When I'm playful I use the meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude for a seine, and drag the Atlantic Ocean for whales!
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Looves, v. loof. Losh, a minced oath. Lough, a pond, a lake.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

The great distinction of language which had marked his famous Notes seemed to indicate a man of lofty and powerful imagination.
— from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes

They are a totality of more or less active personalities connected by common interests, in part by racial origin, and by a certain similarity of fundamental psychic traits.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

He was satisfied, without in the least being able to say why, that this young lady might roughly have ranked in the house as a poor relation; satisfied also that she was not there on a brief visit, but was more or less a part of the establishment—almost a working, a remunerated part.
— from The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James

When mention is made of Lydia and Phrygia
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon A revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations by J. B. (Joseph Barber) Lightfoot

Then too he censures the things and modes of life and persons that he knows his victim dislikes, while he praises those he fancies immoderately, overdoing it indeed 368 with his show of surprise and excessive admiration, making him more and more convinced that his likes and dislikes are the fruits of judgement and not of caprice.
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

I know that the sunlight can be made to lie, too, yet one felt that no manipulation of light and pose could have conveyed the delicate shade of truthfulness upon those features.
— from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

While, miserable greybeards, you, It is true, Contribute nothing of any importance whatever to our needs; But the treasure raised against the Medes You've squandered, and do nothing in return, save that you make Our lives and persons hazardous by some imbecile mistakes What can you answer? Now be careful, don't arouse my spite,
— from Lysistrata by Aristophanes

Though the representations in the works of Layard and Botta, combined with the presence of so many specimens in the great national museums of London and Paris, have produced a general familiarity with the subject, still, as a connected view of it in its several stages and branches is up to the present time a desideratum in our literature, it may not be superfluous here to attempt a brief account of the different classes into which their productions in this kind of art fall, and the different eras and styles under which they naturally range themselves.
— from The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 2: Assyria The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

It should be grown in a mixture of loam and peat, and may be increased by cuttings planted in sand under glass in a little heat.
— from Gardening for the Million by Alfred Pink

For my part, I entertain no doubt that, after repeated trials, it may one day be effected, by means of large animals possessing a great abundance of animal electricity.
— from An Account of the Late Improvements in Galvanism With a Series of Curious and Interesting Experiments Performed Before the Commissioners of the French National Institute, and Repeated Lately in the Anatomical Theatres of London by Giovanni Aldini

a head of imperial taxation, besides municipal or local and provincial cesses, which purchase such local advantages as roads, schools, police, and sanitary appliances.
— from Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 by James Kennedy

On leaving Dr. Phaar I returned to my old level and picked up a couple of Greek peasants who led me to their various haunts.
— from From Job to Job around the World by Alfred C. B. (Alfred Charles Benson) Fletcher

Useful Engineering Books Manufacturers, Agriculturists, Chemists, Engineers, Mechanics, Builders, men of leisure, and professional men, of all classes, need good books in the line of their respective callings.
— from Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 by Various

Possessed of an ample fortune, which Montagu was to inherit, he troubled himself with none of the deep mysteries of life, and: Pampered the coward heart With feelings all too delicate for use Nursing in some delicious solitude His dainty loves and slothful sympathies.
— from Eric, or Little by Little by F. W. (Frederic William) Farrar

“I perform but my orders, lady, and pray your forgiveness,” he answered, as he hurriedly performed the hell-invented task, and led her to the chair in the centre of the platform.
— from The Prime Minister by William Henry Giles Kingston

Those who come over hither to us from England, and some weak people among ourselves, whenever in discourse we make mention of liberty and property, shake their heads, and tell us, that Ireland is a "depending kingdom," as if they would seem, by this phrase, to intend that the people of Ireland is in some state of slavery or dependence different from those of England; Whereas a "depending kingdom" is a modern term of art, unknown, as I have heard, to all ancient civilians, and writers upon government; and Ireland is on the contrary called in some statutes an "imperial crown," as held only from God; which is as high a style as any kingdom is capable of receiving.
— from The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 06 The Drapier's Letters by Jonathan Swift