being a reply to Dr. Chapple's work: 'The Fertility of the Unfit', and an Attempt to explain the leading principles of Criminological and Reformatory Science by James Leslie Allan Kayll