His oddities of manner, and uncouth gesticulations, could not but be the subject of merriment to them; and, in particular, the young rogues used to listen at the door of his bed-chamber, and peep through the key-hole, that they might turn into ridicule his tumultuous and awkward fondness for Mrs. Johnson, whom he used to name by the familiar appellation of Tetty or Tetsey, which, like Betty or Betsey, is provincially used as a contraction for Elisabeth, her christian name, but which to us seems ludicrous, when applied to a woman of her age and appearance.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

I had only one misfortune, that the rats on board carried away one of my sheep; I found her bones in a hole, picked clean from the flesh.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

M. Andre Diedo has a high opinion of me.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

The argument affirms that any change whatever except from evil is the most dangerous of all things; this is true in the case of the seasons and of the winds, in the management of our bodies and the habits of our minds—true of all things except, as I said before, of the bad.
— from Laws by Plato

What says he of our marriage?
— from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

"Then, sir," he answered, with an accent of bitterness that had been silent in him since the memorable day when his youthful hope had perished—"then, sir, why didn't you say so sixteen year ago, and claim her before I'd come to love her, i'stead o' coming to take her from me now, when you might as well take the heart out o' my body?
— from Silas Marner by George Eliot

"Take him out of my sight, if such be your pleasure, for I can find in my heart to do nothing but laugh at him, whereas, in all decency and conscience, it would become me to weep for the mischief I have wrought.
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

186 A just analogy would seem to countenance the opinion of an ingenious historian, 187 that the free and tributary citizens did not surpass the number of half a million; and if, in the ordinary administration of government, their annual payments may be computed at about four millions and a half of our money, it would appear, that although the share of each individual was four times as considerable, a fourth part only of the modern taxes of France was levied on the Imperial province of Gaul.
— 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

While, on the other hand, the monk out of office, with nothing particular to do, was all the better for having his time broken up; going to church kept him out of mischief, and singing of psalms saved him from idle talk, and if it did him no good certainly did him very little harm.
— from The Coming of the Friars by Augustus Jessopp

thy stormy words and high, Swell harshly on the Southern winds which melt along our sky; Yet, not one brown, hard hand foregoes its honest labor here, No hewer of our mountain oaks suspends his axe in fear.
— from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform, Complete Volume III of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier by John Greenleaf Whittier

You should say to yourself, 'my father was disappointed with my brother and did not know what to do about him; but, having a high opinion of me and my good sense and honesty, he left my brother to my care.
— from The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts

You would take him away from me,--tear him out of my arms,--drag him away!--he is my son, and no father will tamely suffer his son to precipitate himself into perdition.
— from The Lawyers, A Drama in Five Acts by August Wilhelm Iffland

On the other hand, chlorine, bromine, and iodine exhibit, under the same conditions, an exalted affinity for the hydrogen of organic matters.
— from Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century by Robert Routledge

This young fellow met an Irishman on the street, and called to him, officiously: ‘Oh, Mike, I’m awful glad I met you.
— from Lincoln's Yarns and Stories A Complete Collection of the Funny and Witty Anecdotes That Made Lincoln Famous as America's Greatest Story Teller by Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly) McClure

Thus while he was sliding into manhood, his days were principally occupied in solitude, amidst a heterogeneous mass of books, except during the hours of occasional meeting with his parents, brothers and sisters.
— from Blue-Stocking Hall, (Vol. 2 of 3) by William Pitt Scargill

"I had to drown her out of mercy," said he, fastening the cord he held to an ash-pole.
— from The White Peacock by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

Either the Cardinal, Or some about him near, have, out of malice To the good Queen, possess'd him with a scruple That will undo her.
— from The Life of Henry the Eighth by William Shakespeare

Ella had said to her complacently, in connection with this topic, and one of Ella's closest friends had added, "Oh, Heaven save me from ever having one of my sons afraid to go out and do what the other boys do.
— from Saturday's Child by Kathleen Thompson Norris