This is how luxury acquires its power and makes us love what is rare and costly; this so-called beauty consists, not in following nature, but in disobeying her.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

And now, reader, I come to a period in my unhappy life, which I would gladly forget if I could.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. (Harriet Ann) Jacobs

“This was just how I used to shudder and blush, thinking myself utterly lost, when I was plucked in physics and did not get my remove; and how I thought myself utterly ruined after I had mismanaged that affair of my sister’s that was entrusted to me.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

My beard I had once suffered to grow till it was about a quarter of a yard long; but as I had both scissors and razors sufficient, I had cut it pretty short, except what grew on my upper lip, which I had trimmed into a large pair of Mahometan whiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks at Sallee, for the Moors did not wear such, though the Turks did; of these moustachios, or whiskers, I will not say they were long enough to hang my hat upon them, but they were of a length and shape monstrous enough, and such as in England would have passed for frightful.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

My beard I had once suffered to grow till it was about a quarter of a yard long; but as I had both scissars and razors sufficient, I had cut it pretty short, except what grew on my upper lip, which I had trimmed into a large pair of Mahometan whiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks at Sallee; for the Moors did not wear such, though the Turks did: of these mustachios or whiskers, I will not say they were long enough to hang my hat upon them, but they were of a length and shape monstrous enough, and such as, in England, would have passed for frightful.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, Volume 1 With an Account of His Travels Round Three Parts of the Globe, Written By Himself, in Two Volumes by Daniel Defoe

No important statement contained therein has been or ever will be successfully controverted because the facts stated are derived from books contained in my unique library, which includes works that must have belonged to a distinguished Rosicrucian who was well acquainted with the secrets of Bacon's authorship.
— from The Shakespeare Myth by Durning-Lawrence, Edwin, Sir

In a short time, my father turned and said,—'During your absence, Mr. Almont, my daughter has received a most unaccountable letter which I wish to read to you, hoping you may be able to explain it.'
— from The Path of Duty, and Other Stories by Harriet S. Caswell

The most unintellectual little woman in the world has brains enough to look up in your face sweetly, and breathe out something that sounds like 'beautiful—charming—so clever,' vaguely sketching the outline of a hymn of praise to which your own vanity supplies the versicles.
— from The Girl of the Period, and Other Social Essays, Vol. 1 (of 2) by E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn) Linton

As I rode along I practised pulling at the wicks of my upper lip, where I was persuaded that my moustache was certainly beginning to grow apace.
— from The Grey Man by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

The shameful Order in Council of July 9, 1864, is quite sufficient proof that the trial and condemnation of my unfortunate lieutenant was illegal; every British officer who committed a breach of neutrality by assisting the Imperialists was equally liable to prosecution.
— from Ti-Ping Tien-Kwoh: The History of the Ti-Ping Revolution (Volume II) by Augustus F. Lindley

I agreed to this, and the result you see; but there was no question of a forced marriage until lately, when it was rendered necessary to mislead Caliphronas, out of policy.
— from The Island of Fantasy: A Romance by Fergus Hume