Why, of course, so unprepared as I was, without a stick of furniture, and hardly a shilling, I shouldn't have hurried on our affair, and brought you to a half-furnished hut before I was ready, if it had not been for the news you gave me, which made it necessary to save you, ready or no… Good God!"
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

This it is, which in the state of nature, takes the place of laws, customs, and virtues, with the added advantage that no one will be tempted to disobey its gentle voice; this it is, which will restrain every able-bodied savage, provided he hope to find his own livelihood elsewhere, from robbing a weak child, or depriving an infirm old man of the subsistence won by hard toil; this it is, which inspires all men, not indeed with that sublime maxim of reasoned justice: "Do to others as you would they should do unto you;" but with another rule of natural goodness, no doubt less perfect, but perhaps more useful, namely: "Do what is good for yourself with the least possible harm to others."
— from The Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer

" Charles agreed, but declared his resolution of not going away.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen

Kryukov looked at him again, then deliberately drew out a drawer in the table, and taking out a thick roll of notes, gave it to his cousin.
— from The Duel and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Office in it, being the reward of no great distinction, brings no great honour, and being meanly paid it brings no great profit, at least while honestly administered.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

Ráma's dear friend, renowned by fame, Who of Nisháda lineage came, Guha, the mighty chief, adored Through all the land as sovereign lord, Soon as he heard that prince renowned Was resting on Nisháda ground, Begirt by counsellor and peer
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Their arrival made a considerable sensation in local society, and took place shortly before their relation, our new governor’s wife, made her long-expected appearance.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

—In contrast with other conceptions of progress is that of Dewey, who emphasizes science and social control, or, as he puts it, the "problem of discovering the needs and capacities of collective human nature as we find it aggregated in racial or national groups on the surface of the globe."
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

Mr. Bradley gathered a suitable retinue of native guides, and we were not long in arranging a compact.
— from My Attainment of the Pole Being the Record of the Expedition That First Reached the Boreal Center, 1907-1909. With the Final Summary of the Polar Controversy by Frederick Albert Cook

So I reasoned that we had to collect quick or run the risk of never getting a nickel.”
— from Children of the Whirlwind by Leroy Scott

Willis's Isle is an high rock of no great extent, near to which are some rocky islets.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15 Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present Time by Robert Kerr

It is situate in a hollow or dell, between the mighty Slioch (on the north) and a ridge of no great height stretching between the secluded plateau where Smiorsair nestles and Loch Maree.
— from Gairloch in North-West Ross-Shire Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History, with a Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree, and a Map and Illustrations by John H. (John Henry) Dixon

Lost in the ghastly realms of native ghostlore, he ignored the American.
— from Terry A Tale of the Hill People by Charles Goff Thomson

The latter had evidently feared a revelation of his supposed misconduct to Madame Granson; and Suzanne, at the risk of not getting a penny from the society, was possessed with the desire, on leaving Alencon, of entangling the old bachelor in the inextricable meshes of a provincial slander.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

But what had offended “these blessed brethren,” the English followers of Luther, was that “I have not hesitated to say, what I also take for the very truth, that as this realm of England has, God be thanked, as good and praiseworthy a temporality, number for number, as any other Christian country of equal number has had, so has it had also, number for number, compared with any other realm of no greater number in Christendom, as good and as commendable a clergy.
— from The Eve of the Reformation Studies in the Religious Life and Thought of the English people in the Period Preceding the Rejection of the Roman jurisdiction by Henry VIII by Francis Aidan Gasquet

He is the temperate and valiant and wise; and when his riches come and go, when his children are given and taken away, he will remember the proverb—"Neither rejoicing overmuch nor grieving overmuch," for he relies upon himself.
— from Menexenus by Plato

Had royal or noble gossips, and a splendid entertainment attended his christening, it might have been pointed to with pride; but so obscure was his birth, that it has not been discovered that he was christened at all; while the fact of his new birth by the Holy Ghost is known over the whole world to the vast extent that his writings have been circulated.
— from Works of John Bunyan — Volume 01 by John Bunyan