More blest the life of godly eremite, Such as on lonely Athos may be seen, Watching at eve upon the giant height, Which looks o'er waves so blue, skies so serene, That he who there at such an hour hath been, Will wistful linger on that hallowed spot; Then slowly tear him from the witching scene, Sigh forth one wish that such had been his lot, Then turn to hate a world he had almost forgot.
— from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

Then next pourtray a dark'ning twilight gloom, Eclipsing sad a gay, rejoicing morn,
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

He fabricated words, too, on Greek and Latin models, with great ease, sometimes audaciously and with needless frequency.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

To make some good effort such as this.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus A new rendering based on the Foulis translation of 1742 by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

But if anything more painful, or, in other words, a greater evil, should accrue to the hater thereby—and if the hater thinks he can avoid such evil by not carrying out the injury, which he planned against the object of his hate—he will desire to abstain from inflicting that injury (III. xxviii.), and the strength of his endeavour (III.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza

Soon as the king the story knew From those good envoys swift and true, To Janak's wish he gave assent, And swift to Míthilá he went.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

One might be tempted to suppose the contrary, even to wish it—that the Wagnerian Parsifal was meant joyously, like a concluding play of a trilogy or satyric drama, in which Wagner the tragedian wished to take farewell of us, of himself, above all of tragedy , and to do so in a manner that should be quite fitting and worthy, that is, with an excess of the most extreme and flippant parody of the tragic itself, of the ghastly earthly seriousness and earthly woe of old—a parody of that most crude phase in the unnaturalness of the ascetic ideal, that had at length been overcome.
— from The Genealogy of Morals The Complete Works, Volume Thirteen, edited by Dr. Oscar Levy. by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

No gentleman ever subjects a lady to his scrutiny or his apparent observation.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

Shops and offices, stores and gardens were deserted, and men hurried to the center of the town, where they drifted along the sidewalk or stood in doorways in excited groups, each side anxiously and angrily on the alert for some open act of hostility from the other.
— from With Hoops of Steel by Florence Finch Kelly

"Good evening, sir; a thousand pardons for not having observed you before."
— from The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 4 of 6 by Eugène Sue

With the facts which we have laid before them—with the proofs which we have adduced from their own authorities, to show that there is neither injustice nor oppression practised on the Irish people, that their distress is to a great extent simulated, and their poverty the fruits of their own misconduct—we ask the government, will they continue to allow themselves to be misled by the mistatements of interested and designing men, who, while accounting for the state of Ireland, assert one thing and swear another; will they legislate for that country on the suggestions of persons who make a boast of their hatred of England, and openly express their desire for her humiliation—who, with loyalty on their lips, seek Repeal because they know it must produce separation; and who hesitate not to advocate measures which they feel must be ruinous to all classes of their fellow-countrymen, because they hope to accomplish, through the agency of the British ministry, what they have hitherto been unable to effect by flattery or by force—the alienation of the loyal and well-disposed from the British connexion?
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846 by Various

Then 'churchings'--she never had no use for them herself, yet she'd often stop for the pleasure of:--'Like as the arrows in the hand of the giant; even so are the young children.'
— from The Virgin in Judgment by Eden Phillpotts

Examine particular objects and see how exactly everything is fitted for the end for which it is designed, and that a good end; such as the seasons; day and night; provision made for the wants and for the comfort and pleasure of men and animals; the body and mind of man; the laws which govern the material world, carried put in a great variety of ways; in the infinite variety, and yet extensive and convenient classification, of objects; human languages; moral agency of intelligent beings, &c. (3.)
— from A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females Being a Series of Letters from a Brother to a Younger Sister by Harvey Newcomb

Here’s such a whacking great effet, same as used to be in our pond at home.”
— from Mother Carey's Chicken: Her Voyage to the Unknown Isle by George Manville Fenn

When all things go easy, smooth, and well, we are prone to grow drowsy in soul.
— from Works of John Bunyan — Complete by John Bunyan

"Oh, yes, suh, Georgia is a good enough state, an' I reckon Atlanter, Augusta, an' Savannah are big cities with mighty fine, rich people, but
— from Fighting Byng: A Novel of Mystery, Intrigue and Adventure by A. Stone