For if it be unlawful to follow Christ for loaves, (as it is in the sixth of John), how much more abominable is it to make of him and religion a stalking-horse to get and enjoy the world!
— from The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come Delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John Bunyan by John Bunyan

I shall always consider the conduct of Mrs. Bridget (Lady Lyndon’s favourite maid at this juncture) as a masterpiece of ingenuity: and, indeed, had such an opinion of her diplomatic skill, that the very instant I became master of the Lyndon estates, and paid her the promised sum—I am a man of honour, and rather than not keep my word with the woman, I raised the money of the Jews, at an exorbitant interest—as soon, I say, as I achieved my triumph, I took Mrs. Bridget by the hand, and said, “Madam, you have shown such unexampled fidelity in my service that I am glad to reward you, according to my promise; but you have given proofs of such extraordinary cleverness and dissimulation, that I must decline keeping you in Lady Lyndon’s establishment, and beg you will leave it this very day:” which she did, and went over to the Tiptoff faction, and has abused me ever since.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

I then set a couple of men to pounding of charcoal to form a composition with some beeswax which we have and buffaloe tallow now my only hope and resource for paying my boat; I sincerely hope it may answer yet
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

‘And don’t argue against me any more: all you can say has been already said by my own heart and refuted by my reason.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

They are made of herbs and roots, fitted for the disease, and members afflicted, being chopped small, and boiled in water almost to a jelly; then by adding a little barleymeal, or meal of lupins, and a little oil, or rough sweet suet, which I hold to be better, spread upon a cloth and apply to the grieved places.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

Don Quixote thanked them for their advice and for the disposition they showed to do him a favour, and said that for the present he would not, and must not go to Seville until he had cleared all these mountains of highwaymen and robbers, of whom report said they were full.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

I could not find words to express what I felt upon this unexpected and very great mark of his affectionate regard.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

But the Secretary was a vegetarian, and he spoke earnestly of the projected murder over half a raw tomato and three quarters of a glass of tepid water.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

990 Nor shall I count it hainous to enjoy The public marks of honour and reward Conferr'd upon me, for the piety Which to my countrey I was judg'd to have shewn.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

I came in here just now, and I knowed in a minute that wife, there, was goin' to accuse me of havin' a round with Sam and Bob, but I pledge you my word that I didn't.
— from The Jucklins: A Novel by Opie Percival Read

There were not many methods of revenge open to a man of his age, rheumatic and stiff in one arm; but he tried to enlist and was rejected.
— from Clerambault: The Story of an Independent Spirit During the War by Romain Rolland

Thomas Baldwin , Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire.
— from The different modes of cultivating the pine-apple From its first introduction into Europe to the late improvements of T.A. Knight, esq. by J. C. (John Claudius) Loudon

CHAPTER X The long, summer months dragged their length for Miss Lady, months of heartache and rebellion, of loneliness and tears.
— from A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice

Showing method of hoisting and reefing matting sails.
— from The Book of the Ocean by Ernest Ingersoll

The road was a narrow track through the snow, yellow with horse-dung, and a mass of holes and ruts, worn by his own teams that had hauled their heavy loads of cement this way all through that winter and the last, up to the plateau and across the frozen lakes to Besna.
— from The Great Hunger by Johan Bojer

It was not till he arrived at the glorious old town of Nuremberg that he gained the mastery over himself, and rested his weary feet; and here he remained.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

At least a dozen more were men of high and remarkable talents, Lyly, Peele, Greene, Marston, Ford, Heywood, Shirley, Tourneur, Kyd, Day, Rowley, Brome.
— from The Connecticut Wits, and Other Essays by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers

Having selected a Mark [85] by which his work could be [132] identified, he could then take his kit of tools and travel as a Master of his art, receiving the wages of a Master—not, however, without first reaffirming his vows of honesty, truthfulness, fidelity, temperance, and chastity, and assuming added obligations to uphold the honor of the order.
— from The Builders: A Story and Study of Masonry by Joseph Fort Newton

A well-loaded gun, a sure aim, and a few months of hiding among relatives and friends until the vigilance of the emissaries of the law had subsided was the rule with them.
— from The Mountain Girl by Payne Erskine