Moreover, those who are not well skilled in a language present some image of this; for in Italy I said whatever I had a mind to in common discourse, but in more serious talk, I durst not have trusted myself with an idiom that I could not wind and turn out of its ordinary pace; I would have a power of introducing something of my own.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

The complaints I have heard of you I do not all believe; 'tis my slowness that I do not, for I know you lack not folly to commit them and have ability enough to make such knaveries yours.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

Many Soldiers THE idea danced before us as a flag; The sound of martial music; The thrill of carrying a gun; Advancement in the world on coming home; A glint of glory, wrath for foes; A dream of duty to country or to God.
— from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

He turned away, colored, and muttered something that I did not understand; but the whole was a full acknowledgment of the fact.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs by John Foxe

Then the old man spoke thus in deep accents: 'How, had they seen the gloves
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil

Dílì ku makigsúud sa tabian, I don’t want to be intimate with a gossip.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

[Wadley] my Cousin Purfey of Calcott my Cousin Hales of Coventry my Nephew Bradshaw of Orton twenty shillings a piece for a small remembrance to Mr. Whitehall Rector of Cherkby myne own Chamber Fellow twenty shillings I desire my Brother George and my Cosen Purfey of Calcott to be the Overseers of this part of my Will I give moreover five pounds to make a small Monument for my Mother where she is buried in London to my Brother Jackson forty shillings to my Servant John Upton forty shillings besides his former Annuity if he be my Servant till I die if he be till then my Servant
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

He would not let me have one for my share; though I do not think I could have eaten it if he had, I was so much frightened, and so surprised at him for stealing all your fruit.
— from The Apricot Tree by Unknown

There along the ground lay the monster, shrivelled, twisted in dismal coils, and dead.
— from The Dragon of Wantley: His Tale by Owen Wister

" "Once and for the last time, let me say that I do not acknowledge you as my father.
— from Young Captain Jack; Or, The Son of a Soldier by Alger, Horatio, Jr.

To my surprise he followed me out of the station and kept by my side, though I did not encourage him.
— from Chance: A Tale in Two Parts by Joseph Conrad

"Nothing could be more suitable than—" "I don't intend to marry anybody until I'm thirty at least, so that ends it, daddy,—I mean, your poor old highness."
— from The Prince of Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon

“It’s a queer business indeed,” said Gimblet, “and I’m afraid it looks stranger every minute, and very much more serious than it did at first.
— from Mrs. Vanderstein's jewels by Bryce, Charles, Mrs.

Nobody wishes more sincerely than I do to see the States, individually as well as collectively, extricate themselves from their debts.
— from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 2 (of 9) Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private by Thomas Jefferson

Throughout, the English sought only to erect the building then most suitable to its destination, with the best materials available for the purpose; and the result is therefore generally more satisfactory and more harmonious than in other countries where the architects were more trammelled by precedents, or more influenced by local peculiarities. 337 CHRONOLOGY.
— from A History of Architecture in All Countries, Volume 2, 3rd ed. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by James Fergusson