It seems, however, that this politic damsel (who had been reading Machiavelli, beyond doubt), had a very ingenious little plot in her mind.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

He would not have them too precisely distinguished.
— from Timaeus by Plato

"Had anything happened to the poor, dear gentleman?"
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

To act in accordance with abstract principles is a difficult matter, and a great deal of practice will be required before you can be even occasionally successful; it of tens happens that the principles do not fit in with your particular case.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Counsels and Maxims by Arthur Schopenhauer

In other cases he accommodated himself to the prevailing delusion.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

"And what is to happen to them, poor darlings?
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

He perceived that her respect for his judgment augmented daily, and doubted not with time to bring her to the point desired.
— from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. (Matthew Gregory) Lewis

“But what is it that happens to this poor devil?” exclaimed Don Dionís with an air of piqued curiosity.
— from Romantic legends of Spain by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

When you tell him that the peasants do not wish to work, either, he answers: “It is not difficult for the peasant.”
— from On the Significance of Science and Art by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

The milder form Shed less profusely there his lesser store; Sometimes with tears increasing the scant boon, Mourning the lot of man; and happy he Who on his thread those precious drops receives; If it be happiness to have the pulse Throb fast with pity, and in such a world Of wretchedness, the generous heart that aches With anguish at the sight of human woe.
— from Poems, 1799 by Robert Southey

It is a comfort, however, that their proud devices are already indistinguishable, or nearly so, owing to dust and tatters and the kind offices of the moths, and that they will soon rot from the banner-staves and be swept out in unrecognized fragments from the chapel-door.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 67, May, 1863 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Yet he whose heart in childhood gave his troth To pastoral dales, then set with modest farms, May learn, if judgment strengthen with his growth, That not for Fancy only, pomp hath charms; And, strenuous to protect from lawless harms
— from Flowers and Flower-Gardens With an Appendix of Practical Instructions and Useful Information Respecting the Anglo-Indian Flower-Garden by David Lester Richardson

Then the Kyrkegrim, feeling sure that he could make more impression on their hardened hearts than the priest did, ascended from the floor to the pulpit, and tried to set the world to rights; but eventually he was glad to return to his broom, and leave "heavier responsibilities in higher hands."
— from Juliana Horatia Ewing And Her Books by Horatia K. F. Eden

"Some social workers go down in the slums in the worst old clothes they can find, but I've heard that the people down there like to see nice things, so I compromised.
— from Tutors' Lane by W. S. (Wilmarth Sheldon) Lewis

For a moment he raised his fist, as if he meditated dashing the Indian again to the ground as he slowly arose; then, as if changing his mind, he seized him by the back of the neck, thrust him towards the panting dogs, and stood in silence over him with the whip grasped firmly in his hand, while he disentangled the traces.
— from The Young Fur Traders by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne