I perhaps risk something when I allow such a truth to escape; let others capture it again and give it so much "milk of pious sentiment" [FOOTNOTE: An expression from Schiller's William Tell, Act IV, Scene 3.] to drink, that it will lie down quiet and forgotten, in its old corner.—One ought to learn anew about cruelty, and open one's eyes; one ought at last to learn impatience, in order that such immodest gross errors—as, for instance, have been fostered by ancient and modern philosophers with regard to tragedy—may no longer wander about virtuously and boldly.
— from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"'Your Guru,' I said, 'may accept your petition; but my heart will never give its consent.
— from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

After that Pantagruel had studied very well at Orleans, he resolved to see the great University at Paris; but, before his departure, he was informed that there was a huge big bell at St. Anian in the said town of Orleans, under the ground, which had been there above two hundred and fourteen years, for it was so great that they could not by any device get it so much as above the ground, although they used all the means that are found in Vitruvius de Architectura, Albertus de Re Aedificatoria, Euclid, Theon, Archimedes, and Hero de Ingeniis; for all that was to no purpose.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

Some wear black shifts and flesh-coloured stockings; some with curly hair, dyed yellow, are dressed like little girls in short muslin frocks.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

She had not merely oppressed her and her household—she had bored Miss Crawley; and if poor Miss Briggs had been a woman of any spirit, she might have been made happy by the commission which her principal gave her to write a letter to Mrs. Bute Crawley, saying that Miss Crawley's health was greatly improved since Mrs. Bute had left her, and begging the latter on no account to put herself to trouble, or quit her family for Miss Crawley's sake.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

O Juliet, I already know thy grief; It strains me past the compass of my wits.
— from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

'However she got to it, she graced it,' says Mortimer.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Gale) is still more singular, "Unus de consulibus gentis Romanicae est pater meus.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

I suggested to a friend in Lima the idea of placing between every tenth layer of adobes one of long canes; this he put in practice, and afterwards informed me, that it was considered a great improvement, so much so, that he thought the plan would be generally adopted, especially as it produced a saving of timber, which is a dear article; had also the effect of preventing the walls from cracking by the shocks of earthquakes, and was equal to that of rafters of wood or frame-work and bajareque.
— from Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America (Vol 1 of 3) Containing travels in Arauco, Chile, Peru, and Colombia; with an account of the revolution, its rise, progress, and results by Stevenson, William Bennet, active 1803-1825

Madam And the gown is so modelled that we can use nothing else.
— from The Sweet Girl Graduates: A Farce in Three Acts and an Epilogue by H. Rea (Hannah Rea) Woodman

It wasn’t any good if Silver Mag and Larry the Bat were together, but Silver Mag was seen buying a ticket and getting on a train for Chicago last night—and last night, later than that, the Gray Seal sent the Forrester stuff to the police—so they couldn’t have been together this evening unless he went afterwards to Chicago, too—and he didn’t do that because all the trains were watched.
— from The Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard

The least that can be said to achieve a proper notion of a tree or a glacier is so much better than the most; a casual application to a known and neighboring circumstance goes further than any amount of explanation.
— from The Basket Woman: A Book of Indian Tales for Children by Mary Hunter Austin

I think, myself, that it would be absurd to say that the whole sky is gelatinous: it seems more acceptable that only certain areas are.
— from The Book of the Damned by Charles Fort

“A good idea,” said Mr. Duncan.
— from Comrades on River and Lake by Ralph Victor

“Gamblers’ Island,” she mused.
— from Green Eyes by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell

“There was a man on the boat—you did not notice him, perhaps—an agent for Gayarre in such matters.
— from The Quadroon: Adventures in the Far West by Mayne Reid

By God, if Senor Merlin has not found out some other way of disenchanting the lady Dulcinea del Toboso, she may go to her grave enchanted.”
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra