—— ——In a fortnight or three weeks, added my uncle Toby, smiling,——he might march.——He will never march; an’ please your honour, in this world, said the corporal:——He will march; said my uncle Toby, rising up from the side of the bed, with one shoe off:——An’ please your honour, said the corporal, he will never march but to his grave:——He shall march, cried my uncle Toby, marching the foot which had a shoe on, though without advance- 154 ing an inch,—he shall march to his regiment.——He cannot stand it, said the corporal;——He shall be supported, said my uncle Toby; ——He’ll drop at last, said the corporal, and what will become of his boy?——He shall not drop, said my uncle Toby, firmly.——A-well-o’day,—do what we can for him, said Trim, maintaining his point,—the poor soul will die:——He shall not die, by G—, cried my uncle Toby.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

That we are ignorant, then, that we are dwelling in its hollows, and imagine that we inhabit the upper parts of the earth, just as if any one dwelling in the bottom of the sea should think that he dwelt on the sea, and, beholding the sun and the other stars through the water, should imagine that the sea was the heavens; but, through sloth and weakness, should never have reached the surface of the sea; nor, having emerged and risen up from the sea to this region, have seen how much more pure and more beautiful it is than the place where he is, nor has heard of it from any one else who has seen it.
— from Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Plato

And therefore would they still in darkness be, To have their unseen sin remain untold; For they their guilt with weeping will unfold, And grave, like water that doth eat in steel, Upon my cheeks what helpless shame I feel.'
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

When they are desirous of arming their disciples against the fear of death, they inculcate, as an obvious, though melancholy position, that the fatal stroke of our dissolution releases us from the calamities of life; and that those can no longer suffer, who no longer exist.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

I had resolved to love you no more; I considered I had made a vow, taken the veil, and am as it were dead and buried; yet there rises unexpectedly from the bottom of my heart a passion which triumphs over all these notions, and darkens all my reason and devotion.
— from Letters of Abelard and Heloise To which is prefix'd a particular account of their lives, amours, and misfortunes by Héloïse

Yea, by a strong arm He rescued us from the lawless tyranny of Darkness, removed us from the land of our bondage, and settled us as free citizens in our new and glorious home, where His Son, the offspring and the representative of His love, is King; even the same, who paid our ransom and thus procured our redemption from captivity—our redemption, which (be assured) is nothing else than the remission of our sins.’
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon A revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations by J. B. (Joseph Barber) Lightfoot

“But what are you going to do to repay us for the past?” inquired the man who had before spoken, and who seemed to be a baker or miller.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

But they did not know what endless misery he had brought upon other countries, nor did they hear the sighs and lamentations which rose up from the debris of the destroyed cities.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

What would sacrifice be but a risky investment if it did not redeem us from the love of those things which it asks us to surrender?
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

Thus far, the parts of the Western Coasts have been distinguished by little else than the dates and limits of their discovery; for, in fact, this is all that has reached us from these early navigators.
— from A Voyage to Terra Australis — Volume 1 Undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802 and 1803, in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland schooner by Matthew Flinders

Fire-dogs, with little or no ornament, were also used in kitchens, with ratcheted uprights for the spits.
— from The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg

As Balāhaka presented each by name, they bowed, bending low their heads, which showed the glow of loyalty under the guise of the rays uprising from the rubies in their waving crests, and which, from their having buds held up in adoration, were like lotuses resting on the water in the pitchers of coronation.
— from The Kādambarī of Bāṇa by Bāṇa‏

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law"(1) said the Gospel of the uncircumcision.
— from Supernatural Religion, Vol. 3 (of 3) An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation by Walter Richard Cassels

In the dusk a tattered little figure rose up from the weeds across the way, and stole noiselessly after William.
— from The Gentleman from Indiana by Booth Tarkington

It was the Aurora Borealis, just risen up for the winter season out of the freezing seas of the north, where every autumn vapour was now undergoing rapid congelation.
— from Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy

They know not from their own experience how the crinoline relieves us from the weight of many under-skirts, and prevents them from clinging to us while walking, and they have never felt the comfortable support of a well-made corset.
— from The Corset and the Crinoline A Book of Modes and Costumes from Remote Periods to the Present Time by William Barry Lord

I see the smoke rolling up from the house."
— from The Adventures of Uncle Jeremiah and Family at the Great Fair Their Observations and Triumphs by C. M. (Charles McClellan) Stevens

It does not end when the SOS signals have been answered by hours of bombardment, but goes on again to keep German roads under fire, to smother their back areas, to batter their gun positions.
— from From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 by Philip Gibbs

Nevertheless, I stole furtive glances behind me now and then to see that no avenging mate, older and bigger than my quarry, was racing up from the rear.
— from My Ántonia by Willa Cather