And so long he went by sea and land, and so environed the world by many seasons, that he found an isle where he heard speak his own language, calling on oxen in the plough, such words as men speak to beasts in his own country p. 123 whereof he had great marvel, for he knew not how it might be.
— from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Mandeville, John, Sir

They are simply to be regarded as hieroglyphics, or like Chinese word-writing, and really belong to the same class as armorial bearings, the bush that indicates a public-house, the key of the chamberlain, or the leather of the mountaineer.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

Set on your heads your helmets of lofty crest, then half row by turns, and half fence the ship about with polished spears and shields.
— from The Argonautica by Rhodius Apollonius

[Li Ch`uan alludes to the great victory won by Han Hsin over Lung Chu at the Wei River.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

His own lodging consists but of two rooms: he has no servant, and yet he will not suffer Madame Walravens to dispose of those splendid jewels with which you see her adorned, and in which she takes a puerile pride as the ornaments of her youth, and the last relics of her son the jeweller's wealth."
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Five minutes afterward he entered the hotel of La Chevrette, where pretty Madeleine, the hostess, came to him.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

As the pathos and heroism of life consists in accepting as an opportunity the fate that makes our own death, partial or total, serviceable to others, so the glory of life consists in accepting the knowledge of natural death as an opportunity to live in the spirit.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

" Then the reindeer jumped for joy; and the little robber-girl lifted Gerda on his back, and had the forethought to tie her on, and even to give her her own little cushion to sit on.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

A very silly play, only great variety of dances, and those most excellently done, especially one part by one Hanes, only lately come thither from the Nursery, an understanding fellow, but yet, they say, hath spent L1000 a-year before he come thither.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

If she had now any commerce with laughter, she would have laughed; but even the pathetically absurd experience she had had of love could not provoke a smile, and she simply took no heed, said no word, gave no sign.
— from Tempest-Driven: A Romance (Vol. 3 of 3) by Richard Dowling

Extracts from Note-Book—Mahomet’s Paradise and the Bible’s—Beautiful Damascus the Oldest City on Earth—Oriental Scenes within the Curious Old City—Damascus Street Car—The Story of St. Paul—The “Street called Straight”—Mahomet’s Tomb and St. George’s—The Christian Massacre—Mohammedan Dread of Pollution—The House of Naaman—The Horrors of Leprosy CHAPTER XLV.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

It is obvious from the above review of the opinions of publicists in the first half of last century that no complete agreement had been reached in theory or principle respecting the extent of the territorial sea.
— from The Sovereignty of the Sea An Historical Account of the Claims of England to the Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the Territorial Waters by Thomas Wemyss Fulton

Herbert's work only occasionally refers to them, and I am aware of many incidental notices of them in Histories of London, &c.; but it does not amount to much, and I should be glad to know if there is no fuller account of them.
— from Notes and Queries, Number 211, November 12, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

Bernini, on hearing this state of things, proceeded to the square in his carriage; arriving in front of his work, disregarding the hisses and groans of the people, he ordered ladders, connected them together, and ascending to the top of the obelisk, drew from his pocket a ball of twine, unwound until he had four strings, each of sufficient length to reach across the square, and fastened one end of each to the top of the column.
— from Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Eliza R. (Eliza Roxey) Snow

The best service that all human leaders, helpers or lovers, can do us, is to confess their own insufficiency, and to point us to Jesus.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers by Alexander Maclaren

" Ralph looked on Ursula and said: "Yea, father, and it was through him that we had our lore concerning the way hither; and it was he that bade us abide your coming in the rock-house of the Vale of Sweet-chestnuts.
— from The Well at the World's End: A Tale by William Morris

She went to bed in her own little crib, and when she woke up she wasn’t there at all, but in a big bed in a room at Aunt Julia’s; and Aunt Julia was smiling at her, and hugging her, and saying she was so glad she had come to live with her and Uncle Marius for a while.
— from The Squirrel-Cage by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

His light brown hair was short and curly, his cheeks fair and ruddy, and all reminded her of Leonard Copeland as he had been those long years ago before her accident.
— from Grisly Grisell; Or, The Laidly Lady of Whitburn: A Tale of the Wars of the Roses by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

Other award than that from an age on a level with his own life can be of small worth to one who has attained to the true level of Art.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 27, January, 1860 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various