The self-taught man seldom knows anything accurately, and he does not know a tenth as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers; and, besides, he brags, and is the means of fooling other thoughtless people into going and doing as he himself has done.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain

"But you don't know any thing about me, and I may be the worst woman in the world," cried Christie, anxious to prove herself worthy of such confidence.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

Kapni ang tabákù arun managkù ang dáhun, Cut off the terminal buds of the tobacco plant to make the leaves grow large.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

The plant was known as the Atlas Mills, and was at 17 Jay Street.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

The first kiss I gave them was prompted by entirely harmless motives, and they returned the kiss, as they assured me a few days afterwards only to prove to me that they reciprocated my brotherly feelings; but those innocent kisses, as we repeated them, very soon became ardent ones, and kindled a flame which certainly took us by surprise, for we stopped, as by common consent, after a short time, looking at each other very much astonished and rather serious.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

I was told that all was known, and this amused me as I was aware that nothing was known.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Would you be so kind as to allow me (as I may say) to file a declaration—to make an offer!"
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

An altered word is one in which part of the ordinary form is left unchanged, and part is re-cast; as in {delta epsilon xi iota-tau epsilon rho omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha / mu alpha zeta omicron nu}, {delta epsilon xi iota tau epsilon rho omicron nu} is for {delta epsilon xi iota omicron nu}.
— from The Poetics of Aristotle by Aristotle

“Nearer!” hissed Kaa, and they all moved again.
— from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Union men, as well as the Secession-sympathizers, of Kentucky and Tennessee and Missouri and Maryland, largely believed in Slavery, or at least were averse to any interference with it.
— from Project Gutenberg Edition of The Memoirs of Four Civil War Generals by John Alexander Logan

The sight of this awakened very sad memories; to think of the thousands, who but a short time before had been camped in this great zariba having been killed almost to a man, and that this disaster was the cause of my being where I now was!
— from Fire and Sword in the Sudan A Personal Narrative of Fighting and Serving the Dervishes 1879-1895 by Slatin, Rudolf Carl, Freiherr von

‘I do not wish to alarm Mrs. Kendal, and therefore address myself at once to you, for I do not think it right to keep you in ignorance that I have had some of the old symptoms.
— from The Young Step-Mother; Or, A Chronicle of Mistakes by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

I regard Kentucky and Tennessee and Missouri as loyal states, just as much so as Illinois.
— from The Life of Lyman Trumbull by Horace White

I alwus did admire the malice ov the mule—if a freak ov fortune had made me as unfortunate among men az the mule iz amung animals, i would begin tew kick at things a mile and a haff off.
— from The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Josh Billings

The Swiss, the Dutch, the Belgian, the Japanese and Korean fairies, as we all know, although they are much alike in many things are as different from each other as the countries in which they live and play.
— from Welsh Fairy Tales by William Elliot Griffis

She says when you stay with any one as isn't practical, you must take your own spirit-lamp, and teapot, and kettle, and tea, and matches, and a small blanket, and pen and ink, and a box of crackers, and a sharp knife, and some blank telegrams, and a good deal of court-plaster, and a teacup, and sugar if you take it, and a ball of good heavy string, and your own Bible, and a pillow.
— from Susan Clegg and Her Love Affairs by Anne Warner

She's been telling you about me, though I've a right to meet her and you've not!—Look here, if she realised and knew what I know, and Toftrees and Mr. Amberley know, what every one in London knows, by Jove, she'd never speak to you again!" Gilbert lifted his glass and sipped slowly.
— from The Drunkard by Guy Thorne