[ 291 ] The inhabitants of these small and ramshackle villages are shy and timid, though in olden days they would have been dangerous to the Trobrianders.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

There were golden handmaids also who worked for him, and were like real young women, with sense and reason, voice also and strength, and all the learning of the immortals; these busied themselves as the king bade them, while he drew near to Thetis, seated her upon a goodly seat, and took her hand in his own, saying, "Why have you come to our house, Thetis honoured and ever welcome—for you do not visit us often?
— from The Iliad by Homer

The severe and restrictive virtues are almost too costly for humanity.
— 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.

This sharp vivacity of soul, and the supple and restless volubility attending it, disturb our negotiations.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

It was such a real voice and it seemed so natural that he should hear it.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The flowers are small and white, growing on long branches, with much smaller and rounder vessels after them, and parted in the same manner, having smaller brown seeds than the former, and much sharper in taste.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

[686] qui Consilio nititur plus hostibus nocet, quam qui sini animi ratione, viribus : And in such wars to abstain as much as is possible from [687] depopulations, burning of towns, massacring of infants, &c. For defensive wars, I will have forces still ready at a small warning, by land and sea, a prepared navy, soldiers in procinctu, et quam [688] Bonfinius apud Hungaros suos vult, virgam ferream , and money, which is nerves belli , still in a readiness, and a sufficient revenue, a third part as in old
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

A Polish count, aged eighteen, devoted himself to the ladies, who pronounced him, 'a fascinating dear', and a German Serene Something, having come to supper alone, roamed vaguely about, seeking what he might devour.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Magnam vim esse in fortuna in utramque partem, vel secundas ad res vel adversas, quis ignorat?
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

At this the Baron began to swear and rave, vowing all manner of punishments for the Friar,—all of which, however, only made Tuck fall a-laughing.
— from Legends of Longdendale Being a series of tales founded upon the folk-lore of Longdendale Valley and its neighbourhood by Thomas C. (Thomas Cooke) Middleton

After asking several and receiving various answers he called to his officer, “Captain, they all don’t tote it.”
— from Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment by John G. B. (John Gregory Bishop) Adams

Captain Oliver again thanked him for his kindness to us, and then took occasion to express his regret that he should ever be engaged in deeds of which the English could not approve, such as robbing vessels and knocking their crews on the head, or sending them overboard.
— from Ben Burton: Born and Bred at Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

It is also evident that Japan has a more equable and probably moister climate than the opposite shores of China, and has also a very different geological character, being rocky and broken, often volcanic, and supporting a rich, varied, and peculiar vegetation.
— from The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 1 With a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surface by Alfred Russel Wallace

Men and women, especially the latter, flock to the temples, which at other seasons are rarely visited, and burn incense before the image of their favourite saint or deity; religious processions are held—a great source of delight to the children, who are given an opportunity of "dressing up"; and thousands of fire-crackers are exploded in the temple courtyards.
— from Lion and Dragon in Northern China by Johnston, Reginald Fleming, Sir

“The half-hour has passed,” said a rough voice at the door.
— from The Last Abbot of Glastonbury: A Tale of the Dissolution of the Monasteries by A. D. (Augustine David) Crake

One day in a week, she sets aside both for them and herself to work for the poor, whom she also regularly visits at their own cottages, two evenings in the week; for she says it would be troublesome and look ostentatious to have her father's doors crowded with poor people, neither could she get at their wants and their characters half so well as by going herself to their own houses.
— from Coelebs In Search of a Wife by Hannah More

In addition to the routes to freedom which the seacoast and river valleys afforded, the Appalachian chain of mountains formed an attractive highway of escape from slavery, though these mountain paths lead us to another branch of our subject not immediately connected with the Underground Railroad—the escape from bondage by the initiative of the slaves themselves or by the aid of their own people.
— from The Anti-Slavery Crusade: A Chronicle of the Gathering Storm by Jesse Macy