but I insisted upon knowing where he had got it; he only replied by asking if I liked it, and wanted some.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

I was not mistaken; it was Frank Bracebridge, a sprightly, good-humored young fellow with whom I had once travelled on the Continent.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

The siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize, and seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold declaration, which the emperor might afterwards make, that his breast had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably obtain much credit, even in his own court.
— 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

Most bygone Wars, as we have already said, consisted, so far as regards the greater part of the time, in this state of equilibrium, or at least in such short tensions with long intervals between them, and weak in their effects, that the events to which they gave rise were seldom great successes, often they were theatrical exhibitions, got up in honour of a royal birthday (Hochkirch), often a mere satisfying of the honour of the arms (Kunersdorf), or the personal vanity of the commander (Freiberg).
— from On War — Volume 1 by Carl von Clausewitz

Agreement is produced by controlling each mind externally, through a series of checks and little appeals to possible sensation; whereas in poetry the agreement, where it exists, is vague and massive; there is an initial fusion of minds under hypnotic musical influences, from which each listener, as he awakes, passes into his own thoughts and interpretations.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

It seemed to some of the ladies that to discourse of such a matter would ill beseem them and they prayed him, therefore, to change the theme proposed; wherefore answered he, "Ladies, I am no less cognizant than yourselves of that which I have ordained, and that which you would fain allege to me availed not to deter me from ordaining it, considering that the times are such that, provided men and women are careful to eschew unseemly actions, all liberty of discourse is permitted.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Goths had contracted an hereditary attachment for the Imperial house of Constantine, of whose power and liberality they had received so many signal proofs.
— 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

I made inquiries, and found that the house in the Champs-Élysées is his own property, and certainly it was very decently kept up.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Buckingham at once remembered the circumstance, and suspecting that something was going on in France of which it was necessary he should be informed, he only took the time to inquire where the messenger was, and recognizing from afar the uniform of the Guards, he put his horse into a gallop, and rode straight up to d’Artagnan.
— from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

I could have fancied that all the rusty keys, of which there must have been hundreds huddled together as old iron, had once belonged to doors of rooms or strong chests in lawyers' offices.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Indeed, I have presumed it would gain on the public mind, as I confess it has on my own.
— from History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 2 With Notices of Its Principle Framers by George Ticknor Curtis

(The words in his original observing book are: “ζ Lyræ wurde einen Moment sehr hell und hierauf wieder dunkel.”)
— from Astronomical Curiosities: Facts and Fallacies by J. Ellard (John Ellard) Gore

I like to people the old world, with its everyday figures and inhabitants—not so much with heroes fighting immense battles and inspiring repulsed battalions to engage; or statesmen locked up in darkling cabinets and meditating ponderous laws or dire conspiracies—as with people occupied with their every-day work or pleasure: my lord and lady hunting in the forest, or dancing in the Court, or bowing to their serene highnesses as they pass in to dinner; John Cook and his procession bringing the meal from the kitchen; the jolly butlers bearing in the flagons from the cellar; the stout coachman driving the ponderous gilt wagon, with eight cream-coloured horses in housings of scarlet velvet and morocco leather; a postilion on the leaders, and a pair or a half-dozen of running footmen scudding along by the side of the vehicle, with conical caps, long silver-headed maces, which they poised as they ran, and splendid jackets laced all over with silver and gold.
— from Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges by William Makepeace Thackeray

In his ordination, is not the priest made the equal, and, in a sense, the superior of Christ?
— from Fifty Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Paschal Telesphore Chiniquy

"Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
— from A Series of Letters, in Defence of Divine Revelation In Reply to Rev. Abner Kneeland's Serious Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Same. To Which is Added, a Religious Correspondence, Between the Rev. Hosea Ballou, and the Rev. Dr. Joseph Buckminster and Rev. Joseph Walton, Pastors of Congregational Churches in Portsmouth, N. H. by Hosea Ballou

He kept smiling as he moved about, but he really felt rather shy and alien; if he only knew more people, and could be seen laughing and talking and moving his hands, like the other young men!
— from The Youth of Parnassus, and Other Stories by Logan Pearsall Smith

I waited some time, then dressed myself, and looked out through the door, which I half opened.
— from The Phantom Ship by Frederick Marryat

He is right from his point of view: he must restore order in a neighbouring State when the anarchy continually causes disturbances in his own empire; and if this cannot be accomplished while the independence of that country is respected, then must it be forced to subjection.
— from Akbar: An Eastern Romance by P. A. S. van (Petrus Abraham Samuel) Limburg Brouwer

Their enthusiasm quickly spread to their companions, and it was not long before the vengeful medicine-man had injected his own bitterness and hate into the hearts of his listeners.
— from White Otter by Elmer Russell Gregor

Even from this general point of view, the message of Advent comes to us with a supremely inspiring force in the crisis of our great national struggle, but it has other aspects of profound grace and comfort as well as of warning.
— from The War and the Gospel: Sermons and Addresses During the Present War by Henry Wace