No; I pray thee speak in sober judgment. BENEDICK.
— from Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

Her “good luck” was owing to the exceeding care which she took in preventing the succulent root from getting bruised in the digging, and in placing it beyond the reach of frost, by actually burying it under the hearth of her cabin during the winter months.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

His council chamber and his throne, the splendor with which he appeared in public, the suppliant crowd who solicited his attention, the multitude of letters and petitions to which he dictated his answers, and the perpetual hurry of business in which he was involved, were circumstances much better suited to the state of a civil magistrate, 127 than to the humility of a primitive bishop.
— 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

It is probable that scurvy existed in the northern parts of Europe and Asia ever since they were settled by man.
— from Scurvy, Past and Present by Alfred F. Hess

In fact, the last article of modern civilization is put to so many uses, is so much displayed, and liable to be called into action on so many various engagements, that we should always have a clean one in our pockets.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in All His Relations Towards Society by Cecil B. Hartley

How was it, indeed, probable, that such arguments could have any weight with an author, whose plan, whose guiding principle, and main object it was to attack and subdue that state of association, which leads us to place the chief value on those things on which man differs from man, and to forget or disregard the high dignities, which belong to Human Nature, the sense and the feeling, which may be, and ought to be, found in all ranks?
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

But whether thus these things, or whether not, Whether the Sun predominant in Heav’n Rise on the Earth, or Earth rise on the Sun, Hee from the East his flaming rode begin, Or Shee from West her silent course advance With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps On her soft Axle, while she paces Eev’n, And bears thee soft with the smooth Air along, Sollicit not thy thoughts with matters hid, Leave them to God above, him serve and feare; Of other Creatures, as him pleases best, Wherever plac’t, let him dispose: joy thou
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

'Course it can't be anything much, because we haven't a superabundance of ready cash; but Matilda, she's stood by her poor old wandering brother so handsomely I'd be glad to give her a whole hundred dollars, if only I possessed that sum."
— from The Chums of Scranton High out for the Pennant or, In the Three Town League by Donald Ferguson

Being obliged day after day to climb with infinite pains the sharp rocky heights of the cliff, in order to get from the fishing grounds to the plantations, they would certainly not be long in devising some means of lessening this inconvenience.
— from In the Strange South Seas by Beatrice Grimshaw

Returning home he hoped, if possible, to set matters right at the steel mills before Mr. Searles arrived.
— from The Harris-Ingram Experiment by Charles E. (Charles Edward) Bolton

Till now she had felt most strongly the emotions of grief and melancholy; now, however, these passed away, and were succeeded by an intensity of hate, a vehemence of wrath, and a hot glow of indignant passion that swept away all other feelings.
— from The Living Link: A Novel by James De Mille

I praised this sentiment, but I said that he ought not to regard the greatest King of Europe as he would a private gentleman, who would be very reprehensible if he threw away 100,000 livres upon a fine diamond, while he owed many debts which he could not pay: that he must consider the honour of the crown, and not lose the occasion of obtaining, a priceless diamond which would efface the lustre of all others in Europe: that it was a glory for his regency which would last for ever; that whatever might be the state of the finances the saving obtained by a refusal of the jewel would not much relieve them, for it would be scarcely perceptible; in fact I did not quit M. le Duc d'Orleans until he had promised that the diamond should be bought.
— from Court Memoirs of France Series — Complete by Various

Oils of Sage, Thyme, Pepper and [Pg 57] other the like, drawn by an instrument proper thereunto, such artifices, are so divulged even unto Chamber maids,
— from A Discovrse of Fire and Salt Discovering Many Secret Mysteries as well Philosophicall, as Theologicall by Blaise de Vigenère

The Milanese go to Monza for the sake of an outing, but most of the tourists who throng the city stay away, and it is possible to spend a few pleasant hours in the cathedral and churches with never a flutter of red-covered guide book to distract one’s attention from the matters to which the hasty tourist is blind.
— from Bernardino Luini by James Mason

It is pitiful to see such a dead place, trying to pretend it is alive.
— from Wanderers by Knut Hamsun

I presume that Scott’s letters are on file in the War Department.
— from Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2) by George Ticknor Curtis

"Is I er-dreamin', er does I see w'at I 'pears ter see?"
— from The Wife of his Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line, and Selected Essays by Charles W. (Charles Waddell) Chesnutt