Vera autem et sapiens animi magnitudo honestum illud, quod maxime natura sequitur, in factis positum, non in gloria iudicat principemque se esse mavult quam videri; etenim qui ex errore imperitae multitudinis pendet, hic in magnis viris non est habendus.
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

She didn't go into particulars.
— from Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

I saw General Grant that afternoon at his house on I Street, and told him what I had done, and so anxious was he about it that he came to our room at the War Department the next morning (Monday), the 13th, and asked me to go in person to the White House to urge the President to send in the name of General Cox.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

The poles would add nothing, and are only used when we are going into port.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

“You—you AREN'T?” stammered the little girl, in plain dismay.
— from Pollyanna by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter

It was the portrait of a gentleman in pencil, his face having the advantage of being painted up in pink.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Ambassadors they chose and sent, Who worked with such a good intent, [Pg 400] The Vultures cried, "A truce," at last, And wars red horrors from them cast.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

I told Mr. Guest I would open the subject to you; and when you come back from this northern business, we can go into particulars.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

“My dear, give me curtains at twelve pesos a yard, and you’ll see if I put on these rags!” retorted the goddess in pique.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal

Her father said to Zoraida, “Daughter, retire into the house and shut thyself in while I go and speak to these dogs; and thou, Christian, pick thy herbs, and go in peace, and Allah bring thee safe to thy own country.” I bowed, and he went away to look for the Turks, leaving me alone with Zoraida, who made as if she were about to retire as her father bade her; but the moment he was concealed by the trees of the garden, turning to me with her eyes full of tears she said, “Tameji, cristiano, tameji?”
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Its chief constituent, besides water, is a substance called hemoglobin, which has the power of combining with oxygen when in a place where that gas is plentiful, and of giving it off again in a region [Pg 67] where oxygen is absent, or present only in small quantity.
— from Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Martha Meir Allen

ven on the people of God, in proportion to the degree in which it prevails, embarrassments and calamities.
— from Female Scripture Biography, Volume I by F. A. (Francis Augustus) Cox

Conophis lineatus (in part), Günther, Biologica Centrali-Americana, p. 165, March, 1895; Gaige in Pearse, et al.
— from A Revision of Snakes of the Genus Conophis (Family Colubridae, from Middle America) by John Wellman

—To dream of ploughing is good; but if the horse seems to sink into the ground, it portends loss of labor, dearth of corn, and ill harvest weather.
— from The Witches' Dream Book; and Fortune Teller Embracing full and correct rules of divination concerning dreams and visions, foretelling of future events, their scientific application to physiognomy, palmistry, moles, cards, &c.; together with the application and observance of talismen charms, spells and incantations. by A. H. Noe

Nov. 8—Nation regrets loss of Tsing-tau, but bravery of garrison is praised; border patrols prevent Belgian civilians from crossing into Holland.
— from The New York Times Current History: the European War, February, 1915 by Various

Kent gazed in perplexity at Mrs. Sylvester.
— from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln

In all these cases power is gained in proportion as the distance from the fulcrum to the power, or part where the men apply their strength, is greater than the distance from the fulcrum to that end under the stone or weight.
— from Philosophy in Sport Made Science in Earnest Being an Attempt to Illustrate the First Principles of Natural Philosophy by the Aid of Popular Toys and Sports by John Ayrton Paris

The people of Selkirk are not ashamed of the designation, but rather glory in perpetuating the name and the tradition on which it rests.
— from Lives of Illustrious Shoemakers by W. E. (William Edward) Winks

The lion's rage was at its height; His viewless foe now laugh'd outright, When on his battle-ground he saw, That every savage tooth and claw Had got its proper beauty By doing bloody duty; Himself, the hapless lion, tore his hide, And lash'd with sounding tail from side to side.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine

The instinct of the poet seizes on a type of character, the eye of the painter perceives the shades and shapes of line and colour and form required to give it picturesque prominence, and the learning of the scholar then sets up a fragment of the broken past, or re-fashions a portion of the living present, as an appropriate and harmonious scene or background.
— from An Introduction to the Study of Browning by Arthur Symons