I remember gravely consulting you how we were to receive her—for Will's wife was in no case to be rejected; and your no less serious replication in the matter; how tenderly you advised an abstemious introduction of literary topics before the lady, with a caution not to be too forward in bringing on the carpet matters more within the sphere of her intelligence; your deliberate judgment, or rather wise suspension of sentence, how far jacks, and spits, and mops, could with propriety be introduced as subjects; whether the conscious avoiding of all such matters in discourse would not have a worse look than the taking of them casually in our way; in what manner we should carry ourselves to our maid Becky, Mrs. William Weatherall being by; whether we should show more delicacy, and a truer sense of respect for Will's wife, by treating Becky with our customary chiding before her, or by an unusual deferential civility paid to Becky as to a person of great worth, but thrown by the caprice of fate into a humble station.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

And as these events must be set down as fabulous, they leave the mind in doubt with respect to the fact of the crucifixion itself, especially when the many absurdities involved in the doctrine of the crucifixion are brought to view, in connection with it, some of them so palpably erroneous that an unlettered savage could see and point them out.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

It will seem to some that morality is dealt with somewhat cavalierly throughout the two books; but, in this respect, it should not be forgotten that Nietzsche not only made a firm stand in favour of exceptional men, but that he also believed that any morality is nothing more than a mere system of valuations which are determined by the conditions in which a given species lives.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Whenever I saw occasion, or could do it without appearing to be intrusive, I joined their parties, and gave my opinion upon the matter in discussion, which, if not always judicious, was always received indulgently.
— from Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey

This, the only true religion, has alone been able to manifest that the gods of the nations are most impure demons, who desire to be thought gods, availing themselves of the names of certain defunct souls, or the appearance of mundane creatures, and with proud impurity rejoicing in things most base and infamous, as though in divine honours, and envying human souls their conversion to the true God.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

Up to the present they have compromised themselves with me; I doubt whether the future will improve them.
— from Ecce Homo Complete Works, Volume Seventeen by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Musik ist die wahre allgemeine Menschensprache —Music is the true universal speech of mankind.
— 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.

Well might I dread, well might I dislike Mrs. Reed; for it was her nature to wound me cruelly; never was I happy in her presence; however carefully I obeyed, however strenuously I strove to please her, my efforts were still repulsed and repaid by such sentences as the above.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

After the war with Japan in 1894 reforms were seriously undertaken, with the result that the army has now been modernized in dress, weapons, tactics, etc., and is by no means a negligible quantity in the world’s fighting forces.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner

A man had just accosted the street urchin, and the man was no other than Montparnasse in disguise, with blue spectacles, but recognizable to Gavroche.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

From 1827, under the direction of Scholtz, who followed Niedermayer, the manufactory began to decline, and what with economy, indifferent workmen, and bad artists copying from French models its doom was sealed.
— from The Collector's Handbook to Keramics of the Renaissance and Modern Periods by William Chaffers

He was a firm, able, conscientious man, rather too masterful in dealing with his followers, and prone to command rather than to persuade.
— from A History of England Eleventh Edition by Charles Oman

But tell me, Anaxagoras, if this marriage is declined, who will protect the daughter of Alcimenes when you are gone?"
— from Philothea: A Grecian Romance by Lydia Maria Child

Dem's mighty fine nigger dogs, or dey never follor me into de water.
— from Watch and Wait; or, The Young Fugitives by Oliver Optic

After the death of Henry VII, however, the vicomte took little part in public affairs, spending most of his time at Tiverton Manor, in Devon, where, surrounded by their numerous progeny, he and Matthiette grew old together in peace and concord.
— from The Line of Love; Dizain des Mariages by James Branch Cabell

" Can't yer stop ter kerchy, and say—Lud-o'-light 'n' massy, I donno what to tell ye ter say!"
— from A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life. by A. D. T. (Adeline Dutton Train) Whitney

"But I don't like artificial things, monsieur; I detest what is false!
— from Monsieur Cherami by Paul de Kock

I most humbly beg your Pardon, Sir, for the Disorder of this Letter, surrounded as I am by many in Distress, who from one instant to the other are applying to me either for Advice or Shelter.
— from Lady Good-for-Nothing: A Man's Portrait of a Woman by Arthur Quiller-Couch

My mother never made a missionary speech in her life, and at a missionary [89] meeting I doubt whether she could have got enough courage to vote aye or no, but she raised her son John, who has been preaching the Gospel and translating religious literature in Amoy, China, for about forty years.
— from The Wedding Ring A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those Contemplating Matrimony by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage