This principle of inconsistency which I have pursued in varying the rendering of long sentences, periodic or loose, according to external modifying conditions, may be observed also in certain other features of the book.
— from Dio's Rome, Volume 1 (of 6) An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

sure, madam, you might call me by my sir-name; for though my lady calls me Honour, I have a sir-name as well as other folks.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

So indeed have many others, who have rendered their children most completely miserable by the same conduct; which, though it is almost universal in parents, hath always appeared to me to be the most unaccountable of all the absurdities which ever entered into the brain of that strange prodigious creature man.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

“I must confess, Mr. Beresford, that it was something of a surprise to me to see you here this evening.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

“I was just on my way over to invite you to help me celebrate my birthday on Saturday,” said Anne.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

But if this be the case, why are not these wise men constituted mediators between miserable mortals and the blessed immortals, since they have blessedness in common with the latter, and mortality in common with the former?
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

THE ENTIRE ORIGINAL MAUPASSANT SHORT STORIES by Guy de Maupassant Translated by ALBERT M. C. McMASTER, B.A. A. E. HENDERSON, B.A. MME.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

524 ; although an evil, yet made a good to the good, 525 ; the evil of, as the separation of soul and body, 526 ; that which the unbaptized suffer for the confession of Christ, 527 , etc.; the saints, by suffering the first, are freed from the second, 528 ; the moment of, when it actually occurs, 528 , 529 ; the life which mortals claim may be fitly called, 529 , 530 ; whether one can be living and yet in the state of, at the same time, 531 ; what kind of, involved in the threatenings addressed to our first parents, 533 ; concerning those philosophers who think it is not penal, 536 ; the second, ii. 343 , etc. Death, when it may be inflicted without committing murder, i. 32 .
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

My country, my beloved country!
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

"I'll take your horse to stable, sir, if you'll let me catch my breath."
— from Lady Good-for-Nothing: A Man's Portrait of a Woman by Arthur Quiller-Couch

The railroad, which ran for miles through the Marris' country, might be destroyed, the telegraph lines were already severed, all communication with India would thus be cut off, and Quetta isolated might have added another picturesque story to the romantic series of frontier annals.
— from General Gatacre The Story of the Life and Services of Sir William Forbes Gatacre, K.C.B., D.S.O., 1843-1906 by Gatacre, Beatrix Wickens Davey, Lady

In pastry making a magic cover may be used more successfully than a marble slab.
— from The Boston Cooking-School Magazine (Vol. XV, No. 2, Aug.-Sept., 1910) by Various

The important negotiations which, within three months, issued in the birth of the Foreign Maritime Customs, must be regarded as by far the most important outcome of the rebel episode of 1854-55.
— from The Englishman in China During the Victorian Era, Vol. 1 (of 2) As Illustrated in the Career of Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B., D.C.L., Many Years Consul and Minister in China and Japan by Alexander Michie

country comparison to the world: 90 Commercial bank prime lending rate: 13.79% (31 December 2008) Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, berries, potatoes, peppers Industries: mineral mining, construction materials, base metals, leather, machinery, appliances Electricity - production: 832 million kWh (2006) country comparison to the world: 151 Electricity - consumption: 4.281 billion kWh (2006) country comparison to the world: 114 Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2007) country comparison to the world: 148 Oil - consumption: NA bbl/day Oil - proved reserves: NA bbl Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2007) country comparison to the world: 171 Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2007) country comparison to the world: 167 Natural gas - proved reserves: NA cu m Current account balance: -$964 million Exports: $527 million Exports - commodities: mining and processed metal products, scrap metals, leather products, machinery, appliances Imports: $2.6 billion f.o.b.
— from The 2009 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

But no matter what may be the nature of the British claim to the country between the Sibun and the Sarstoon, the observation already made in reference to the Bay Islands and the Mosquito coast must be reiterated, that the great question does not turn upon the validity of this claim previous to the convention of 1850, but upon the facts that Great Britain has bound herself by this convention not to occupy any part of Central America, nor to exercise dominion over it; and that the territory in question is within Central America, even under the most limited construction of these words.
— from Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 2 (of 2) by George Ticknor Curtis

He and I have been parted—in spirit as well as body—for so many years, that his marriage can make but little difference to me."
— from That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3 by Frances Eleanor Trollope

As to marriage, Chaucer may be said generally to treat it in that style of laughing with a wry mouth, which has from time immemorial been affected both in comic writing and on the comic stage, but which, in the end, even the most determined old bachelor feels an occasional inclination to consider monotonous.
— from Chaucer by Ward, Adolphus William, Sir

His mental condition may be best described by stating that, though he was conscious of rectitude, he somehow could not look a policeman in the face.
— from The Matador of the Five Towns and Other Stories by Arnold Bennett