But, with her offer little pleased-- Nay, gathering wrath at being teased,-- For such a purpose, never rove,-- Replied th' impatient bird of Jove. 'Adieu, my cackling friend, adieu; My court is not the place for you: Heaven keep it free from such a bore!' Madge flapp'd her wings, and said no more.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine

It is true that we did feel something much more serious than the mere craving for a scandal: there was a general feeling of irritation, a feeling of implacable resentment; every one seemed thoroughly disgusted with everything.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

General Halleck's measures to capture General Johnston's army, actually surrendered to me at the time, at Greensboro', on the 26th of April, simply excited my contempt for a judgment such as he was supposed to possess.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

Indeed it would be quite easy for a modern manager to reproduce these pageants absolutely as Shakespeare had them designed; and so accurate were they that one of the court officials of the time, writing an account of the last performance of the play at the Globe Theatre to a friend, actually complains of their realistic character, notably of the production on the stage of the Knights of the Garter in the robes and insignia of the order as being calculated to bring ridicule on the real ceremonies; much in the same spirit in which the French Government, some time ago, prohibited that delightful actor, M. Christian, from appearing in uniform, on the plea that it was prejudicial to the glory of the army that a colonel should be caricatured.
— from Intentions by Oscar Wilde

Thus, each of the principal branches of the federal government will owe its existence more or less to the favor of the State governments, and must consequently feel a dependence, which is much more likely to beget a disposition too obsequious than too overbearing towards them.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

In low circles it is usual to speak of a humpbacked man as two persons—“him and his BOY ,” and from this much coarse fun and personality are at times evolved.
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

This startling announcement caused a rapid muster: when Adeimantus, who disapproved of the measure, came forward and endeavoured to show that “the proclamation and summons to assemble in arms should have been made some time before, when they were told that their enemies the Aetolians were approaching the frontier: not then, when they learnt that their benefactors and preservers the Macedonians were coming with their king.”
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Of course a fight would have meant considerable firing, and the quarry might hear it, take fright, and escape.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

But, if the unexpected sound of these felicitations delivered in English, roused and struck me, how much greater arose my astonishment and delight when the French monarch, in an accent of the most condescending familiarity and pleasure, uttered his acknowledgments in English also-expressing his gratitude for all their attentions, his sense of their kind interest in his favour, and his eternal remembrance of the obligations he owed to the whole county of Buckinghamshire, for the asylum and consolations he had found in it during his trials and calamities!
— from The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 3 by Fanny Burney

… No, I don’t want to take him with Madeline to anything that could be called a music-hall—something more correct for a jeune fille would be better.
— from Bird of Paradise by Ada Leverson

No one, therefore, dares to be vexed if he hears old airs in my compositions; for, as they are beautiful, their antiquity cannot detract from their value.
— from Musical Myths and Facts, Volume 2 (of 2) by Carl Engel

"Oh! well, the more the merrier," came from a third, whom Paul knew to be the scout leader of the "Eagles" in person, "and after all, we don't mind showing these tenderfeet scouts how to do stunts.
— from The Banner Boy Scouts; or, The Struggle for Leadership by George A. Warren

He came once to be my companion for a few days, when I was suffering from a long period of depression and overwork.
— from Hugh: Memoirs of a Brother by Arthur Christopher Benson

Very soon many cunning fellows arrived at the conclusion that the trade of a sacerdotal physician and conjurer might bring a profitable livelihood to its professor, even if this professor were not a priest but a layman.
— from Superstition in Medicine by Hugo Magnus

Then, while the mother for whom he hungered made her plans for the great funeral feast, still customary in country sections, where mourners came from a long distance, and while Katy Gaumer recounted to curious Millerstown how she had found John Hartman sitting in his buggy by the roadside, David ate the raised cake and drank the milk which Bevy brought him.
— from Katy Gaumer by Elsie Singmaster

But you know how often it happens in England that a cultivated person, a person of the sort that Mr. Charles Sumner[466] describes, talking to one of the lower class, or even of the middle class, feels and cannot but feel, that there is somehow a wall of partition between himself and the other, that they seem to belong to two different worlds.
— from Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold by Matthew Arnold

He had the notion of writing an opéra-comique in one act, and he asked his favorite collaborators, Jules Barbier and Michael Carré, for a libretto.
— from Musical Memories by Camille Saint-Saëns