But, be it how it will, and how inconsiderable soever these ineptitudes may be, I will say I never intended to conceal them, no more than my old bald grizzled likeness before them, where the painter has presented you not with a perfect face, but with mine.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

“Good luck be thine,” the hermit cried: “Assay the task!” the king replied.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

To give light to the world thus created, the gods studded the heavenly vault with sparks secured from Muspells-heim, points of light which shone steadily through the gloom like brilliant stars.
— from Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas by H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber

The doctor said— “Never mind that, my love, this little fellow will soon be the decoy duck for others; he seems a nice, gentle lad, but I shall seek to have some talk with him tomorrow, and see what he is made of; boys, under women’s instructions, are generally mere milksops.”
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous

"Surely you don't 'old with not having a bit of music on a Sunday, Mr. Coombes?" said the new guest, leaning back in the arm-chair, blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke and smiling in a kind of pitying way.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

[4] For example, that enthusiastic student of mediaeval Geography, Joachim Lelewel, speaks of Polo's "gibberish" ( le baragouinage du Venitien ) with special reference to such names as Zayton and Kinsay , whilst we now know that these names were in universal use by all foreigners in China, and no more deserve to be called gibberish than Bocca-Tigris , Leghorn , Ratisbon , or Buda .
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

“It’s just staying , that’s what,” she said as she stepped along the deep-rutted, grassy lane bordered with wild rose bushes.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

“He would gain little by so doing, while the gale lasts,” replied Bowse, “and he might get injured in return, as he probably knows that we have guns on board.”
— from The Pirate of the Mediterranean: A Tale of the Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

Blanche S. Theisen (W) & Guy L. Bond (A); 9Oct73; R561000.
— from U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1973 July - December by Library of Congress. Copyright Office

Barlow, Mrs., 301 . Barr, George L., buys Royall House, 72 .
— from The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees by Mary Caroline Crawford

Mary Gordon looked before her a long time without speaking, as though little liking to tell what followed.
— from The Standard Bearer by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

Yet once within its shelter, the girl leaned back and laughed merrily.
— from Wanted—A Match Maker by Paul Leicester Ford

The price of the wines being already the highest that could be got for the quantity commonly sent to market, it could not be raised higher without diminishing that quantity; and the quantity could not be diminished without still greater loss, because the lands could not be turned to any other equally valuable produce.
— from On The Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation by David Ricardo

'"The suggestion that I am inclined to make is that a letter should be written, to be signed by Sir George Chesney as a Conservative, by myself as a Gladstonian Liberal, by Arnold-Forster as a Liberal Unionist, and
— from The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Volume 2 by Stephen Lucius Gwynn

There was a crashing of brush up the slope, growing louder by swift degrees.
— from Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot by Stanley R. Matthews

Or, if thy heart to generous love be led, Some captive fair, to bless thy kingly bed?
— from The Iliad by Homer

He began, what he never discontinued, his earnest and humble appeals to his relative the great Lord Burghley, to employ him in the Queen's service, or to put him in some place of independence: through Lord Burghley's favour he seems to have been pushed on at his Inn, where, in 1586, he was a Bencher; and in 1584 he came into Parliament for Melcombe Regis.
— from Bacon by R. W. (Richard William) Church