As for fowling, during the last years that I carried a gun my excuse was that I was studying ornithology, and sought only new or rare birds.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

I have found repeatedly, of late years, that I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Such works as the LUN YU, the I CHING and the great Commentary, [57] as well as the writings of Mencius, Hsun K`uang and Yang Chu, all fall below the level of Sun Tzu.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

"What you would have been like if you hadn't lost your tongue, I can't think."
— from Aesop's Fables; a new translation by Aesop

"It was because I loved you that I was so sorry when you went; that every hour and day was a misery to me, and seemed to hang like lead; it was because I loved you that I could not think of anything else, and—and all the world became black and dark, and—and—I hated to be alive.
— from Nell, of Shorne Mills; or, One Heart's Burden by Charles Garvice

The Board of Indian Commissioners late last year, through its Chairman, Honorable George Vaux, Jr., commissioned Rev. William H. Ketcham, Director of Catholic Missions, and Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, President of the Unitarian Association, and both members of our Board, to visit these various Indians and recommend what should be done for them.
— from The American Indian in the United States, Period 1850-1914 ... The Present Condition of the American Indian; His Political History and Other Topics; A Plea for Justice by Warren King Moorehead

“You are in league, you two; I can see that with my short-sighted eyes; say, you and he were prime friends once, weren’t you?”
— from Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline: A Story of the Development of a Young Girl's Life by Conklin, Nathaniel, Mrs.

MOST clearly Peter was a heavy lout, Yet truly I could never have a doubt, That rashly he would ne'er himself commit, Though folly 'twere from him to look for wit, Or aught expect by questioning to find 'Yond this to reason, he was not designed.
— from Tales and Novels of J. de La Fontaine — Complete by Jean de La Fontaine

I leave you to imagine, captain, what our joy was on finding ourselves among those brave hearts.
— from Rule of the Monk; Or, Rome in the Nineteenth Century by Giuseppe Garibaldi

Only enter into my plans, and second me with all your power, and I will lead you to its conquest, and its name shall be added to those of the thirty-six States which compose this Great Union."
— from From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It by Jules Verne