I do not know whether my young man will be any the less amiable for not having learnt to copy conventional manners and to feign sentiments which are not his own; that does not concern me at present, I only know he will be more affectionate; and I find it difficult to believe that he, who cares for nobody but himself, can so far disguise his true feelings as to please as readily as he who finds fresh happiness for himself in his affection for others.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

By the advice, and in the company, of her spiritual guide, Paula abandoned Rome and her infant son; retired to the holy village of Bethlem; founded a hospital and four monasteries; and acquired, by her alms and penance, an eminent and conspicuous station in the Catholic church.
— 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

With Orsino, Montoni was frequently closeted for hours together, and, whatever might be the business, upon which they consulted, it appeared to be of consequence, since Montoni often sacrificed to it his favourite passion for play, and remained at home the whole night.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

The three made a noticeable group on the station; the girl in her fur cap and tippet and her olive green costume, pale, tense with youth, isolated, unyielding; the soldierly young man in a crush hat and a heavy overcoat, his face rather pale and reserved above his purple scarf, his whole figure neutral; then the elder man, a fashionable bowler hat pressed low over his dark brows, his face warm-coloured and calm, his whole figure curiously suggestive of full-blooded indifference; he was the eternal audience, the chorus, the spectator at the drama; in his own life he would have no drama.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

He was tall, broad, thick; his gold-rimmed spectacles were engulfed in the folds of his long face; his hair was a tossed mass of greasy blackness; he puffed and rumbled as he talked; his Phi Beta Kappa key shone against a spotty black vest; he smelled of old pipes; he was altogether funereal and archidiaconal; and to real-estate brokerage and the jobbing of bathroom-fixtures he added an aroma of sanctity.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

Every one may juggle his part, and represent an honest man upon the stage: but within, and in his own bosom, where all may do as they list, where all is concealed, to be regular, there’s the point.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

At last he felt that he must give up his position as rabbi, and he retired, not without much opposition, to Berlin, where he spent his whole time in the closest study of the Word of God.
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

Though I was sensible I had said as many clever things to the commissary as came to six livres four sous, yet I was determined to note down the imposition amongst my remarks before I retired from the place; so putting my hand into my coat-pocket for my remarks—(which, by the bye, may be a caution to travellers to take a little more care of their remarks for the future) 'my remarks were stolen'—Never did sorry traveller make such a pother and racket about his remarks as I did about mine, upon the occasion.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

225 Of these, the Marcomanni are the most powerful and renowned; and have even acquired the country which they inhabit, by their valor in expelling the Boii.
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus

And the unhappy woman explained that to earn her living she had to accept an inferior position as reader and housekeeper to a rich lady."
— from The Exploits of Juve Being the Second of the Series of the "Fantômas" Detective Tales by Pierre Souvestre

At any rate, he was for a time very ill of pneumonia, and received all his nourishment from my hand.
— from Memories A Record of Personal Experience and Adventure During Four Years of War by Fannie A. Beers

The Virginia Convention which passed the ordinance of secession (April 17) having appointed a committee to wait upon the President and "respectfully ask him to communicate to this Convention the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate States," Lincoln in reply 319 thus clearly outlined the policy and purposes of the Government: In answer I have to say, that having at the beginning of my official term expressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with deep regret and mortification I now learn there is great and injurious uncertainty in the public mind as to what that policy is and what course I intend to pursue.
— from The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln A Narrative And Descriptive Biography With Pen-Pictures And Personal Recollections By Those Who Knew Him by Francis F. (Francis Fisher) Browne

Proteus was courting Silvia, and he was so much ashamed of being caught by his friend that he was all at once seized with penitence and remorse; and he expressed such a lively sorrow for the injuries he had done to Valentine that Valentine, whose nature was noble and generous, even to a romantic degree, not only forgave and restored him to his former place in his friendship, but in a sudden flight of heroism he said: “I freely do forgive you; and all the interest I have in Silvia I give it up to you.”
— from Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb

And what more natural that eventually he came to attribute to the sun and the moon personalities as real as his own?
— from Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

"I ask the question just to clear the ground," said the professor after a short pause, and rising as he spoke.
— from The Master Detective: Being Some Further Investigations of Christopher Quarles by Percy James Brebner

They were polite and refined, and had given me their intimacy voluntarily and without reserve.
— from Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by Nathaniel Parker Willis