Traditions the most picturesque, episodes the most pathetic, local associations teeming with the thoughts of gods and great men, may crowd in one mighty vision, or reveal themselves in more substantial forms to the mind of the poet; but, except the power to create a grand whole, to which these shall be but as details and embellishments, be present, we shall have nought but a scrap-book, a parterre filled with flowers and weeds strangling each other in their wild redundancy: we shall have a cento of rags and tatters, which will require little acuteness to detect.
— from The Iliad by Homer

and narrow leaved, Mountain and Cretick Poley, Knotgrass, Golden Maidenhair, Poplar leaves and buds, Leeks, Purslain, Silverweed, or wild Tansy, Horehound white and black, Primroses, Self-heal, Field Pellitory, or Sneezewort, Pennyroyal, Fleabane, Lungwort, Winter-green, Oak leaves and buds, Docks, common rue, Wall Rue or white Maidenhair, wild Rue, Savin, Osier Leaves, Garden Sage the greater and lesser, Wild Sage, Elder leaves and buds, Marjorum, Burnet, Sanicle, Sopewort, Savory, White Saxifrage, Scabious, Chicory, Schœnanth, Clary, Scordium, Figwort, Houseleek, or Sengreen
— 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

In the midst of this confusion, and with my precious little Addie lying insensible on a pillow at the foot of my bed—expected at every moment to breathe her last—on the night of the 26th of August the boy I had so ardently coveted was born.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

Yes; let all men perish, let all gods cease to exist, let the stars that shine above grow dim, let all seas be dried up, let all mountains be levelled to the ground, let wars rage, blood flow in streams, let millions of millions of Hariśchandras be [ 43 ] thus persecuted; yet let Truth be maintained—let Truth ride victorious over all—let Truth be the light—Truth the guide—Truth alone the lasting solace of mortals and immortals.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

‘Unworthiness for her only, mind, sir,’ resumed Mr. Pickwick; ‘for to show that I was not wholly unworthy, sir, I should take a brief review of my past life, and present condition.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

“I recalled by the way that it was three weeks since I had visited my Petersburg lady, and thought that a passing love affair would come in very appropriately for me just now.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

I laid there, and had a good rest and a smoke out of my pipe, looking away into the sky; not a cloud in it.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Early activity may prevent late and fruitless violence.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

' The Huntsman, with a Tenderness that spoke the most passionate Love, and with his Cheek close to hers, whispered the softest Vows of Fidelity in her Ear, and cried, 'Don't, my Dear, believe a Word Kate Willow says; she is spiteful and makes Stories, because she loves to hear me talk to her self for your sake.'
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

Then after a pause she said: “He is no more....” Pierre looked at her over his spectacles.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

And so in my misery I let the days go by without wearing myself out still more by idle effort, stupidly resigned To drift on my path, like a wind-wafted leaf, O’er the gulfs of the desolate sea.
— from My Experiences in a Lunatic Asylum By a Sane Patient by Herman Charles Merivale

After about two years an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the old thought of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head: my patron lying at home longer than usual without fitting out his ship, which, as I heard, was for want of money, he used constantly, once or twice a week, sometimes oftener, if the weather was fair, to take the ship's pinnace, and go out into the road a-fishing; and as he always took me and a young Maresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and I proved [page 19] very dexterous in catching fish; insomuch that sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsmen, and the youth the Maresco, as they called him, to catch a dish of fish for him.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808) by Daniel Defoe

Am I standing in my post like a good soldier?
— from The Old Helmet, Volume II by Susan Warner

per annum; or he may purchase largely at the markets, and engage youths to sell his surplus stock at half profits.
— from London Labour and the London Poor (Vol. 1 of 4) by Henry Mayhew

He walked round my place, looked at everything with the most scrupulous attention, stammered out a few complimentary phrases, and then, looking at his friend for assistance, tried to come to the point, but failed.
— from A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee

Despite his real indolence, [Pg 243] his wisdom, his fundamental honesty, and his readiness to shield his subordinates and to assume responsibility himself have made this quiet and unobtrusive man the most prominent leader among the Chinese militarists.
— from An American Diplomat in China by Paul S. (Paul Samuel) Reinsch

Menstruation, pregnancy, lactation, all draw upon the stores of lime, sometimes depleting them to the point of softening of the bones and wrecking the whole skeleton.
— from The Glands Regulating Personality A Study of the Glands of Internal Secretion in Relation to the Types of Human Nature by Louis Berman

“I’ve punished him, of course,” said Mr. Povey, like a god who is above human weaknesses.
— from The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett