A circumstance from which we may conclude, that the invaders entertained some designs of settlement as well as of plunder; since even in a naval expedition, they were accompanied by their families.
— 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

What a bank can with propriety advance to a merchant or undertaker of any kind, is not either the whole capital with which he trades, or even any considerable part of that capital; but that part of it only which he would otherwise be obliged to keep by him unemployed and in ready money, for answering occasional demands.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be useless.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

Nay, even this we must not carry so far as to imagine, that one, whom, by our quickness of understanding, we conjecture, from certain signs, to have an intention of deceiving us, is not bound by his expression or verbal promise, if we accept of it; but must limit this conclusion to those cases, where the signs are of a different kind from those of deceit.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

We said nothing except that we were tired and wanted to go to bed.
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw

I have not enumerated the ways in which every rook shall be protected by another rook.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now—nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom.
— from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

After which, he went on to tell Ni Erh the whole affair with Pu Shih-jen.
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

As we leave New England, therefore, we find that the importance of the town is gradually transferred to the county, which becomes the centre of administration, and the intermediate power between the government and the citizen.
— from American Institutions and Their Influence by Alexis de Tocqueville

At the same time, buffets with pieces of fowl and fountains of wine attracted an immense crowd to the chief squares of each of the twelve municipalities of Paris, almost every individual of which had his share in the distribution of eatables, thanks to the precaution which the authorities took of distributing to none except those who presented tickets.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon by Various

It needs not even the weight of a footfall to impress material of temper so soft as this.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 01, April to September, 1865 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by Various

I lay with my eyes closed for some time after Pentridge had gone out, thinking over the irony of the situation; for I called to mind our conversation in the garden, and how the position was now exactly that which I had laughingly conjured up.
— from A Veldt Vendetta by Bertram Mitford

"Will ... do you mean to tell me that you never encouraged this woman?"
— from My Actor-Husband: A true story of American stage life by Anonymous

And face to face (For nothing else there was between or near)
— from The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Vol 1 and 2 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The poor child, Peggy, had sucked in disease and nourishment together, and now even that wretched source had failed—the breast was cold that had afforded the scanty support; and the little innocent smiled, unconscious of its misery.
— from Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories by Mary Wollstonecraft

He was free even from the ordinary obligations, for nobody expected the workman to make or keep a contract for his services after it became inconvenient to him.
— from The Cup of Fury: A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Rupert Hughes

what a narrow escape!" They were now opposite the sheriff, and still drifting with the current, though held back by the turning of the screw.
— from Chums in Dixie; or, The Strange Cruise of a Motorboat by St. George Rathborne