So, when a dry Spring and clear space is given, Forth from the gates they burst, they clash on high; A din arises; they are heaped and rolled Into one mighty mass, and headlong fall, Not denselier hail through heaven, nor pelting so Rains from the shaken oak its acorn-shower.
— from The Georgics by Virgil

For why, here stand I, Here the Duke comes, there are you close in the Thicket; the Duke appeares, I meete him and unto him I utter learned things and many figures; he heares, and nods, and hums, and then cries: rare, and I goe forward; at length I fling my Cap up; marke there; then do you, as once did Meleager and the Bore, break comly out before him: like true lovers, cast your selves in a Body decently, and sweetly, by a figure trace and turne, Boyes.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

So it is really with good reason that, when two people meet, the first thing they do is to inquire after each other's health, and to express the hope that it is good; for good health is by far the most important element in human happiness.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: the Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer

[369] It is scarce a fortnight since it cost me seven crowns of hard money to Lotto the broker, and according to what Buglietto telleth me (and thou knowest he is a judge of this kind of cloth), I had it good five shillings overcheap.' 'Indeed!' quoth Belcolore.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

V. be cunning &c. adj.; have cut one's eyeteeth; contrive &c (plan) 626; live by one's wits; maneuver; intrigue, gerrymander, finesse, double, temporize, stoop to conquer, reculer pour mieux sauter[Fr], circumvent, steal a march upon; overreach &c. 545; throw off one's guard; surprise &c. 508; snatch a verdict; waylay, undermine, introduce the thin end of the wedge; play a deep game, play tricks with; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces[Lat]; flatter, make things pleasant; have an ax to grind.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

The husks of the Roses, with the beards and nails of the Roses, are binding and cooling, and the distilled water of either of them is good for the heat and redness in the eyes, and to stay and dry up the rheums and watering of them.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

Beyond all this, Lacedaemon was encouraged by the near prospect of being joined in great force in the spring by her allies in Sicily, lately forced by events to acquire their navy.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

My Lord Sandwich is gone from the fleete yesterday toward Oxford.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

It helps hoarseness, and loss of voice, eases surfeits and head-ache coming of drunkenness, and opens obstructions of the liver and spleen, and therefore is good for that disease in children called the rickets.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

Mr. Bagnet, being deeply convinced that to have a pair of fowls for dinner is to attain the highest pitch of imperial luxury, invariably goes forth himself very early in the morning of this day to buy a pair; he is, as invariably, taken in by the vendor and installed in the possession of the oldest inhabitants of any coop in Europe.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Tea made from parched egg shells or green coffee is good for leucorrhoea.
— from Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Georgia Narratives, Part 4 by United States. Work Projects Administration

The export of granite, and other kinds of stone for the purposes of building, is greatly facilitated by a railway, which extends from about the middle of Dartmoor to the quays at Sutton Pool and Catwater.
— from The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 2 by W. (William) Finden

Watch the American crowd—this group of unlike, self-centered individuals; in a moment it is organized, it obeys itself—or rather, it obeys its spirit, the American spirit of self-direction, with its genius for organization.
— from Introducing the American Spirit by Edward Alfred Steiner

4. Hot water is good for constipation, torpid liver and relieves colic and flatulence, and is of special value.
— from Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics by B. G. (Benjamin Grant) Jefferis

And how can it be a Generation? because, according to notions generally held, not any thing is generated from any thing, but a thing resolves itself into that out of which it was generated: whereas of that of which Pleasure is a Generation Pain is a Destruction.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

The implement, which is, I think, similar to what is commonly found in Mekeo and on the coast, is made out of the leg-bone of a pig, and is generally from 5 to 8 inches long.
— from The Mafulu: Mountain People of British New Guinea by Robert Wood Williamson

As Lalime had many friends at the fort who at first thought that Mr. Kinzie had attacked him without provocation there was a movement to take Kinzie into custody; and fearing that a squad would be sent for this purpose, he concealed himself in the woods near his house, and soon after embarked in a boat with an Indian guide for Milwaukee, where one of his trading posts was located.
— from The Story of Old Fort Dearborn by J. Seymour (Josiah Seymour) Currey

I dunno jest yet what the charge is, but if it's anything like what I got from this thing here it'll hold ye fer life.
— from The Brighton Boys in Transatlantic Flight by James R. Driscoll

"By St. Patrick's piper that played the last snake out of Ireland!" gasped Frenchy, "he ain't there no more."
— from Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns; Or, Sinking the German U-Boats by Halsey Davidson

Owing to the prospect of increased gain, following on this European invasion, the waters of the Pearl River estuary soon became infested with pirates, which the Portuguese magnanimously assisted the Chinese government to subdue, and, in return, it is recorded, received in 1557 the cession of the rocky peninsula on which the Portuguese colony now stands.
— from East of Suez Ceylon, India, China and Japan by Frederic Courtland Penfield