This intelligence, little though it affected me, save as it robbed my idleness of some plea of purpose, I took ill enough, rating my host like the angry boy I was, and dispraising the closeness of the ward upon our coasts, though I had formerly praised the same, and indeed had meant to enlarge with the captain upon this very theme.
— from Idonia: A Romance of Old London by Arthur Frederick Wallis

"No, I shall pursue it to its end," returns, he, with slow malice, that makes her heart grow cold, "until the day comes that shall enable me to plant my heel upon these aristocrats and crush them out of recognition."
— from Mrs. Geoffrey by Duchess

In asking their attention to the preceding remarks, and to those which I shall offer respecting combinations, I can claim only one advantage over them; namely, that I never have had, and in all human probability never shall have, the slightest pecuniary interest, to influence even remotely, or by anticipation, the judgements I have formed on the facts which have come before me.
— from On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures by Charles Babbage

That principle is that in every regularly documented merchant vessel the crew who navigate it and those on board of it will find their protection in the flag which is over them.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents

In this system six things are noteworthy: (1) Its comprehensiveness, in that it takes account of man's whole nature,—body, soul, and spirit; affections, intellect, and will, and of all his relations—to gods and men, to self and nature: (2) Its aimfulness, in that it promises happiness here and blessedness hereafter, as the reward of right living: (3) Its piety, in that it everywhere recognizes the need of divine assistance: (4) Its appreciation of science, as insight into the nature and grounds of multiplicity and unity: (5) Its stress laid on right doing, as the condition of right knowing: (6) Its belief in man's divinity and perfectibility.
— from Aristotle and Ancient Educational Ideals by Thomas Davidson

"This is the most painful intelligence that I ever received.
— from Elbow-Room: A Novel Without a Plot by Charles Heber Clark

Possibly, if this is ever read by any lady who has ever been in exactly the same position, she will understand why.
— from A Likely Story by William De Morgan