"Shall I help you, pretty lass?" said I. She blushed deeply.
— from The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Burong diam ’kau Tuah , or “Hold your peace, Tuah,” is the name of a small bird which is said to repeat the words— “ Diam ’kau, Tuah, K’ris aku ada ,” or, “Hold thy peace, Tuah, My k’ris (dagger) is with me.”
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

Take heed, be wary how you place your words; Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men That come to gather money for their corn.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Miss Ellen had never seen a male “diddle,” as she and her young playfellows called it, not even that of a boy, and she was all excitement and expectation to feel with her own hand the “funny thing,” for so a communicative servant-maid had described it, who at the same time had fully explained the theory of its use, which made Miss long to obtain some practical knowledge also.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous

Charles Darnay had yesterday pleaded Not Guilty to an indictment denouncing him (with infinite jingle and jangle) for that he was a false traitor to our serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, prince, our Lord the King, by reason of his having, on divers occasions, and by divers means and ways, assisted Lewis, the French King, in his wars against our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth; that was to say, by coming and going, between the dominions of our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, and those of the said French Lewis, and wickedly, falsely, traitorously, and otherwise evil-adverbiously, revealing to the said French Lewis what forces our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, had in preparation to send to Canada and North America.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

You hold your peace, but if you spoke I know you would uphold my opinion.
— from What Men Live By, and Other Tales by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

[stow it], hold your peace.
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

Pray hold your promise; And doe the deede with a bent brow: most certaine You love me not, be rough with me, and powre This oile out of your language; by this ayre, I could for each word give a Cuffe, my stomach Not reconcild by reason.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Are you not happy in your home you poor little naughty boy?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

If, however, you placed a dog in a cage, the door of which could be opened by lifting a latch, and motivated the dog strongly by having him hungry and placing food just outside, then the dog went to work by trial and error, and lifted the latch in the course of his varied reactions; and if he were placed back in the cage time after time, his unsuccessful reactions were gradually eliminated and the successful reaction was firmly attached to the situation of being in that cage, so that he would finally lift the latch without any hesitation.
— from Psychology: A Study Of Mental Life by Robert Sessions Woodworth

Too, they will either plan entirely, or help you plan—as you choose.
— from Bennett's Small House Catalog, 1920 by Inc. Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co.

And for whom have you provoked so many enemies?
— from A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, or the Causes of Corrupt Eloquence The Works of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With an Essay on His Life and Genius, Notes, Supplements by Cornelius Tacitus

Did you have to go through it, or had you people of your own?"
— from People of Position by Stanley Portal Hyatt

We might now take all Zululand, but we do not want any of it, and we wish that all of you should have your property and land.
— from The Story of the Zulu Campaign by Edmund Verney Wyatt Edgell

If you can thrash Shorty, you shall have your pig!'
— from A History, of the War of 1812-15 Between the United States and Great Britain by Rossiter Johnson

His younger pupils were not excluded from the most earnest conversations between him and Mr. Algar, Mr. John Sheppard, and some friends of the neighbouring gentlemen and clergy.
— from Reminiscences of Scottish Life & Character by Edward Bannerman Ramsay

I cannot give you absolution, for you are not a child of the Church; but I am an old man, and if I can help your poor soul to bear its burden, God forbid that I should turn you away."
— from The Eternal City by Caine, Hall, Sir

here's Lucy coming —— Harkee you, pray, why did you make me wait so long?
— from The Perjur'd Husband; or, The Adventures of Venice. A Tragedy by Susanna Centlivre