and to whom I fling my utter contempt for the calumny and hatred with which they have subsequently pursued me.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

I was prevented by my unfortunate condition from immolating the victim on the altar of love, so we confined ourselves to a make-believe combat which only lasted a minute; however, our eyes took in it, and our excited feelings were by no means appeased.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Notwithstanding all I have just said, you can easily imagine that, in spite of my utter contempt for all gossiping fools, I cannot openly defy them.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

She was well aware that she must ultimately come forward, and stand revealed in her proper individuality; but, like other sensitive persons, she could not bear to be observed in the gradual process, and chose rather to flash forth on the world's astonished gaze at once.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I have still less patience to undergo the troublesome and painful care therein required; and the most uneasy condition for me is to be suspended on urgent occasions, and to be agitated betwixt hope and fear.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

My uncle collected for Tiggin and Welps, but for a long time he went pretty near the same journey as Tom; and the very first night they met, my uncle took a fancy for Tom, and Tom took a fancy for my uncle.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

And I require you not to reject my useful considerations for his specious ones: his speech may have the attraction of seeming the more just in your present temper against Mitylene; but we are not in a court of justice, but in a political assembly; and the question is not justice, but how to make the Mitylenians useful to Athens.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

The latter of these historians has been most unjustly censured for sparing the vices of Maximin.]
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

We corresponded with great regularity, and the most unbounded confidence, for the space of two years, when he arrived at Lyons in his way home.
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney

You will please sign your name under them and give the paper to Mr Sigglesthorne, who is acting for me in this matter, as I am unable to come and visit you myself owing to my urgent call from home.
— from The Girls of Chequertrees by Marion St. John Webb

I am a most unhappy creature forced by circumstances to be your enemy, for a time—not always.
— from Wylder's Hand by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Socks and stockings are, at the present time, the most usual coverings for the lower parts of the legs, and there is at least one vestige which remains in their structure that has an interest for us.
— from The Heritage of Dress: Being Notes on the History and Evolution of Clothes by Wilfred Mark Webb

I think this ship might use cold fusion for power, but I can't know for sure until I can read this stuff, or see it in action."
— from The Runaway Asteroid by Michael D. Cooper

What tries to make us care for each other and prevent harm being done to one another can't be very far wrong and what tries to break down the state of affairs that is must be a little right.
— from The Workingman's Paradise: An Australian Labour Novel by John Miller

His shaggy little horse was as dusty in hue as his own coat,--a most unusual color for coat of either Russian horse or izvostchik .
— from Russian Rambles by Isabel Florence Hapgood

Still another metal, used chiefly for casting pieces that have letters and figures for printing, is similar to the standard type metal—5 parts lead and 1 part antimony; but if there are teeth cast on the sides of the printing wheel a harder mixture will be required to give longer life to the gears.
— from Die Casting: Dies—Machines—Methods by Chester L. Lucas

To protect the slashing from fire, therefore, both preserves the most unfavorable conditions for fir and subjects it to unnecessary competition by its rival.
— from Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest Protecting Existing Forests and Growing New Ones, from the Standpoint of the Public and That of the Lumberman, with an Outline of Technical Methods by E. T. (Edward Tyson) Allen

Thus the army loses an element of refinement, and the moneyed upper class forgets what it is to count heroism among its virtues.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 11, September, 1858 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Into the street the piper stept, Smiling first a little smile, As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while; And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered, You heard as if an army muttered; And the muttering grew to a grumbling, And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling, And out of the houses the rats came tumbling,— Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats, Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Families by tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives,— Followed the piper for their lives.
— from Evolution of Expression — Volume 1 by Charles Wesley Emerson