“Well, then, sleep in peace, and put your trust in the Lord.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Having been at home, or at least guests, in many realms of the spirit, having escaped again and again from the gloomy, agreeable nooks in which preferences and prejudices, youth, origin, the accident of men and books, or even the weariness of travel seemed to confine us, full of malice against the seductions of dependency which he concealed in honours, money, positions, or exaltation of the senses, grateful even for distress and the vicissitudes of illness, because they always free us from some rule, and its "prejudice," grateful to the God, devil, sheep, and worm in us, inquisitive to a fault, investigators to the point of cruelty, with unhesitating fingers for the intangible, with teeth and stomachs for the most indigestible, ready for any business that requires sagacity and acute senses, ready for every adventure, owing to an excess of "free will", with anterior and posterior souls, into the ultimate intentions of which it is difficult to pry, with foregrounds and backgrounds to the end of which no foot may run, hidden ones under the mantles of light, appropriators, although we resemble heirs and spendthrifts, arrangers and collectors from morning till night, misers of our wealth and our full-crammed drawers, economical in learning and forgetting, inventive in scheming, sometimes proud of tables of categories, sometimes pedants, sometimes night-owls of work even in full day, yea, if necessary, even scarecrows—and it is necessary nowadays, that is to say, inasmuch as we are the born, sworn, jealous friends of SOLITUDE, of our own profoundest midnight and midday solitude—such kind of men are we, we free spirits!
— from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many, and his oddities were freely forgiven for his sake.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

C H A P. XIX W HEN we arrived at the chaise-vamper’s house, both the house and the shop were shut up; it was the eighth of September, the nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God— ——Tantarra - ra - tan - tivi —— the whole world was gone out a May-poling—frisking here—capering there——no body cared a button for me or my remarks; so I sat me down upon a bench by the door, philosophating upon my 53 condition: by a better fate than usually attends me, I had not waited half an hour, when the mistress came in to take the papilliotes from off her hair, before she went to the May-poles—— The French women, by the bye, love May-poles, à la folie —that is, as much as their matins——give ’em but a May-pole, whether in May, June, July or September —they never count the times——down it goes——’tis meat, drink, washing, and lodging to ’em——and had we but the policy, an’ please your worships (as wood is a little scarce in France ), to send them but plenty of May-poles—— The women would set them up; and when they had done, they would dance round them (and the men for company) till they were all blind.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

She scorned to patch and paint, yet she loved to keep her hands and her face clean.
— from The History of John Bull by John Arbuthnot

Why, it seems only yesterday that I was buttoning Amy's pinafore, and pulling your hair when you teased.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you; and I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women- as I perceive by your simp'ring none of you hates them- that between you and the women the play may please.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

And though it is impossible actually to have at the same time the sensations of pain and pleasure; yet after a little time the man is sorry for having been pleased, and he could wish that those objects had not given him pleasure; for the wicked are full of remorse.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

It related to a very pretty and plaintive young woman who visited the Chamber of Horrors early on the morning that a certain criminal with many aliases was executed.
— from The Romance of Madame Tussaud's by John Theodore Tussaud

Those who may be curious to know the different impressions and variations of Rembrandt’s plates, and their respective rarity and value, will find information in the catalogue of his works, first published by Gersaint, at Paris, and P. Yver, at Amsterdam; which was afterwards enlarged by our countryman Dalby, and has since been added to in a publication by Adam Bartset, printed at Vienna in 1797.
— from The Gallery of Portraits: with Memoirs. Volume 3 (of 7) by Arthur Thomas Malkin

Would a thousand dollars per annum provide you with such a hireling?
— from Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea by Marion Harland

You will not of course be so rude as to dig in the earth with your feet, or take your penknife from your pocket and pair your nails; but there are a great many other little movements which are scarcely less clownish. 7. Never anticipate for another, or help him out , as it is called.
— from The Young Man's Guide by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

De nuestros bienes franquezas; Ellas nos hacen poner A procurar y querer Las virtudes y noblezas.
— from History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 1 of 2) by Friedrich Bouterwek

At the time this institution was organized, near a quarter century ago, it would probably have been thought extravagant to anticipate for this period such an addition to its business as has been produced by the vast increase of those sales during the past and present years.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents

“That you give me the full and absolute command of this party, and pledge your honor, as French soldiers, to obey me in every thing, till the day we arrive at the head-quarters of a French corps.”
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol IV. No. XX. January, 1852. by Various

With every wish, in this book of Gossip, to steer as clear of politics as possible, yet it would belie its name were the famous trial of Daniel O’Connell not to be mentioned.
— from Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign by John Ashton

Now to give all the internal power and poetry, yet preserve all the external simplicity and homeliness of the character,—to give all the abandon , yet preserve all the delicacy,—to give the delicacy, yet keep clear of all super-refinement, and in the concentrated despair of her last scene (where she poisons herself) to be calm without being cold, and profoundly tragic without the usual tragedy airs, must be difficult—exceedingly difficult; in short, to play Clärchen, as I conceive the character ought to be played, would require a young actress, uniting sufficient genius to conceive it aright, with sufficient delicacy and judgment not to colour it too highly: there was no danger of the latter mistake with Mademoiselle Schöller, in whose hands Clärchen became a mere pretty affectionate girl.
— from Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad, Vol. 1 (of 3) With Tales and Miscellanies Now First Collected by Mrs. (Anna) Jameson