That is as good as wishing to know why man is here, and what his goal or his destiny is.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Then something began to hurt Mowgli inside him, as he had never been hurt in his life before, and he caught his breath and sobbed, and the tears ran down his face.
— from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

This lasted but a while, and I was turned and left to myself in heaviness, and weariness of my life, and irksomeness of myself, that scarcely I could have patience to live.
— from Revelations of Divine Love by of Norwich Julian

With old maids it has another and very different meaning.
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

Remember his resolute constancy in things that were done by him according to reason, his equability in all things, his sanctity; the cheerfulness of his countenance, his sweetness, and how free he was from all vainglory; how careful to come to the true and exact knowledge of matters in hand, and how he would by no means give over till he did fully, and plainly understand the whole state of the business; and how patiently, and without any contestation he would bear with them, that did unjustly condemn him: how he would never be over-hasty in anything, nor give ear to slanders and false accusations, but examine and observe with best diligence the several actions and dispositions of men.
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

As I gazed upon it I felt a spell of overpowering fascination—it was Mars, the god of war, and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of irresistible enchantment.
— from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Fairy, who was waiting at the door of the house, lifted the poor little Marionette in her arms, took him to a dainty room with mother-of-pearl walls, put him to bed, and sent immediately for the most famous doctors of the neighborhood to come to her.
— from The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

We may say without offence, that there rises a kind of universal Psalm out of this Shakspeare too; not unfit to make itself heard among the still more sacred Psalms.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

He melted into him and disappeared; and then there was a change, when his spirit began to look out of Wilhelm's eyes.
— from The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories by Mark Twain

You be better riz than me; though, let me tell you, too much emptins makes bread poor stuff, like baker's trash; and too much workin' up makes it hard and dry.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

She was just above the medium in height, athletic of figure; and she moved about with the unhurried swiftness of the born nurse.
— from Huts in Hell by Daniel A. (Daniel Alfred) Poling

“Perhaps I could do more in half an hour than your Patkul has done in a lifetime,” she said suddenly.
— from Kings-at-Arms by Marjorie Bowen

Meet me in half an hour at the three oaks, and I'll settle with you what's to be done."
— from The Hall and the Grange: A Novel by Archibald Marshall

Must I have a hen set on eggs to raise them?”
— from Natalie: A Garden Scout by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

The lady lay motionless in his arms, and I thought she was dead.
— from Fifty Years in Chains; or, the Life of an American Slave by Charles Ball

Pierce asked, making his needle gun vanish in the same smooth motion it had appeared, and indicating a phone sign.
— from The Man Who Staked the Stars by Katherine MacLean

So she went to her chamber, which her son Hephæstus had made for her, and opened the door with a private key, which she always kept by her, so that none might invade her apartment in her absence.
— from Stories from the Iliad by H. L. (Herbert Lord) Havell

This had indeed flattered me and, as I have confessed, I had also found in the glance from the eyes of some one of them promise of higher joy than my boy friendships could give me - but with a peculiar obstinacy inexplicable to myself, I had always repelled these approaches.
— from The Bride of Dreams by Frederik van Eeden

My nurse had me in her arms, walking back and forward on a balcony with a low railing, upon which opened the windows of the second story of my father's house.
— from The Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes: An Index of the Project Gutenberg Editions by Oliver Wendell Holmes

That the use of the Umbrella was considered far too effeminate for man, is seen from the following advertisement from the Female Tatler for December 12th, 1709:—"The young gentleman borrowing the Umbrella belonging to Wills' Coffee-house, in Cornhill, of the mistress, is hereby advertised, that to be dry from head to foot on the like occasion, he shall be welcome to the maid's pattens.
— from Umbrellas and Their History by William Sangster