I give an instance of the utter absurdity produced by the alteration of punctuation marks, turning a sensible paragraph to the most arrant nonsense: "Cæsar entered; on his head his helmet; on his feet armed sandals; upon his brow there was a cloud; in his right hand his faithful sword; in his eye an angry glare; saying nothing, he sat down."
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Florence Hartley

I was too cowardly to steal much myself, and not coward enough to refuse what others stole.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

Neither innate mental ability, nor creative energy, nor what we call will, in and of themselves, constitutes personality.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

He left great hereditary estates in both countries to the enjoyment of his mistress and natural children, excluding the legitimate branches of his family from all claims upon the manors or demesnes of their ancestors.
— from Personal Sketches of His Own Times, Vol. 1 (of 3) by Barrington, Jonah, Sir

These means, although not circumcision either in a surgical or in the Hebraic religious sense, are, nevertheless, sufficient in a medical sense for all desired purposes; provided, however, that there is no resulting constriction, [310] or a mild condition of paraphimosis, back of the corona, and that the whole of the glans is sufficiently uncovered, and that no abnormal dog-ears are left to garnish each side of the penis like an Elizabethan frill or collar; although Agnew holds that, in slitting, the practice adopted by many of rounding off the corners is mostly superfluous, as nature will do so itself in time.
— from History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present Moral and Physical Reasons for its Performance by P. C. (Peter Charles) Remondino

At that moment a new cook entered with a plate of warm cakes.
— from Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur

Limbs that have grown outward for centuries at right angles to the trunk begin to turn upward to assist in making a new crown, each speedily assuming the special form of true summits.
— from The Yosemite by John Muir

[73] The curve of the sanctuary as seen from the west end of the nave is one of the splendors of the monument, and no chevet ever built surpassed it.
— from How France Built Her Cathedrals: A Study in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries by Elizabeth Boyle O'Reilly

In fact, these shell, as it was afterwards discovered, could break into a hundred fragments, and each cover a superficial area of a hundred and twenty square feet with Greek fire, which would burn for twenty minutes, and nothing could extinguish it.
— from The Blockade Runners by Jules Verne

"I don't mean a newspaper, Cart," explained Paul with a touch of irritation.
— from Paul and the Printing Press by Sara Ware Bassett

"Now, my countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our chart of liberty: let me entreat you to come back.
— from Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2) by William Henry Herndon