For both in poetry and painting we demand the faithful mirror of life, of man, of the world, only made more clear by the representation, and more significant by the arrangement.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

Is there no lamp in my room again? Mrs. Stockmann.
— from An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

Christ commended those who "became eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" (Matt. xix. 12)—a custom requiring a murderous, self-butchering process; destructive of the energies of life and the vigor of manhood, and rendering the subject weak, effeminate, and mopish, and unfit for the business of life.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

I promised to rectify that mistake and in half an hour humbled my style to the comprehension of vulgar readers; he approved of the alteration, and gave me some hopes of succeeding in time, though he observed that my performance was very deficient in the quaintness of expression that pleases the multitude: however, to encourage me, he ventured the expense of printing and paper, and, if I remember aright, my share of the sale amounted to fourpence halfpenny.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

arista , f. , edge, groin, rib. armador , m. , ship-owner, ship-builder.
— from Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader by Ernesto Nelson

I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The noise of the heavy timber, stone, and merchandise wagons hastening out of the city before daybreak, [25] jarred the room, and made sleep almost impossible.
— from A Friend of Cæsar: A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. by William Stearns Davis

“Like as not, it never was hidden at Rose Acres, my sister’s letter to the contrary.
— from The Wishing Well by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt

Silence reigned in the lawyer's office for three minutes, when the door was reopened and Mose Spriggins' rubicund face once more adorned the apartment.
— from Marguerite Verne; Or, Scenes from Canadian Life by Rebecca Agatha Armour

2. To suggest to readers a more satisfactory way of considering what they read than that usually received.
— from Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre by Voltairine De Cleyre

If, under these circumstances, warm weather accompanied by rain occurs, the rain and melted snow are swiftly hurried to the bottom of the valleys and gathered to raging torrents.
— from Man and Nature; Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action by George P. (George Perkins) Marsh

When I struck the tree the breath was nearly knocked out of me, and it required all my strength to hold on.
— from The Scout and Ranger Being the Personal Adventures of Corporal Pike of the Fourth Ohio cavalry by James Pike

Lancetti remarks, "Francesco Ruggeri was a pupil of Niccolò Amati, and perhaps a more exact imitator of his instruments than G. B. Rogeri, and made several instruments, beautifully finished, and which are not easily distinguished from those of his master."
— from The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators by George Hart

The crash of rifles and muskets sank, but both sides were merely preparing for a new battle.
— from The Rulers of the Lakes: A Story of George and Champlain by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler