In vain are we loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow-citizens; in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and commerce.
— from The Jewish State by Theodor Herzl

But is it reason that, being so particular in my way of living, I should pretend to recommend myself to the public knowledge?
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Some say that he was contemporary with Iphitus, and with him settled the conditions of the Olympic truce; and among these is Aristotle the philosopher, who adduces as a proof of it the quoit which is at Olympia, on which the name of Lykurgus is still preserved.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

Depressed at her isolation, she saw not only houses and furniture, but the vessel of life itself slipping past her, with people like Evie and Mr. Cahill on board.
— from Howards End by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

2 the heady wine of love in sexual pleasure (literary).
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

The lodging was rather confined as to space, but I fancied that if Mrs. Jellyby's household had been the only lodgers in Saint Paul's or Saint Peter's, the sole advantage they would have found in the size of the building would have been its affording a great deal of room to be dirty in.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

They have shown themselves capable of leadership in social, political, and scientific matters; a great many develop wide intellectual interests and manifest keen mental powers.
— from An American Diplomat in China by Paul S. (Paul Samuel) Reinsch

We spend a goodly portion of our lives in seeking places where silence is not.
— from The Treasure of the Humble by Maurice Maeterlinck

Whereas, by the provisions of an act approved February sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, entitled 'An act to amend an act entitled "An act for the collection of direct taxes in insurrectionary districts within the United States, and for other purposes," approved June seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,' certain lands in the parishes of Saint Helena and Saint Luke, South Carolina, were bid in by the United States at public tax sales, and, by the limitation of said act, the time of redemption of said lands has expired; and whereas, in accordance with instructions issued by President Lincoln on the sixteenth day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, to the United States direct tax commissioners for South Carolina, certain lands bid in by the United States in the parish of Saint Helena, in said State, were in part sold by the said tax commissioners to 'heads of families of the African race,' in parcels of not more than twenty acres to each purchaser; and whereas, under the said instructions, the said tax commissioners did also set apart as 'school-farms' certain parcels of land in said parish, numbered in their plats from one to sixty-three inclusive, making an aggregate of six thousand acres, more or less: Therefore, be it further enacted , That the sales made to 'heads of families of the African race,' under the instructions of President Lincoln to the United States direct tax commissioners for South Carolina, of date of September sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, are hereby confirmed and established; and all leases which have been made to such 'heads of families' by said direct tax commissioners shall be changed into certificates of sale in all cases wherein the lease provides for such substitution; and all the lands now remaining unsold, which come within the same designation, being eight thousand acres, more or less, shall be disposed of according to said instructions.
— from History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States by William Horatio Barnes

What Mr. Wright means by saying that ‘it was similar to that used at a later period in the courts of law’ is somewhat puzzling.
— from Mediæval London, Volume 1: Historical & Social by Walter Besant

Beyond the fence was a strip of land, in some parts over a mile broad, in others not much over a quarter of a mile, which he claimed as belonging to Gangoil, but over which the Brownbies had driven their cattle since the fence had been made, under the pretense that the fence marked the boundary of two runs.
— from Harry Heathcote of Gangoil: A Tale of Australian Bush-Life by Anthony Trollope

It is a great pity that our language is so poor in the terminations that denote gender.
— from The Comic English Grammar: A New And Facetious Introduction To The English Tongue by Percival Leigh

[Pg 132] to fathom, and then he becomes a Georg Brandes, a great interpreter of the literatures of the world; his own literature is so Puritanical, so religious and chaste that there is hardly a single love song to be found therein, and then comes a Heinrich Heine.
— from Discourses of Keidansky by Bernard G. Richards

Severity he had been used to of late, I saw plainly.
— from Sea and Shore A Sequel to "Miriam's Memoirs" by Catherine A. (Catherine Ann) Warfield

There also seems to be a doubling of lines in some parts, such as the "J" in "A. J. Hidell," and the upper area also of "A. J. Hidell."
— from Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15) by United States. Warren Commission