“God forbid I should ever do that, sir,” said Adam, looking round at Arthur and smiling.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

Dey’s awluz at it, sah, en dey do mos’ kill me, dey sk’yers me so.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

I read them, found them well written, but devoid of enthusiasm; they were the work of a poet, and expressed love in the words of passion, but were not pervaded by that peculiar feeling by which true love is so easily discovered.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

1. Adjectives ending in silent e drop this letter before the comparative ending er and the superlative ending est .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by George Lyman Kittredge

I am ready to stake my life that of the hundred and fifty young men I see every day in the lecture-theatre, and of the hundred elderly ones I meet every week, hardly one could be found capable of understanding their hatred and aversion for Katya’s past—that is, for her having been a mother without being a wife, and for her having had an illegitimate child; and at the same time I cannot recall one woman or girl of my acquaintance who would not consciously or unconsciously harbour such feelings.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Thus all difference of individuality so entirely disappears, that it is all the same whether the perceiving eye belongs to a mighty king or to a wretched beggar; for neither joy nor complaining can pass that boundary with us.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

Take of Marjoram four handfuls, Mother of Thyme two handfuls, the leaves and berries of Myrtles one handful, Southernwood, Water Mints, of each half [358] an handful, being cut, bruised, and put in a glass, three pounds of Oil Omphacine being put to it, let it stand eight days in the sun, or in a bath, close stopped, then strain it out, in the oil put in fresh simples, do so the third time, the oil may be perfected according to art.
— 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

It is impossible that I should ever dishonor my commission.
— from A Dream of Empire Or, The House of Blennerhassett by William Henry Venable

Madison not only agreed with Jefferson as to the wisdom of accepting the British proposal of some form of joint action, but he went even further and suggested that the declaration should not be limited to the American republics, but that it should express disapproval of the late invasion of Spain and of any interference with the Greeks who were then struggling for independence from Turkey.
— from From Isolation to Leadership, Revised A Review of American Foreign Policy by John Holladay Latané

It is usually much sunken in inflammation of the brain or in severe exhausting diarrhea or marasmus.
— from The Mother and Her Child by William S. (William Samuel) Sadler

For a five-sided figure it is best to step around the circumference of the circle with the compasses, but for a three-sided one, or trigon, the construction is as follows: It will be found that the compasses set to the radius of a circle will accurately divide it into six equal divisions, as is shown in Figure 178; hence every other one of these divisions will be the location for a corner of a trigon.
— from Mechanical Drawing Self-Taught Comprising instructions in the selection and preparation of drawing instruments, elementary instruction in practical mechanical drawing; together with examples in simple geometry and elementary mechanism, including screw threads, gear wheels, mechanical motions, engines and boilers by Joshua Rose

The grisette of Musset, of Henry Murger, exists no longer, even if she ever did exist.
— from Mademoiselle Miss, and Other Stories by Henry Harland

Her smile was very sweet and her voice full of trippling melody when she now recited a gay little ballad,—also her own composition,—" Amours Joyeux ,"—in so entirely different a spirit that it was almost impossible to believe her the same mortal.
— from Bohemian Paris of To-day Second Edition by Edward Cucuel

It may be doubted whether, among all the reliefs of the Sassanians, there is one which is so entirely devoid of artistic merit as this coarse and dull production.
— from The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7: The Sassanian or New Persian Empire The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui ad tantas opes per flagitia processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cum consuleret, quam cito sestertium sexcennies impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicata, quibus portendi millies et ducenties habiturum.
— 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