10 Whether human sacrifices formed any part of the worship of Attila, or whether he propitiated the god of war with the victims which he continually offered in the field of battle, the favorite of Mars soon acquired a sacred character, which rended his conquests more easy and more permanent; and the Barbarian princes confessed, in the language of devotion or flattery, that they could not presume to gaze, with a steady eye, on the divine majesty of the king of the Huns.
— 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

From Mrs. Jameson we learned that "Gaytay" was a sufficient approximation in English to the pronunciation of "Goethe."
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

This presumption of a distant army, and their discovery of the weakness of government, was a sure presage of the most dreadful convulsions.
— 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

He will recognise this will of which we are speaking not only in those phenomenal existences which exactly resemble his own, in men and animals as their inmost nature, but the course of reflection will lead him to recognise the force which germinates and vegetates in the plant, and indeed the force through which the crystal is formed, that by which the magnet turns to the north pole, the force whose shock he experiences from the contact of two different kinds of metals, the force which appears in the elective affinities of matter as repulsion and attraction, decomposition and combination, and, lastly, even gravitation, which acts so powerfully throughout matter, draws the stone to the earth and the earth to the sun,—all these, I say, he will recognise as different only in their phenomenal existence, but in their inner nature as identical, as that which is directly known to him so intimately and so much better than anything else, and which in its most distinct manifestation is called will .
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

The following day Grumbates advanced towards the gates with a select body of troops, and required the instant surrender of the city, as the only atonement which could be accepted for such an act of rashness and insolence.
— 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

To will what God wills, and strike a league with destiny.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

One of the young fairies who sat by her overheard how she grumbled; and, judging that she might give the little Princess some unlucky gift, went, as soon as they rose from table, and hid herself behind the hangings, that she might speak last, and repair, as much as she could, the evil which the old Fairy might intend.
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Peter the Great was a ship’s carpenter and drummer to his own troops; was not that prince at least your equal in birth and merit?
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

You two were busy cutting up the heifer, and at that moment we stood at the gates, whereon Achilles sprang to his feet, led us by the hand into the house, placed us at table, and set before us such hospitable entertainment as guests expect.
— from The Iliad by Homer

Both sides being low, this river is better to navigate than the North River, for that has very high banks, which being frightfully steep and rocky, it is subject to great whirlwinds and squalls, which, coming suddenly over the hills, fall upon the river, which is no small inconvenience.
— from Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 by Jasper Danckaerts

" Such is the remark which a leading paper made upon the discoveries of Frémont, on his return from his second expedition to the Great West; and such is the remark which all writers will make upon all his discoveries who write history from public documents and outside views.
— from Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850 by Thomas Hart Benton

Ingleby made a little whimsical gesture, which alone sufficed to show that he had, as the girl expressed it to herself, expanded.
— from Delilah of the Snows by Harold Bindloss

The tents; the arms piled in front of them; the horse under a tree, and his syce seated near him; the old buggy and harness not far off; the Sepoys in groups employed in cooking their food for the mid-day meal; the numbers of brass vessels lying about in all directions; the score of squirrels hopping from branch to branch, or running up and down the trunks of the trees; the crows, the minars, and the sparrows on the look out for crumbs; the bullocks taking their rest after the fatigues of the past night; and then, before as well as after the meal, the men crowding round the well, and washing themselves from head to foot, and washing also their under garments, which are speedily dried in the sun of that climate.
— from Wanderings in India, and Other Sketches of Life in Hindostan by John Lang

"The story goes with a swing.
— from The Coming of the King by Joseph Hocking

Although, when I was in that place, the king lived rather in a state of grief, both on account of the war in which he was engaged with the Portuguese, and because he was afflicted by the venereal disease which had got into his throat, yet his ears, hands, legs, and feet, were richly garnished with all sorts of jewels and precious stones, absolutely beyond description.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07 by Robert Kerr

Scrambleford Green was a small straggling village on the top of a somewhat high hill, that divided the vale in which Jawleyford Court was situated from the more fertile one of Farthinghoe, in which Lord Scamperdale lived.
— from Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by Robert Smith Surtees

Here we staid a good while, and so Mr. Pickering and I to Westminster Hall again, and
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 12: September/October 1661 by Samuel Pepys

On one occasion he thanked the governor with great warmth and sincerity for always treating him, and referring to him, as an honest man and well-meaning public servant, much to the governor’s surprise.
— from The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, Volume 2 (of 2) by Hazard Stevens

While Arabella was uttering this long speech, with great emotion, Miss Glanville, with a sly look at the beau, gave him to understand, that was her cousin's foible.
— from The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella, v. 1-2 by Charlotte Lennox