“They take great pleasure in fools, and as it is thought a base and unbecoming thing to use them ill, so they do not think it amiss for people to divert themselves with their folly; and, in their opinion, this is a great advantage to the fools themselves; for if men were so sullen and severe as not at all to please themselves with their ridiculous behaviour and foolish sayings, which is all that they can do to recommend themselves to others, it could not be expected that they would be so well provided for nor so tenderly used as they must otherwise be.
— from Utopia by More, Thomas, Saint

Again, of duties, some are always such, and some are not always.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

"O, drunkards in my cellar, Boys in my apple tree, The world grows stern and strange and new, And wise men shall govern you, And you shall weep for me.
— from The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

And this is the reason why in our State, and in our State only, we shall find a shoemaker to be a shoemaker and not a pilot also, and a husbandman to be a husbandman and not a dicast also, and a soldier a soldier and not a trader also, and the same throughout?
— from The Republic by Plato

“You are very lucky if you see anything such a night as this,” said Porthos.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

The badge of the eldest son of the Sovereign, as such, and not as Prince of Wales, is the plume of three ostrich feathers, enfiled with the circlet from his coronet.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

But when from a passing sentiment it came to be an act; and when, by a positive testamentary disposal, his remains were actually carried all that way from England; who was there, some desperate sentimentalists excepted, that did not ask the question, Why could not his lordship have found a spot as solitary, a nook as romantic, a tree as green and pendent, with a stream as emblematic to his purpose, in Surrey, in Dorset, or in Devon?
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

Will he kill me by the most painful, cruel, lingering death?”—“Pooh! pooh!” cries the squire; “all stuff and nonsense; all maidenish tricks.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Up this side street the last sunset light shone as sharp and narrow as the shaft of artificial light at the theatre.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

The dull thud of hoofs made itself felt as a continuous undertone to the clatter of stirrup and sabre, and now and again rose the stirring mandate of the trumpet, with that majestic, sweet sweep of sound which so thrills the senses.
— from The Raid of The Guerilla, and Other Stories by Mary Noailles Murfree

She looked at me very steadily, and said as nearly as I can quote her words: 'I really don't know exactly when I began, but I suppose a long time ago, when I wore brown feathers, and went to sleep with my head under my wing, as all nightingales do.'
— from Infelice by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

Injuries resulting from corrosive liquids such as sulphuric acid, nitric acid, caustic potash, carbolic acid, [348] etc., are properly termed burns.
— from Anatomy and Embalming A Treatise on the Science and Art of Embalming, the Latest and Most Successful Methods of Treatment and the General Anatomy Relating to this Subject by Albert John Nunnamaker

Die Jesum Christum, deinen Sohn, Stuerzen wollen von deinem Thron. 44 Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word; Curb those who fain by craft or sword Would wrest the kingdom from Thy Son, And set at naught all He hath done.
— from Hymnological Studies by Matthew Nathanael Lundquist

Maybe if she had been down here with specialists and surgeons and nurses and all she would 'a' been saved.
— from Sundry Accounts by Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb

When the naming ceremony is concluded, the officiating priest reads a service, in order to inform the patron deity of the place or of the family of the birth of a baby, and of the fact that that baby has received such and such a name, and praying that the baby shall be taken under the protection of that patron deity.
— from Three Years in Tibet by Ekai Kawaguchi

Many critics contend that socialism and supernaturalism are not, as I represent, incompatibilities; but they lose sight of four facts: (1) this is a scientific age; (2) Marxian socialism is one of the sciences; (3) the vast majority of men of science reject all supernaturalism, including of course the gods and devils with their heavens and hells, and (4) only in the case of one of the sciences, psychology, is this majority greater than in the science of sociology.
— from Communism and Christianism Analyzed and Contrasted from the Marxian and Darwinian Points of View by William Montgomery Brown

But a man is what he is A stew's a stew, and not a boiling to shreds A marriage without love is dishonour A plunge into the deep is of little moment A sixpence kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged A man to be trusted with the keys of anything A free-thinker startles him as a kind of demon A female free-thinker is one of Satan's concubines A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help it A man who rejected medicine in extremity A lady's company-smile A country of compromise goes to pieces at the first cannon-shot A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart A whisper of cajolery in season is often the secret A superior position was offered her by her being silent A contented Irishman scarcely seems my countryman Abject sense of the lack of a circumference Above all things I detest the writing for money Above Nature, I tell him, or, we shall be very much below Absolute freedom could be the worst of perils Accidents are the specific for averting the maladies of age Accounting his tight blue tail coat and brass buttons a victory Accounting for it, is not the same as excusing Accustomed to be paid for by his country Acting is not of the high class which conceals the art Active despair is a passion that must be superseded Add on a tired pipe after dark, and a sound sleep to follow Adept in the lie implied Admirable scruples of an inveterate borrower Admiration of an enemy or oppressor doing great deeds Admires a girl when there's no married woman or widow in sight Adversary at once offensive and helpless provokes brutality Advised not to push at a shut gate Affected misapprehensions Affectedly gentle and unusually roundabout opening After forty, men have married their habits After five years of marriage, and twelve of friendship After a big blow, a very little one scarcely counts Agostino was enjoying the smoke of paper cigarettes Ah!
— from Quotes and Images From The Works of George Meredith by George Meredith