'You remember, Wegg, when I first told you that I wanted to make a sort of offer to you?' 'Let me get on my considering cap, sir,' replied that gentleman, turning the open book face downward.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Sarycheff made one mistake in applying the name of Cape St. Elias to the nearest point of the mainland called Cape Suckling by Cook."— Tr.
— from Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait by Peter Lauridsen

We are holden to men by every sort of tie, by blood, by pride, by fear, by hope, by lucre, by lust, by hate, by admiration, by every circumstance and badge and trifle, but we can scarce believe that so much character can subsist in another as to draw us by love.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

If the correspondence [ 626 ] between Mr. McKinley and the Paris Peace Commission in the fall of 1898, from which the injunction of secrecy was not removed until 1901, had been given out at the time, the treaty would never have been ratified except after some such declaration as to the Philippines as was made concerning Cuba, some reaffirmance of allegiance to faith in our cardinal tenet—the right of every people to pursue happiness in their own way, free from alien domination.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

Then out they bring their syllogisms, their majors, their minors, conclusions, corollaries, suppositions, and distinctions, that will sooner terrify the congregation into an amazement, than persuade them into a conviction.
— from In Praise of Folly Illustrated with Many Curious Cuts by Desiderius Erasmus

While the ex-manager completed his toilet, he informed Nicholas that as he should have a fair start in America from the proceeds of a tolerably good engagement which he had been fortunate enough to obtain, and as he and Mrs Crummles could scarcely hope to act for ever (not being immortal, except in the breath of Fame and in a figurative sense) he had made up his mind to settle there permanently, in the hope of acquiring some land of his own which would support them in their old age, and which they could afterwards bequeath to their children.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

M. Ciò che si usa, non ha bisogno di scusa —That which is customary needs no excuse.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

<malvagia che cola` si corca>>.
— from La Divina Commedia di Dante: Complete by Dante Alighieri

“Ah madam!” cried Cecilia, shaking her head, “many as they may seem, I have little reason to be proud of them; there is one only who, had my fortune been smaller, would, I believe, ever have thought of me, and there is one only, who, were it now diminished, would ever think of me more.”
— from Cecilia; Or, Memoirs of an Heiress — Volume 2 by Fanny Burney

Again, as I spoke, and heard plainly above the distant roar, three more cries came sweeping along, and once more there was silence.
— from The Golden Magnet by George Manville Fenn

“My convictions coincide so entirely with yours, that I have had an interview with my ward, and withdrawn my consent to her marriage until she is of age.”
— from Vashti; Or, Until Death Us Do Part by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

At Hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence of Sir Roger Williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like Stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of England, of such great connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could do so without the knowledge and consent of her Majesty.
— from History of the United Netherlands, 1587a by John Lothrop Motley