"Certainly, but about what?" "Let us talk of our life, of our future," said Zinaida Fyodorovna dreamily.
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

ad lectorem.—Let whoever wishes dispute, I think the laws of our forefathers should be received with reverence, and religiously observed, as coming from God; neither is it safe or pious to conceive, or contrive, an injurious suspicion of the public authority; and should any tyranny, likely to drive men into the commission of wickedness, exist, it is better to endure it than to resist it by sedition.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Similar messages kept coming to Xenophon by letter or otherwise from several quarters, warning him that he was calumniated, and had best be on his guard.
— from Anabasis by Xenophon

The ideal of the past, whether of our own past lives or of former states of society, has a singular fascination for the minds of many.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

Mother is so splendid, she'd do you heaps of good, and Beth would sing to you if I begged her to, and Amy would dance; Meg and I would make you laugh over our funny stage properties, and we'd have jolly times.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

Rise to the heaven where Dhundhumár And Nahush, mighty heroes, are, Where Janamejay and the blest Dilípa, Sagar, Saivya, rest: Home of all virtuous spirits, earned By fervent rites and Scripture learned: By those whose sacred fires have glowed, Whose liberal hands have fields bestowed: By givers of a thousand cows, By lovers of one faithful spouse: By those who serve their masters well, And cast away this earthly shell.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

I ought to have got it taken in drapery that never looks out of fashion still I look young in it I wonder he didnt make him a present of it altogether and me too after all why not I saw him driving down to the Kingsbridge station with his father and mother I was in mourning thats 11 years ago now yes hed be 11 though what was the good in going into mourning for what was neither one thing nor the other the first cry was enough for me I heard the deathwatch too ticking in the wall of course he insisted hed go into mourning for the cat I suppose hes a man now by this time he was an innocent boy then and a darling little fellow in his lord Fauntleroy suit and curly hair like a prince on the stage when I saw him at Mat Dillons he liked me too
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

When the Bulgarians retired, my dear sister could not be found; but my mother, my father, and myself, with two maid-servants and three little boys all of whom had been slain, were put in a hearse, to be conveyed for interment to a chapel belonging to the Jesuits, within two leagues of our family seat.
— from Candide by Voltaire

Here at last, after the dusty German valleys, we entered among real hills, round which and through which, by enormous tunnels, our train slowly went: rocks looking out of foliage; sweet little valleys, green as in early spring; the dark evergreens in contrast; snug cottages nestled in the hillsides, showing little else than enormous brown roofs that come nearly to the ground, giving the cottages the appearance of huge toadstools; fine harvests of grain; thrifty apple-trees, and cherry-trees purple with luscious fruit.
— from Saunterings by Charles Dudley Warner

If the barren soil around Sydney had at once become fertile upon the landing of our first settlers; if, like the happy isles whereof the poets have given such glowing descriptions, those sandy tracts had begun to yield spontaneously an annual supply of grain, we might then, indeed, have fancied alterations still more remarkable in the economy of nature to have attended the first coming of our species into the planet.
— from Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

List of other fantasies, stf, for stamp.
— from The Fantasy Fan November 1933 The Fans' Own Magazine by Various

Professor Simon Litman of our Faculty spoke on "Jews and Modern Capitalism.
— from The Menorah Journal, Volume 1, 1915 by Various

Indeed it was never intended that the whole Congo Basin should be pegged out into claims by a host of adventurers without any system, law or order, for such a proceeding would have speedily led to complete anarchy.
— from A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State by Marcus Roberts Phipps Dorman

I am going to fight—I, a Socialist and a syndicalist—so that we shall make an end of war, so that the little ones of France shall sleep in peace, and the women go without fear.
— from The Soul of the War by Philip Gibbs