Stupendous mountains encompassed me, abysses yawned at my feet, and cataracts fell headlong down before me; impetuous rivers rolled through the plain, and rocks and mountains resounded from afar.
— from The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

He touched it once more, wishing us a good journey; and we left him standing on the pavement, as respectable a mystery as any pyramid in Egypt.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

He is entertained there by Polyxenus and receives a mixing bowl as a gift; the story of Trophonius and Agamedes and Augeas then follows.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod

In His Own Dominions From this consolidation of the Right Politique, and Ecclesiastique in Christian Soveraigns, it is evident, they have all manner of Power over their Subjects, that can be given to man, for the government of mens externall actions, both in Policy, and Religion; and may make such Laws, as themselves shall judge fittest, for the government of their own Subjects, both as they are the Common-wealth, and as they are the Church: for both State, and Church are the same men.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

It is a protest against reading a moral order of things in life.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Whether the supposed word in l. 2, “barathris,” (if really the correct reading), means the depths of hell, or the inner folds of the leaves in which the Butterfly is enveloped in the chrysalis state, or whether it means something else, will probably always remain a matter of doubt.
— from The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes by Phaedrus

He wanted to get me home, he said, to have me all to himself, and to see me safely installed as the mistress of Grassdale Manor, just as single-minded, as naïve, and piquante as I was; and as if I had been some frail butterfly, he expressed himself fearful of rubbing the silver off my wings by bringing me into contact with society, especially that of Paris and Rome; and, more-over, he did not scruple to tell me that there were ladies in both places that would tear his eyes out if they happened to meet him with me.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

He was given a sentence of thirty years (by Judge Carson), as a sort of expression of opinion of the most Christian attitude possible concerning his real deserts, but his services as state’s evidence entitled him to immunity, and for that very good and sufficient reason Judge Carson, Prosecuting Attorney Ross, and myself so recommended to the Governor.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

“With pleasure,” I replied; and I felt a thrill of artist-delight at the idea of copying from so perfect and radiant a model.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

In the North of England there was formerly a curious process of divination in the case of a person bewitched:—A black hen was stolen, the heart taken out, stuck full of pins, and roasted at midnight.
— from Domestic folk-lore by T. F. (Thomas Firminger) Thiselton-Dyer

Keith paused and reflected a moment, then held out his hand.
— from Gordon Keith by Thomas Nelson Page

As the race advances, it does not lose its place, but beside it ascend other functions, first and most essential that of love or wifehood, and afterwards that of polishing and refining a mixed society.
— from Women of India by Otto Rothfield

Franklin replied: "If we plant and reap, and must not ship, your lordship should apply to Parliament for transports to bring us all back again."
— from Benjamin Franklin by John Torrey Morse

Property, a refuge a man may call his own, and on which he may express his individuality, is essential to happiness and self-respect.
— from Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Winston Churchill by Winston Churchill

He is a Liberal in politics and religion, a man of great reason and of great heart.
— from A Trip to Cuba by Julia Ward Howe

Their great passions are rare as masterpieces.
— from Ferragus, Chief of the Dévorants by Honoré de Balzac

He took the whole number at a certain fixed price all round, and made what he could out of them.
— from The Amateur Poacher by Richard Jefferies

The Saracens, who had not been unkind to the pilgrims, were subdued by a much fiercer set of Mahometans, the Turcomans, who did everything to profane the holy places, and robbed and misused the Christians who came to worship there.
— from The Chosen People: A Compendium of Sacred and Church History for School-Children by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge