Is there a parson, much bemused in beer, A maudlin poetess, a rhyming peer, A clerk, foredoomed his father’s soul to cross, Who pens a stanza when he should engross?
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope

There may not, however, be any present, beside those very ideas, that are thus collected by a kind of magical faculty in the soul, which, though it be always most perfect in the greatest geniuses, and is properly what we call a genius, is however inexplicable by the utmost efforts of human understanding.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

B.—Tapwana (Main Part) 3 3 Ipolu, It boils, ipolu it boils, ipolu it boils … … agu my sulumwoya mint plant ipolu; it boils; agu my vana, herb ornaments, ipolu; it boils agu my kena lime spatula ipolu; it boils; agu my yaguma lime pot ipolu; it boils; agu my sinata comb ipolu; it boils; agu my mo’i mat ipolu; it boils; agu my pari presentation goods ipolu; it boils; agu my vataga big basket ipolu; it boils; agu my kauyo personal basket ipolu; it boils; agu my lilava magical bundle ipolu.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

Pepys and his partner and dined with me, but before dinner we went and took a walk round the park, it being a most pleasant day as ever I saw.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Everybody turned out to see them, except old Aunt Fannie Clow, who is bedridden and Mr. Pryor, who hadn't been seen out even in church since the night of the Union Prayer Meeting the previous week.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

With thought of this vision therefore I both urged on this marriage for thee, and I refuse now to send thee upon the matter which is being taken in hand, having a care of thee that I may steal thee from thy fate at least for the period of my own life, if by any means possible for me to do so.
— from The History of Herodotus — Volume 1 by Herodotus

For,” said he, “as flourishing a condition as we may appear to be in to foreigners, we labour under two mighty evils: a violent faction at home, and the danger of an invasion, by a most potent enemy, from abroad.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

Around their lord my sad companions mourn, Each breast beats homeward, anxious to return: If but a moment parted from thy eyes, Their tears flow round me, and my heart complies.' "'Go then (she cried), ah go!
— from The Odyssey by Homer

In 1761 Virginia and South Carolina, alarmed at the rapid increase of slaves, passed an act restricting their importation, but as many persons in England were growing rich from the trade the act was negatived, or vetoed.
— from Historic Papers on the Causes of the Civil War by Eugenia Dunlap Potts

"Should my grandson, St. Udo Brand, fail to marry Margaret Walsingham within twelve months after my demise, I bequeath all my property, lands, houses, and moneys as above mentioned, to Margaret Walsingham, to be enjoyed by her until the day of her death, and to descend to her children, or next of kin, forever.
— from Faithful Margaret: A Novel by Simpson, J. M., Mrs.

Invitations to garden-parties at the Priory, Kilburn, issued by a Mrs. Peters, descended like a shower of snow on newspaper offices.
— from Bohemian Days in Fleet Street by William Mackay

The socmen of Peterborough Abbey [420] have to pay five shillings and four pence under the name of merchet as a fine for incontinence (the legerwite properly so-called), and there is besides a marriage payment (redempcio sanguinis)
— from Villainage in England: Essays in English Mediaeval History by Paul Vinogradoff

Especially for Preachers and Ministers of true religion: of the which you haue beene from time to time not onely a great fauourer, but an earnest furtherer, and protectour: so that these two nurseries of learning (in one of the which I haue before this spent part of my time, that I may speake boldly what I thinke) should wrong your honour greatly, and much forget themselues, if by all meanes possible they should not heerafter (as at this present to their smal powers many well learned gentlemen of them do) labour and trauell in shewing of themselues thankefull, to reuerence and honour your lordship, and honest their owne names: whose studies certeinly would suddenly decay and fall flat, if they were not held vp by such noble proppes, and had not some sure ankerholds in their distresse to leane vnto.
— from The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 05 Central and Southern Europe by Richard Hakluyt

We asked a mother recently, whose babe had just been “christened,” as she termed it, by a Methodist preacher, “What benefit has your child derived from this ceremony?”
— from The Gospel Day; Or, the Light of Christianity by Charles Ebert Orr

I couldn't get 'Airy, Fairy Lilian,' but here's 'She Walks in Beauty,' an' 'Miss Petticoats,' an' you can put that on my card, an' here's Minnie's card for that , an' if you'll just put the eggs in my bag, I'll be all right."
— from The Librarian at Play by Edmund Lester Pearson

It “By all means play your golf and your tennis, but try and make your partner feel that these things are a means to securing the end he desires.” entirely lies with you, therefore, what impression on his heart and brain you wish to create.
— from Your Affectionate Godmother by Elinor Glyn

Aunt Mary smiled, as she said: 'Do you remember, dear, a former trial that I had with this young tyrant of yours, when, being very determined myself, I held him fast and pressed the glass to his mouth, whereupon he actually bit a great piece out of it, at the same time kicking me so violently that I was fain to let him go, with, I believe, a mental promise that I would never again subject myself to such an indignity?'
— from Aunt Mary by Mrs. Perring