"He lamented, yet excused, his past conduct.
— 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

Let your eyes be blind to all external attractions, your ears deaf to all the fascinations of flattery and light discourse.—These are nothing—and worse than nothing—snares and wiles of the tempter, to lure the thoughtless to their own destruction.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Leave your eyes unfettered by your will but a single instant and they will surely turn to seek it.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Then came my turn, for, as I kept on laughing and answered all questions by ‘I don’t know,’ these gentleman had me taken to prison, telling me I should stay there till I informed them where you, or at least your effects, could be found.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Teachers, have done with these shams; be good and kind; let your example sink into your scholars’ memories till they are old enough to take it to heart.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“If I may take the liberty, your excellency, it would be a good thing.”
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

"Now, it an't necessary to say to a man like you, engaged in your business, which is a business of trust and requires a person to be wide awake and have his senses about him and his head screwed on tight (I had an uncle in your business once)—it an't necessary to say to a man like you that it's the best and wisest way to keep little matters like this quiet.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

25 Apartóle bruscamente hacia un lado y entró en su cuarto.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós

"That is unnecessary, senor governor," said Doctor Recio, "for I will give your worship a draught against falls and bruises that will soon make you as sound and strong as ever; and as for your diet I promise your worship to behave better, and let you eat plentifully of whatever you like."
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

"I am indeed, Señor Don Pedro; I am obliged to leave you, even though I have but just arrived."
— from Stoneheart: A Romance by Gustave Aimard

Come out from your alleys, your courts, and your lanes, And breathe, like young eagles, the air of our plains; Take a whiff from our fields, and your excellent wives Will declare it 's all nonsense insuring your lives.
— from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Complete by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The slavery question had a profound religious bearing, and touched the very core of Plymouth Church life, yet even that does not stand out more vividly in my memory than the scene when Louis Kossuth landed at the Battery from an Amer
— from Sixty years with Plymouth Church by Stephen Morrell Griswold

Well, I'll not lecture you, Edward; you have sufficiently expiated your offence."
— from An Algonquin Maiden: A Romance of the Early Days of Upper Canada by G. Mercer (Graeme Mercer) Adam

The great, wise owl thought herself perfectly safe, no doubt, in such a lofty home; so, a few months before, she had laid two beautiful snowy eggs in her retreat, which in time became two small owlets, with such comical, fuzzy, round faces, and large yellow eyes.
— from The Three Bears of Porcupine Ridge by Jean M. (Jean May) Thompson

We are going to leave you ’ere alone to-day to think the matter over, and we are going to tie you fast to that big tree, so you won’t ’ave anything to distract your attention.
— from With Hoops of Steel by Florence Finch Kelly

Of late years experimental philosophers have been occupied with the investigation of a profound problem.
— from Knowledge for the Time A Manual of Reading, Reference, and Conversation on Subjects of Living Interest, Useful Curiosity, and Amusing Research by John Timbs

To these people, we say: Don't let your emotions sweep you off your feet.
— from Everybody's Book of Luck by Anonymous

In 1848, he went to Boston, and having made acquaintance, and gained confidence with several business men, Mr. Hayden opened a fashionable Clothing House in Cambridge street, where he has within the last year, enlarged his establishment, being patronized by some of the most respectable citizens of that wealthy Metropolis.
— from The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States by Martin Robison Delany