The plague, the famine, the earthquake, the tempest were too spasmodic in their action; the tiger and crocodile were too easily satiated and not cruel enough: something more constantly, more ruthlessly, more ingeniously destructive was needed; and that something was Man, the inventor of the rack, the stake, the gallows, and the electrocutor; of the sword and gun; above all, of justice, duty, patriotism and all the other isms by which even those who are clever enough to be humanely disposed are persuaded to become the most destructive of all the destroyers.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw

And this body will be beautiful if the lines which compose its surface are not continued, even so varied, in a manner that may weary or dissipate the attention.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

In company with his brother Louis, now a sub-lieutenant of artillery, he set sail on the 3rd March 1795, and came near to being captured, two of the ships carrying the soldiers falling prey to the “ravening wolves of the sea,” as Napoleon called English sailors.
— from The Story of Napoleon by Harold Wheeler

‘He is a man of fine moral elements, sir, and not commonly endowed,’ said the war correspondent.
— from Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

“Do I look like the bogie man, who lives in the woods and comes to steal away naughty children?” Eunice shook her head.
— from The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires; Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail by Laura Dent Crane

Cecilia is too stupid, and no counterpart ever seems to come to her.
— from Sister Teresa by George Moore

As the chief spoke he held up before the council a shred of a silk kerchief, such as none, certainly, except she whom they sought, was likely to have worn in that region.
— from The Prairie-Bird by Murray, Charles Augustus, Sir

The plague, the famine, the earthquake, the tempest were too spasmodic in their action; the tiger and the crocodile were too easily satiated and not cruel enough; something more constantly, more ruthlessly, more ingeniously destructive was needed; and that something was Man, the inventor of the rack, the stake, the gallows and the executioner; of the sword and gun; above all, of justice, duty, patriotism, and all the other isms by which even those clever enough to be humanely disposed are persuaded to become the most destructive of all destroyers.
— from Six Major Prophets by Edwin E. (Edwin Emery) Slosson

And are you not an hour washing yourself in a morning, and don’t you go through ceremonies such as no Christian ever saw?
— from Tour in England, Ireland, and France, in the years 1826, 1827, 1828 and 1829. with remarks on the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and anecdotes of distiguished public characters. In a series of letters by a German Prince. by Pückler-Muskau, Hermann, Fürst von

These objects may be briefly described as being the reconciling the vested and chartered interests of the Company with the legitimate authority of the King's government; for, though Pitt admitted that "state necessity" might occasionally be allowed as a valid reason for the abrogation of a charter, he affirmed that nothing short of such absolute necessity could excuse such a measure, and he relied on the previous history of the Company to prove the fallacy of an observation that had sometimes been made, that commercial companies could not govern empires.
— from The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Charles Duke Yonge