He addressed himself especially to explain and excuse the reverses which they had lately experienced; for it was on this point particularly that the soldiers were depressed and stood in need of encouragement.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

This art of mensuration is a kind of knowledge, and knowledge is thus proved once more to be the governing principle of human life, and ignorance the origin of all evil: for no one prefers the less pleasure to the greater, or the greater pain to the less, except from ignorance.
— from Protagoras by Plato

It may be believed that a religion which should undertake to destroy so deep seated a passion, would meet its own destruction thence in the end; and if it attempted to wean men entirely from the contemplation of the good things of this world, in order to devote their faculties exclusively to the thought of another, it may be foreseen that the soul would at length escape from its grasp, to plunge into the exclusive enjoyment of present and material pleasures.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

Adj. expectant; expecting &c. v.; in expectation &c. n.; on the watch &c. (vigilant) 459; open-eyed, open-mouthed, in wide-eyed anticipation; agape, gaping, all agog; on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, on the tiptoe of expectation; aux aguets[obs3]; ready; curious &c. 455; looking forward to. expected &c. v.; long expected, foreseen; in prospect &c. n.; prospective; in one's eye, in one's view, in the horizon, on the horizon, just over the horizon, just around the corner, around the corner; impending &c. (destiny) 152.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

That was evident to everybody, though the captain’s wife had her little group of partisans, who maintained with exaggerated eagerness that she looked extraordinarily fascinating in her dress and Mrs. Shaldin still could not rival her.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Land in the neighbourhood of a town gives a greater rent than land equally fertile in a distant part of the country.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

The house-door was ajar, too; light entered from its unclosed windows; Hindley had come out, and stood on the kitchen hearth, haggard and drowsy.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Not an unconscious state Or mental chloroform without wilful return, Samadhi but extends my conscious realm Beyond limits of the mortal frame To farthest boundary of eternity Where I, the Cosmic Sea, Watch the little ego floating in Me.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

“Hath not your ladyship heard it, then?” cries the landlord; “nay, like enough, for I heard it only a few minutes ago; and if I had never heard it, may the devil fly away with me this instant if I would have betrayed your honour!
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

I should say to myself, “All is not over with life, everything finds its place at death.”
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

She had learnt enough from Igraine to comprehend in measure that element of tragedy that had entered with Gorlois into her life.
— from Uther and Igraine by Warwick Deeping

I remember how he said, in the poem which I spoke of, that he could have counted, had he the leisure, every feather in Love's wings.
— from The God of Love by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy

Though Lincoln engaged freely in the political machinations of his day, he did not sanction corruption.
— from Lincoln, the Politician by T. Aaron Levy

He struggled out of the coat, removed an oblong package and a large envelope from inner pockets, and tossed the coat on his desk.
— from D-99: a science-fiction novel by H. B. (Horace Bowne) Fyfe

A second or two it was hidden from his sight behind the large wall tents along the line of fence, then shot into full view again as he stood at the end of the company street looking eagerly for its reappearance.
— from Found in the Philippines: The Story of a Woman's Letters by Charles King

Soon thereafter the victorious mercenaries sacked and looted Loyang, ending forever its prominence in Chinese history.
— from The Zen Experience by Thomas Hoover

The next is no less eminent for its sustained, impassioned, simple, rhythmic feeling:— "Drink with me, be young with me, love with me, wear crowns with me, with me when I am mad be mad, with me when I am temperate be sober."
— from A Problem in Greek Ethics Being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion, addressed especially to medical psychologists and jurists by John Addington Symonds