And let us, too, adhere to this rule of not thinking anything an evil which is a general provision of nature; and let us assure ourselves, that if death is an evil, it is an eternal evil, for death seems to be the end of a miserable life; but if death is a misery, there can be no end of that.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Re opitulandum non verbis —We should assist by deeds, not in words.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

So presently Miss Matty got into a nervously acquiescent state, and said “Yes,” and “Certainly,” at every pause, whether required or not;
— from Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

I must add, That she was, moreover, very well looked on at one large grange-house, and some other odd houses and farms within two or three miles, as I said, from the smoke of her own chimney:—But I must here, once for all, inform you, that all this will be more exactly delineated and explain'd in a map, now in the hands of the engraver, which, with many other pieces and developements of this work, will be added to the end of the twentieth volume,—not to swell the work,—I detest the thought of such a thing;—but by way of commentary, scholium, illustration, and key to such passages, incidents, or inuendos as shall be thought to be either of private interpretation, or of dark or doubtful meaning, after my life and my opinions shall have been read over (now don't forget the meaning of the word) by all the world;—which, betwixt you and me, and in spite of all the gentlemen-reviewers in Great Britain, and of all that their worships shall undertake to write or say to the contrary,—I am determined shall be the case.—I need not tell your worship, that all this is spoke in confidence.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Visitors going there recently on New Year’s Day were warned by the dervish in charge—‘Look through it at the water if you please, but do not essay to enter unless your consciences are completely free from sin, for as sure as you try to pass through with a taint upon your soul, you will be gripped by the rock and held there for ever.’
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

(*26) Another had such quickness of perception that he counted all the separate motions of an elastic body, while it was springing backward and forward at the rate of nine hundred millions of times in a second.’”
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

What she compelled herself to believe—what, finally, she reasoned upon as her motive for continuing a resident of New England—was half a truth, and half a self-delusion.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

In part the reading of newspapers, but partly also the unfortunate habit of our school teachers, compel children to the use of the imperfect, which has not an iota more justification than the perfect, and which people make use of under certain circumstances, i.e., when they are talking to educated people, and then only before they have reached a certain age.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

The close bands of cross-stitch must be divided from each other by one row of net bars.
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

He is said to have been the husband of Hersilia and the grandfather of Hostilius, who became king after the reign of Numa.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

All round the outside was a double row of natives, double torch-bearers, filling up the intervals between the sentries and the bands of the regiments stationed on each side of this stupendous marquee.
— from Recollections of a Peninsular Veteran by Joseph Jocelyn Anderson

Herein, not less than in the proper selection of his " Raw Material ," lies the skill of the Paper-maker, as, however good his " Material " may be, in its Raw or normal condition, it may be very easily spoilt in either of the processes of Boiling,—Bleaching,—or Pulping.
— from Bamboo, Considered as a Paper-making Material With remarks upon its cultivation and treatment. Supplemented by a consideration of the present position of the paper trade in relation to the supply of raw material. by Thomas Routledge

This act of the chiefs was looked upon as the very acme of heroic generosity; and certainly nothing more worthy of praise has been recorded of Ninco Nanco, the Brigand.
— from Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales by William Henry Giles Kingston

"I shall have to tell papa, you know; I couldn't take the responsibility of not telling him; but I won't speak till this press of work is over, because he is so tired, so you can be thinking how you will apologise to him."
— from What Necessity Knows by L. (Lily) Dougall

The ring of novelty was wanting to his ear.
— from The Camera Fiend by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung

Ragi o nát o , reasoned, discoursed, talked, spoken.
— from Queen Anna's New World of Words; or, Dictionarie of the Italian and English Tongues by John Florio

Even older nations are becoming tired of mere shows; and, certainly, the representatives of a republic ought not to begin to put on the finery which monarchies are beginning to cast off.
— from Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 by Harriet Beecher Stowe

My Brother ,—The administration of the realm of Naples is very bad.
— from Joseph Bonaparte Makers of History by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

Barbara is one of those people who do all things themselves, and rely on no one else.’
— from Eve: A Novel by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

There is no comment on this “seizure” by the state authorities, but more than three months afterward we shall find “civilization” waking up in wrath and fulminating thus: “All that the rebels of New Orleans wanted when they stole the mint was to be let alone.”
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 14, October 1871-March 1872 A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various