we are incapable of having made the world; there must then be some more excellent nature that has put a hand to the work.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

He is a wonderfully accomplished man—most extraordinarily accomplished—reads—hem—reads every novel that comes out; I mean every novel that—hem—that has any fashion in it, of course.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

On me exercise not Thy hatred for this miserie befall'n, On me already lost, mee then thy self More miserable; both have sin'd, but thou 930 Against God onely, I against God and thee, And to the place of judgement will return, There with my cries importune Heaven, that all The sentence from thy head remov'd may light On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe, Mee mee onely just object of his ire.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

On me exercise not Thy hatred for this miserie befall’n, On me already lost, mee then thy self More miserable; both have sin’d, but thou Against God onely, I against God and thee, And to the place of judgement will return, There with my cries importune Heaven, that all The sentence from thy head remov’d may light On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe, Mee mee onely just object of his ire.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps, Between us two let there be peace; both joining, As joined in injuries, one enmity Against a foe by doom express assigned us, That cruel Serpent: On me exercise not Thy hatred for this misery befallen; On me already lost, me than thyself More miserable!
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

chimed in the patient himself; then suddenly altering his voice, “Drinking hot rum toddies with me every night, till he couldn’t see to put on the bandages; and sending me to bed, half seas over, about three o’clock in the morning.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

Master Bates was also attentive to the play; but being of a more excitable nature than his accomplished friend, it was observable that he more frequently applied himself to the gin-and-water, and moreover indulged in many jests and irrelevant remarks, all highly unbecoming a scientific rubber.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Of Books of Travel, here are a dozen titles, where one might easily name twelve hundred:— Edmondo de Amicis,—"Holland and Its People," and his "Constantinople.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

Country people with money enough not to have to work are in much more danger than city people in the same condition.
— from The Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes: An Index of the Project Gutenberg Editions by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Thus London, with all its excitement, and the world of possibilities which it revealed, made everything new to him.
— from The Day of Judgment by Joseph Hocking

I shut my eyes now, thinking how 'twill be— How face to face each soul Will slip its long control, Forget the dismal dole Of dreary Fate's dark, separating sea; And glance to glance, and hand to hand in greeting, The past with all its fears, Its silences and tears, Its lonely, yearning years, Shall vanish in the moment of that meeting.
— from The Home Book of Verse — Volume 2 by Burton Egbert Stevenson

"You mistake my cousin," said Cornelia, "if you suppose he chuses perilous excursions, from a vanity to shew his courage.—Courage is so natural to him, that he never thinks about it.—The activity of his mind makes exercise necessary to him; and the fearlessness of his temper renders that easy to him, which might be difficult, if not impossible to timid characters.—But indeed, his affection for us has been the most frequent cause of risquing his safety; for he deems no attempt too hazardous, by which he can gratify a wish of my [136] mother, or a desire of my sister or myself."
— from The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 1 (of 4) by Jane Porter

He did not run now but walked quickly and with the utmost care over fallen tree-trunks and rocks, avoiding the paths and seeking the deep woods, still moving ever nearer to his goal.
— from Paradise Garden: The Satirical Narrative of a Great Experiment by George Gibbs

The number and importance of the Italian campaniles and the interest attaching to their origin and design, warrant a more extended notice than has been assigned them in the pages cited.
— from A Text-Book of the History of Architecture Seventh Edition, revised by A. D. F. (Alfred Dwight Foster) Hamlin

What had always struck me, when I reflected upon the situation of that extraordinary man (extraordinary, not through his genius, but through the circumstances which had combined to raise his mediocrity to so high a level), was the need which existed to feed his mind with [318] hope of some kind if we wished to keep him quiet.
— from The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville by Alexis de Tocqueville