Without answering the young man, I began to pace up and down my room, and for a quarter of an hour I weighed the following question which I put to myself: Which decision will appear more manly in the eyes of my rival and will win my own esteem to the deeper degree, namely to accept coolly his offer to cut one another’s throats, or to allay his anxiety by withdrawing from the field with dignity?
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Accordingly, rudeness is a quality which, in point of honor, is a substitute for any other and outweighs them all.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: the Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer

His ideas began to grow confused once more; they assumed a kind of stupefied and mechanical quality which is peculiar to despair.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

It puts to rest many questions which he would otherwise be taxed to answer; while the only new question which it puts is the hard but superfluous one, how to spend it.
— from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Whether the alternatives expressed by such words have any pragmatic significance or not, is another question which I prefer to leave unsettled just now.
— from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James

And how can marriages be made most beneficial?—that is a question which I put to you, because I see in your house dogs for hunting, and of the nobler sort of birds not a few.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

Is it not worth while to raise the whole question whether in poetry and prose we should prefer sublimity accompanied by some faults, or a style which never rising above moderate excellence never stumbles and never requires correction?
— from On the Sublime by active 1st century Longinus

The officer gave me a full quittance, which I put in my pocketbook (this he let me keep out of his kindness), and then I followed him.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

We talked of employment being absolutely necessary to preserve the mind from wearying and growing fretful, especially in those who have a tendency to melancholy; and I mentioned to him a saying which somebody had related of an American savage, who, when an European was expatiating on all the advantages of money, put this question: 'Will it purchase OCCUPATION?' JOHNSON.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

" "No, it seemed to be all still and quiet when I passed through it.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The first land explorer of the territory now called Queensland, was, in point of time, Allan Cunningham, botanist, explorer, and collector for the Royal Gardens at Kew, who arrived in New South Wales in 1816.
— from Early Days in North Queensland by Edward Palmer

We talked of employment being absolutely necessary to preserve the mind from wearying and growing fretful, especially in those who have a tendency to melancholy; and I mentioned to him a saying which somebody had related of an American savage, who, when an European was expatiating on all the advantages of money, put this question: 'Will it purchase occupation ?'
— from Life of Johnson, Volume 3 1776-1780 by James Boswell

"Our Queen was in Pyrmont for her illness caused by the death of little Prince Ferdinand, and it was decided upon before her return.
— from Two Royal Foes by Eva Annie Madden

Mary's commissioners did not so far excuse him; they [276] accused him boldly of complicity with Bothwell and the murderers, and of being on the most friendly terms with Bothwell whilst the marriage with the queen was in progress.
— from Cassell's History of England, Vol. 2 (of 8) From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion by Anonymous

In a calm, golden light my eager river quarrelled with its peace.
— from Henry Brocken His Travels and Adventures in the Rich, Strange, Scarce-Imaginable Regions of Romance by Walter De la Mare

That this is not a proper time for this inquiry has been, indeed, urged, but surely no time can be more proper than when we may, by a resolution unanimously passed, regulate, in some degree, the conduct of the other house, and faint to them the opinion of this assembly on a question which is, perhaps, to-morrow to be brought before them.
— from The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Volume 10 Parlimentary Debates I by Samuel Johnson

Q. What is pessimism?
— from Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, May 27, 1893 by Various

Vanderveer's opening address appears in part below: May it please the court and gentlemen of the jury:--As you have already sensed from our examination of you and from a question which I propounded to counsel at the close of his statement yesterday, the big question in this case is, who was the aggressor, who started the battle?
— from The Centralia Conspiracy by Ralph Chaplin

“Here, you take hold of the chain, and I will coax the dog to be quiet while I put Jacko on his back.”
— from Minnie's Pet Monkey by Madeline Leslie

But here again Lee counted upon his adversary's character, for he directed the troops that remained in the trenches to keep up a continuous feint of attacking the Union left wing, in the hope that this show of force would cause McClellan to look to his safety in that quarter, which is precisely what he did.
— from On the Trail of Grant and Lee by Frederick Trevor Hill