Again he says: "Great merit, or great failings, will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or reflected, will make you either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world."
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

The contralto will not care to catechise the bass; the tenor will foresee no embarrassing dearth of remark in evenings spent with the lovely soprano.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

In certain localities, where trade has concentrated, the public fund has been increased by a considerable advance of rent to store keepers, but there is no exorbitant demand of rent for such favored places as there is with you.
— from The Man from Mars: His Morals, Politics and Religion by William Simpson

This depreciatory cenacle often reminded him that Icarus fell because he flew too near the sun; and [Pg 467] I am sure he did not even dream of replying, that if the sun melted Icarus's wings, it must have been because Icarus had false wings fastened on with wax, and that the eagle, which disappears in the flood of fiery rays sent forth by the god of day, never falls back on the earth as the victim of a similar accident.
— from My Memoirs, Vol. II, 1822 to 1825 by Alexandre Dumas

Naow, I says, an I ain't the on'y one in the caounty as says it, nuther, ez debts orter run daown same ez bills does, reglar, so much a month, till they ain't nuthin leff,” said Ezra Phelps, setting down his mug with an emphatic thud.
— from The Duke of Stockbridge: A Romance of Shays' Rebellion by Edward Bellamy

Do you think that the piety of a woman, brought up as she has been, in the true faith, is not even deserving of respect when she desires to practice it with all due fervour? Without beliefs and without faith, do you expect to govern the world or a family by the laws of an atheistical Utopia?”
— from Leon Roch: A Romance, vol. 1 (of 2) by Benito Pérez Galdós

Your love was but mortal, it could not endure disdain or ridicule; mine can endure all things without growing weaker, it will last eternally.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

But then, is not every disturbance of relations "ruthless," because it follows inexorable habits of Nature?
— from The Evil Eye, Thanatology, and Other Essays by Roswell Park

The hissing samovar, the tea-pot, the sugar, and the nearly empty decanter of rum stand on the low round table in the fast-being-gutted room.
— from Complete Plays of John Galsworthy by John Galsworthy

But you must not think of reproaching yourself for the step you have taken, nor even dream of retracing that step."
— from The Eddy: A Novel of To-day by Clarence Louis Cullen

[Taking up the nearly empty decanter of rum and going to the cupboard.]
— from Complete Plays of John Galsworthy by John Galsworthy