More concise in mythological attributes than the hymns ascribed to Homer, this beautiful production, in variety and grandeur of invocation, and in pomp of numbers, surpasses all that Greece, (176) melodious but simple in the service of the altar, ever poured forth from her vocal groves in solemn adoration.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

I have indeed observed the same disposition among most of the mathematicians I have known in Europe, although I could never discover the least analogy between the two sciences; unless those people suppose, that because the smallest circle has as many degrees as the largest, therefore the regulation and management of the world require no more abilities than the handling and turning of a globe; but I rather take this quality to spring from a very common infirmity of human nature, inclining us to be most curious and conceited in matters where we have least concern, and for which we are least adapted by study or nature.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

On hearing the hubbub made by the passers-by, Tholomyès’ merry auditors turned their heads, and Tholomyès took advantage of the opportunity to bring his allocution to a close with this melancholy strophe:— “Elle était de ce monde ou coucous et carrosses Ont le même destin; Et, rosse, elle a vécu ce que vivant les rosses, L’espace
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

[389] It is obvious that the foregoing reasoning leads to the conclusion that a disseisor of the tenant would be bound as much as the tenant himself, and this conclusion was adopted by the early law.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Drama means a thing done, not merely a thing that happens; and the playwright who lets accident effect what might naturally and probably be a result of volition, or, in other words, of character, sins against the fundamental law of his craft.
— from Play-Making: A Manual of Craftsmanship by William Archer

Frank gazed at them a moment, and then turned his attention to the game.
— from Frank in the Woods by Harry Castlemon

But splendid though the climbing on the Coolin may be, it is only one of the attractions, possibly a minor attraction, to these hills, and there are many other mountain ranges where rock-climbing can be found.
— from Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain Ranges by Norman Collie

Then, apart from all that has been said, if the United States made war upon the South, as it certainly did by the act of the President, it is one of the propositions which these men may insist upon, that the States had a right to defend themselves, to make reprisals, to issue letters of marque, and that they had all the other rights of warfare.
— from Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York by A. F. (Adolphus Frederick) Warburton

Cranch records, as a curious habit of the species, that “they live in excavations formed in the hardened mud, and that their habitations, at the extremities of which they live, are open at both ends.”
— from A Year at the Shore by Philip Henry Gosse

That evening a man moved along the Terrace, halted as though he were minded to turn back, moved on and at last knocked at Barrington’s door.
— from The Raft by Coningsby Dawson

“Well,” said the doctor, laughing, but with a touch of mingled sarcasm and bitterness in his voice, “I think your committee can’t do better than advise the working-women of England generally to make their homes more attractive to their husbands, and to lead the way yourselves.”
— from True to his Colours The Life that Wears Best by Theodore P. Wilson

It is also probable, that the practice of armed dances, first introduced by persons who paid so much attention to their hair and their dress, and who were called Curetes, afforded a pretence for men more warlike than others, and who passed their lives in arms, to be themselves called by the same name of Curetes, I mean those in Eubœa, Ætolia, and Acarnania.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 2 (of 3) Literally Translated, with Notes by Strabo

He thought, very properly, that a person who bore the name of Lorraine should not put herself so much on the footing of a buffoon; and, as he was a rough speaker, he sometimes said the most abominable things to her at table; upon which the Princess would burst out crying, and then, being enraged, would sulk.
— from Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete by Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de

He surveyed him all over, from his boots to his head, gazed straight into his eyes for a moment, and then turned his attention to the colonel again.
— from Carl the Trailer by Harry Castlemon