The revelation of the Idea, which is the highest grade of the objectivity of will, the representation of man in the connected series of his efforts and actions, is thus the great problem of poetry.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

When Mr. Washington rose in the flag-filled, enthusiasm-warmed, patriotic, and glowing atmosphere of Music Hall, people felt keenly that here was the civic justification of the old abolition spirit of Massachusetts; in his person the proof of her ancient and indomitable faith; in his strong thought and rich oratory, the crown and glory of the old war days of suffering and strife.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington

His croak thus—o-o-o-o-gh—o-o-o-o-gh! was the finest note in the world—B flat; and when he put his elbows upon the table thus—after taking a glass or two of wine—and distended his mouth, thus, and rolled up his eyes, thus, and winked them with excessive rapidity, thus, why then, sir, I take it upon myself to say, positively, that you would have been lost in admiration of the genius of the man.”
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

The act of navigation is not favourable to foreign commerce, or to the growth of that opulence which can arise from it.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

She found him busy with his bellows, sweating and hard at work, for he was making twenty tripods that were to stand by the wall of his house, and he set wheels of gold under them all that they might go of their own selves to the assemblies of the gods, and come back again—marvels indeed to see.
— from The Iliad by Homer

To determine the interval of the Glasses, or thickness of the interjacent Air, by which each Colour was produced, I measured the Diameters of the first six Rings at the most lucid part of their Orbits, and squaring them, I found their Squares to be in the arithmetical Progression of the odd Numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11.
— from Opticks Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light by Isaac Newton

That other one is sick again, and the whole room is above, one mass of lamps, and below, full of fire; and all those old matrons, ancient as the heavens, should, after all their exertions in waiting upon you from morning to night, be also allowed some rest; while the young servant girls, on the other hand, have likewise been on duty the whole day long, and shouldn't they even at this hour be left to go and have some distraction?
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

They would fling me a question or two about South Africa, and then get on their own affairs.
— from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

Up by five o’clock and to my office, where hard at work till towards noon, and home and eat a bit, and so going out met with Mr. Mount my old acquaintance, and took him in and drank a glass or two of wine to him and so parted, having not time to talk together, and I with Sir W. Batten to the Stillyard, and there eat a lobster together, and Wyse the King’s fishmonger coming in we were very merry half an hour, and so by water to Whitehall, and by and by being all met we went in to the Duke and there did our business and so away, and anon to the Tangier Committee, where we had very fine discourse from Dr. Walker and Wiseman, civilians, against our erecting a court-merchant at Tangier, and well answered in many things by my Lord Sandwich (whose speaking I never till now observed so much to be very good) and Sir R. Ford.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

A flock of young girls and a flock of young men form a little group of their own—everywhere they are together.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

"Susan and I saw Auntie Tricky in the gallery of the opera," said Lady Cynthia, "the night that Aunt Maude took us.
— from Upsidonia by Archibald Marshall

Do not laugh out at me: a sect despised— The Christians, tell us of an after life, A glory on the other side the grave.
— from Nero by Stephen Phillips

Every four years what a struggle goes on throughout our country as to who shall be the President of the United States, the battle raging for six months or a year.
— from To The Work! To The Work! Exhortations to Christians by Dwight Lyman Moody

Jess is beyond my frontier line; I could not touch her skirt; I have no such glamour of twilight on my pen.
— from The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 25 by Robert Louis Stevenson

Very welcome was the first view we gained of the old red farm-house upon our return, and still more welcome was the cheerful and mild countenance of Grandma Adams who, as soon as Uncle Nathan set out to meet the train, had taken her place at the front door to watch for our arrival.
— from Walter Harland Or, Memories of the Past by Harriet S. Caswell

They tell a good story to show the superiority of the Gallinipper, over the ordinary Mosquito, in this wise.
— from Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions. A Complete Collection of the Legends, Superstitions, Beliefs, and Ominous Signs Connected with Insects; Together with Their Uses in Medicine, Art, and as Food; and a Summary of Their Remarkable Injuries and Appearances. by Frank Cowan

" "I'll hold Robert by one ear and Rebecca by another," Margaret promised; "and if she so much as dares to look at George or Ted or Jimmy Barr or Paul, I'll—" "Oh, Jimmy belongs to Louise, now," said Rebecca, radiantly.
— from Mother: A Story by Kathleen Thompson Norris

“Her bairn” was soon hard and fast in the gloomy old Tolbooth of Edinburgh, to which, as the Heart of Midlothian , Scott’s novel was in future days to give a world-wide fame.
— from The Law's Lumber Room (Second Series) by Francis Watt

Suppose a man should be stript naked of all the garments of the old man, this would be certainly nearest his skin and last to put off.
— from The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning