If we analyse the various cases of sympathetic magic which have been passed in review in the preceding pages, and which may be taken as fair samples of the bulk, we shall find, as I have already indicated, that they are all mistaken applications of one or other of two great fundamental laws of thought, namely, the association of ideas by similarity and the association of ideas by contiguity in space or time.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

On some days, instead of staying at home, he would go for luncheon to a restaurant not far off, to which he had been attracted, some time before, by the excellence of its cookery, but to which he now went only for one of those reasons, at once mystical and absurd, which people call 'romantic'; because this restaurant (which, by the way, still exists) bore the same name as the street in which Odette lived: the Lapérouse.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

Viridi gaudens Feronia luco.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Having, in the performance of a tragedy, dropped his sceptre, and not quickly recovering it, he was in a great fright, lest he should be set aside for the miscarriage, and could not regain his assurance, until an actor who stood by swore he was certain it had not been observed in the midst of the acclamations and exultations of the people.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

Ulysses, therefore, went on his round, going from left to right, and stretched out his hands to beg as though he were a real beggar.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

It is natural for a perfect stranger who is going from London to Edinburgh, to enquire before he sets out, how many miles to York; which is about the half way—nor does any body wonder, if he goes on and asks about the corporation, &c....
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

griðlagu f. law of temporary or local peace , LL 470[9].
— from A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary For the Use of Students by J. R. Clark (John R. Clark) Hall

She did not live at St. Ogg's, but the road from Garum Firs lay by the Red Deeps, at the end opposite that by which Maggie entered.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

When night came on, and brought sleep with it, I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

X And with one voice the Thirty Have their glad answer given: "Go forth, go forth, Lars Porsena; Go forth, beloved of Heaven; Go, and return in glory To Clusium's royal dome; And hang round Nurscia's altars
— from Lays of Ancient Rome by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Quite a number of people whom I might mention, who make a great parade and show, and who strut up and down the green footstool, like Sir Oracles, actually looked to me like ants, running about on an ant hill, and they didn't appear at my height to any better advantage than those who were more humble and retired.
— from Letters of Peregrine Pickle by George P. (George Putnam) Upton

In this alcove was the bed, of immense size, and loaded, rather than ornamented, with carvings of little cupids, leaves, fruits, and feathers enough to bewilder one who lay beneath them; to describe the quantity of furniture, ornaments, and articles of all kinds, would be wearisome; it is sufficient for us to know, that by the bedside stood a table upon a pedestal two feet high, with the crucifix and the Madonna upon it on one side, and St. John on the other; this table, by means of certain springs, turned upon hinges fixed in the wall, disclosing a secret door, which led by a winding staircase to some rooms on the ground floor, little frequented by the servants.
— from Isabella Orsini: A Historical Novel of the Fifteenth Century by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi

From Chiriyaghat to Hethaura, the road is very good for loaded cattle, and might be easily rendered fit for carts.
— from An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal And of the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha by Francis Hamilton

I was not positive that I had not maimed my grandson for life, though I agree that his stentorian yell had relieved my solicitude a trifle.
— from The Opinions of a Philosopher by Robert Grant

Having presumably arrived at the happy conclusion that Madame's wrath was only on the surface, Crystal now said gently: "Father loves all this etiquette, ma tante ; it brings back memories of a very happy past.
— from The Bronze Eagle: A Story of the Hundred Days by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

Their greatest fault lies in their impulsiveness and lack of self-control, and unless a good Line of Head be shown on the hands, they rush madly into all kinds of difficulties and dangers and often make a complete muddle of their opportunities and the magnificent powers of leadership that they nearly all possess.
— from Palmistry for All by Cheiro

She laid her gloved fingers lightly on his bridle hand.
— from The Call of the Cumberlands by Charles Neville Buck

These demagogues had joined, indeed, in the struggle against Robespierre, but it was with the expectation that an Amurath was to succeed an Amurath—a Jacobin a Jacobin—not for the purpose of relaxing the reins of the revolutionary government, far less changing its character.
— from Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume I. by Walter Scott

Where should we, even of the greatest families, learn politeness?
— from The Deluge: An Historical Novel of Poland, Sweden, and Russia. Vol. 1 (of 2) by Henryk Sienkiewicz