But, irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes.
— from Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

And as a general rule, all projecting parts have greater beauty when their projection is equal to their height.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

But I think that if there is one truth apparent in such a choice of evils, it is that monarchy is at least better than oligarchy; and that where we have to act on a large scale, the most genuine popularity can gather round a particular person like a Pope or a President of the United States, or even a dictator like Caesar or Napoleon, rather than round a more or less corrupt committee which can only be defined as an obscure oligarchy.
— from What I Saw in America by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

No two falls could be more unlike--Tueeulala out in the open sunshine descending like thistledown; Wapama in a jagged, shadowy gorge roaring and plundering, pounding its way like an earthquake avalanche.
— from The Yosemite by John Muir

Should not the propelling powers of a lathe slide be as near the point of greatest resistance as possible, as is the case in a Sellers lathe, and the guiding ways as close to the greatest resistance and propelling power as possible, and all other necessary guiding surfaces made to run as free as possible?
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888 by Various

The rose can be seen, and even smelt, in Greek, Latin, Provencal, Gothic, Renascence, and Puritan poems.
— from Alarms and Discursions by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

In a grey cloud's gliding rent, A pure pool of the brightest blue: So near it seems I've but to cast A flint out on the forward vast To mark it flashing blithely through!
— from Ardours and Endurances; Also, A Faun's Holiday & Poems and Phantasies by Robert Nichols

To make war with success, the following principles should never be departed from: To be superior to your enemy in numbers, as well as in morale ; to fight battles in order to spread terror in the country; to divide your army into as many corps as may be effected without risk, in order to undertake several objects at the same time; to treat WELL those who yield, to ILL treat those who resist; to secure your rear, and occupy and strengthen yourself at the outset in some post which shall serve as a central point for 33 the support of your future movements; to guard against desertion; to make yourself master of the great rivers and principal passes, and to establish your line of communication by getting possession of the fortresses, by laying siege to them, and of the open country, by giving battle; for it is vain to expect that conquests are to be achieved without combats; although when a victory is won, they will be best maintained by uniting mildness with valor.
— from The Officer's Manual: Napoleon's Maxims of War by Emperor of the French Napoleon I

“Berenice, please find James and tell him that he must receive and entertain—a—Mr. Davis, as I shall be too busy getting into my ‘gordeous’ robes, as ‘Peter Pan’ would say,” said Bess, half jestingly, as she began to make her toilet.
— from The Brand: A Tale of the Flathead Reservation by Therese Broderick

Alcatraz seemed close at hand; beyond was the enormous green, red, and purple pyramid of Tamalpais climbing out of the water, head and shoulders above the little foothills, and looking out to the sea and to the west.
— from Blix by Frank Norris

But though these changed conditions must, of course, modify Clausewitz's details in many important particulars, still (to complete our circle and leave off where we started) I repeat that, as 225 human nature never changes, and as the moral is to the physical as three to one in war, Clausewitz, as the great realistic and practical philosopher on the actual nature of war, as the chief exponent of the moral and spiritual forces in war , will ever remain invaluable in the study of war.
— from The Reality of War: A Companion to Clausewitz by Stewart Lygon Murray