I may be misled by too good an opinion of others, or want of knowledge of the relative value of the good things of life, or some abstract dogma in which I have since lost faith, and thus I may act less egotistically than is in
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

Mary, at length, entered the gallery, and said, ladies, this is a day of recreation, and so you may go into whatever rooms you please till eight o'clock in the evening.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs by John Foxe

then swords, and knives, Poison, guns, halters, and envenom'd steel Are laid before me to despatch myself; And long ere this I should have slain myself, Had not sweet pleasure conquer'd deep despair.
— from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus From the Quarto of 1604 by Christopher Marlowe

The postures of the four seamen seemed ghastly to me, twisted from convulsive movements, as if making a last effort to break loose from the ropes that bound them to their ship.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

As he said nothing further, and declined taking the hint, Mr Brass was fain to propose that they should go up stairs together, and make a last effort to awaken the sleeper by some less violent means, which, if they failed on this last trial, must positively be succeeded by stronger measures.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

In the midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon myself to be fully settled for life, my master sent for me one morning a little earlier than his usual hour.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

Just like wind, water, thunder and lightning, which, when they meet in the bowels of the earth, must necessarily, as they are both to dissolve and are likewise unable to yield, clash and explode to the end that they may at length exhaust themselves.
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

“But”’ said Madame Danglars, resolving to make a last effort, “this young man, though a murderer, is an orphan, abandoned by everybody.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

He made a last effort to extend his hand, but it fell powerless beside him.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Without disputing the reality of such immediate agency in some particular cases, it may safely be affirmed, that by far the greater part of the affairs of men are left entirely to their own guidance, and that their actions are overruled, not directed, by Almighty power to work out the purposes of Divine beneficence.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844 by Various

To an earnest autograph letter, in which the Emperor, on the 2nd of March, 1568, made a last effort to save the illustrious prisoners, he replied, that "the whole world would at last approve his conduct, but that, at any rate, he would not act differently, even if he should risk the loss of the provinces, and if the sky should fall on his head."
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-84) by John Lothrop Motley

On April 26th Joseph Bonaparte made a last effort to bend his brother's will, but only gained the grudging concession that Napoleon would never consent to the British retention of Malta for a longer time than three or four years.
— from The Life of Napoleon I (Complete) by J. Holland (John Holland) Rose

I went over the world to make my fortune and never made it; and sent him home what I did make, and little enough too.
— from Two Years Ago, Volume I by Charles Kingsley

Let no one ask me how it came to pass; It seems that I am happy, that to me A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass, A purer sapphire melts into the sea.
— from Maud, and Other Poems by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

Then he made a lamentable effort to deliver himself of fulminations after the manner of the Chief's grandiloquence.
— from Menotah: A Tale of the Riel Rebellion by John Trevena

You can send me a letter every two or three weeks until you reach Zurnst.
— from Oscar in Africa by Harry Castlemon

Pray, can you tell me the name of it, and where it is found, that I may at least endeavour to procure a piece of it."
— from Marriage by Susan Ferrier

It is more mucilaginous and less esteemed than Smyrna opium, from which it may be distinguished by the last being always covered with the reddish capsules of a species of Rumex.
— from Cooley's Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume II by Richard Vine Tuson