Of her lips I say nothing, for they are so fine and thin that, if lips might be reeled, one might make a skein of them; but being of a different colour from ordinary lips they are wonderful, for they are mottled, blue, green, and purple—let my lord the governor pardon me for painting so minutely the charms of her who some time or other will be my daughter; for I love her, and I don't find her amiss."
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

You deny the omnipotence of God, peccatum mortale!
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal

The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower, On all sides batter'd, yet resists his power: So some tall rock o'erhangs the hoary main, 241 By winds assail'd, by billows beat in vain, Unmoved it hears, above, the tempest blow, And sees the watery mountains break below.
— from The Iliad by Homer

‘And there is something in what they say, Socrates, but not so much as they imagine— 330 as Themistocles replied to the Seriphian, “Neither you, if you had been an Athenian, nor I, if I had been a Seriphian, would ever have been famous,” I might in like manner reply to you, Neither a good poor man can be happy in age, nor yet a bad rich man.’
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

c. Their vigils and fasts, their ceremonies at Christmas, Shrovetide, Candlemas, Palm Sunday, Blaise, St. Martin, St. Nicholas' day; their adorations, exorcisms, &c., will think all those Grecian, Pagan, Mahometan superstitions, gods, idols, and ceremonies, the name, time and place, habit only altered, to have degenerated into Christians.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

[ By a victory (A.D. 1191) over the citizens of Asti, by a crusade to Palestine, and by an embassy from the pope to the German princes, (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom.
— 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

Gob, that’d be a good pucking match to see.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

Also of the great profit Mr. Fen makes of his place, he being, though he demands but 5 per cent.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

So kindly is the world arranged, such great profit may arise from a small degree of human reliance on oneself, and such, in particular, is the happy star of this trade of writing, that it should combine pleasure and profit to both parties, and be at once agreeable, like fiddling, and useful, like good preaching.
— from Essays in the Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson

WATER-SUPPLY.--( a ) The supply of water to the generator for generating purposes must not be taken from the water-seal of any gasholder constructed on the gasometer principle, unless the feed mechanism is so arranged that the water-seals provided for in Rules 18, ( c ), ( d ), and ( e ) may be retained under all conditions.
— from Acetylene, the Principles of Its Generation and Use A Practical Handbook on the Production, Purification, and Subsequent Treatment of Acetylene for the Development of Light, Heat, and Power by W. J. Atkinson (William John Atkinson) Butterfield

Amir SABAH al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah (since 29 January 2006); Crown Prince NAWAF al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah head of government: Prime Minister NASIR AL-MUHAMMAD al-Ahmad al-Sabah (since 3 April 2007); First Deputy Prime Minister JABIR AL-MUBAREK al-Hamad al-Sabah (since 9 February 2006); Deputy Prime Minister MUHAMMAD AL-SABAH al-Salim al-Sabah (since 9 February 2006) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister and approved by the amir elections: none; the amir is hereditary; the amir appoints the prime minister and deputy prime ministers Kyrgyzstan chief of state: President Kurmanbek BAKIEV (since 14 August 2005) head of government: Prime Minister Daniyar USENOV (since 21 October 2009); First Deputy Prime Minister Akylbek JAPAROV (since 22 October 2009) cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers proposed by the prime minister, appointed by the president; ministers in charge of defense and security, appointed solely by the president elections: Kurmanbek BAKIEV reelected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 23 July 2009 (next scheduled for 2014); prime minister nominated by the parliamentary party holding more than 50% of the seats; if no such party exists, the president selects the party that will nominate a prime minister election results: Kurmanbek BAKIEV elected president; percent of vote - Kurmanbek BAKIEV 76.1%, Almaz ATAMBAYEV 8.4%, Temir SARIYEV 6.7%, other candidates 8.8% Laos chief of state: President Lt. Gen. CHOUMMALI Saignason (since 8 June 2006); Vice President BOUN-GNANG Volachit (since 8 June 2006) head of government: Prime Minister BOUASONE Bouphavanh (since 8 June 2006); Deputy Prime Ministers Maj. Gen. ASANG Laoli (since May 2002), Maj. Gen. DOUANGCHAI Phichit (since 8 June 2006), SOMSAVAT Lengsavat (since 26 February 1998), and THONGLOUN Sisoulit (since 27 March 2001) cabinet:
— from The 2009 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

Malta Digraph: MT Type: parliamentary democracy Capital: Valletta Administrative divisions: none (administration directly from Valletta) Independence: 21 September 1964 (from UK) Constitution: 26 April 1974, effective 2 June 1974 Legal system: based on English common law and Roman civil law; has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations National holiday: Independence Day, 21 September Political parties and leaders: Nationalist Party (NP), Edward FENECH ADAMI; Malta Labor Party (MLP), Alfred SANT Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Elections: House of Representatives: last held on 22 February 1992 (next to be held by February 1997); results - NP 51.8%, MLP 46.5%; seats - (usually 65 total) MLP 36, NP 29; note - additional seats are given to the party with the largest popular vote to ensure a legislative majority; current total 69 (MLP 33, NP 36 after adjustment) Executive branch: president, prime minister, deputy prime minister, Cabinet Legislative branch: unicameral House of Representatives Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, Court of Appeal Leaders: Chief of State: President Vincent (Censu) TABONE (since 4 April 1989) Head of Government: Prime Minister Dr. Edward (Eddie)
— from The 1993 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

A moment later a Chinaman, the same whose face I had seen as we came aboard, shot out of the hatchway, glided past me as he crossed the deck with silent tread, and vanished into the cabin we had just left.
— from Ravensdene Court by J. S. (Joseph Smith) Fletcher

Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Court (which was formally established on 9 March 1994); has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Executive branch: chief of state: President Amadou Toumani TOURE (since 8 June 2002) head of government: Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi MAIGA (since 30 April 2004) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 12 May 2002 (next to be held April 2007); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Amadou Toumani TOURE elected president; percent of vote - Amadou Toumani TOURE 64.4%, Soumaila CISSE 35.6% Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (147 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: last held 14 and 28 July 2002 (next to be held July 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - Hope 2002 coalition 66 (including RPM 42, CNID 10, and MPR 3), ADEMA 51, other 30 Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Cour Supreme Political parties and leaders: Alliance for Democracy and Progress or ADP (a coalition of 14 political parties including ADEMA and URD formed in December 2006 to support the presidential candidacy of Amadou TOURE); Alliance for Democracy or ADEMA [Diounconda TRAORE, party chairman]; Convergence 2007
— from The 2007 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

If Byron had not been driven into his wild revolt against the world; if Shelley had been judiciously treated from his youth; if Keats had had healthier lungs; if Wordsworth had not grown rusty in his 68 solitude; if Scott had not been tempted into publisher's speculations; if Coleridge had never taken to opium—what great poems might not have opened the new era of literature, where now we have but incomplete designs, and listen to harmonies half destroyed by internal discord?
— from Hours in a Library, Volume 2 New Edition, with Additions by Leslie Stephen

Dam Josephine (1345) by Anchises (140); 2d dam bred by George Patterson, Maryland, from stock imported from the Earl of Leicester.
— from Herd Record of the Association of Breeders of Thorough-Bred Neat Stock Short Horns, Ayrshires and Devons by Various

A fellow who can shoot to such good purpose might have the lot of them”; and uttering one of his great, hearty laughs, he walked off to his horse.
— from Marie: An Episode in the Life of the Late Allan Quatermain by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

It is unnecessary to repeat all that the bashful, though ardent, man of war said to Maraquita, or all that Maraquita said to the man of war; how, ignoring the celestial orbs and domestic economy, she launched out into a rhapsodical panegyric of Azinté; told how the poor slave had unburdened her heart to her about her handsome young husband and her darling little boy in the far off interior, from whom she had been rudely torn, and whom she never expected to see again; and how she, Maraquita, had tried to console Azinté by telling her that there was a heaven where good people might hope to meet again, even though they never met on earth, and a great deal more besides, to all of which the earnest lieutenant sought to find words wherewith to express his pity and sympathy, but found them not, though he was at no loss to find words to tell the queen of his soul that, in the peculiar circumstances of the case, and all things considered, his love for her (Maraquita) was tenfold more intense than it had ever been before!
— from Black Ivory by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne