A man, whose memory presents him with a lively image of the Red-Sea, and the Desert, and Jerusalem, and Galilee, can never doubt of any miraculous events, which are related either by Moses or the Evangelists.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

When "in his cups," Master Epps was a roystering, blustering, noisy fellow, whose chief delight was in dancing with his "niggers," or lashing them about the yard with his long whip, just for the pleasure of hearing them screech and scream, as the great welts were planted on their backs.
— from Twelve Years a Slave Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana by Solomon Northup

[ This legion, which had been weakened by many engagements, was afterwards recruited, and then called Gemina.
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus

But why was not man endued with a reason incapable of producing any crimes?
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

[1197] We shall not relate here all the mythical events which are represented successively.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim

But all of my own sex—especially one impostor, three or four years my elder, with a red whisker, on which he established an amount of presumption not to be endured—were my mortal foes.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

One day especially, in his wild, wicked, and mad career, after striking me several times with different things, and once across my mouth, even with a red burning stick out of the fire, he got a barrel of gunpowder on the deck, and swore that he would blow up the vessel.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written By Himself by Olaudah Equiano

Still more uncertain is a law of nations, ostensibly established upon statutes devised by ministers; for this amounts in fact to mere empty words, and rests on treaties which, in the very act of ratification, contain a secret reservation of the right to violate them.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant

I traveled with awful velocity for my errand was a race against time with death.
— from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Imagine yourself a man from Mars, coming down to a world with so many people in want, and finding whole classes of men forbidden to do any work, under penalty of disgrace, and compelled, in order to exercise their muscles, to pull on rubber straps and lift weights and wave dumb-bells and Indian clubs in the air—methods of expending their muscular energy which are respectable because they accomplish nothing!
— from The Book of Life by Upton Sinclair

When the Baron came out he took me on one side and told me everything was all right, and his friend was sure to get off.
— from The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix

Mrs. Eddy was a rare good listener.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 10 Little Journeys To The Homes Of Great Teachers by Elbert Hubbard

The tremendous and shocking fears of Captain Skevington recurred to me, and methought as I gazed at the silent, majestic seaman, that the late master of the Saracen who, by his ending, had shown himself a madman might, as had other insane persons in their time, have struck in one of his finer frenzies upon a horrible truth; the mere [155] fear of which caused me to press my hands to my eyes with a renewal of mental anguish, and to entreat in a swift prayer to that Being, whom he who stood before me had defied, for power to collect my mind and for quick deliverance from this awful situation.
— from The Death Ship: A Strange Story, Vol. 1 (of 3) by William Clark Russell

How much greater right have we to the imperial title, therefore, than the many who have been made emperor without any religious ceremony or holy rite being performed by a pope, being elected only by the senate and people of Rome, who had no regard for such holy rites?
— from A Source Book for Mediæval History Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age by Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph) Thatcher

Excuse my evill wryting, and read it over twise.
— from The Mystery of Mary Stuart by Andrew Lang

Among the most eager was a regiment of Georgians arrived but recently with the reinforcements.
— from The Scouts of Stonewall: The Story of the Great Valley Campaign by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

My dear Mr. Punch , Everyone—I mean everyone with a right mind—will sympathise with those nice people at Bristol who have been holding a "Woman's Conference."
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, November 19, 1892 by Various