The old lady submitted to this piece of practical politeness with all the dignity which befitted so important and serious a solemnity, but the younger ladies, not being so thoroughly imbued with a superstitious veneration for the custom, or imagining that the value of a salute is very much enhanced if it cost a little trouble to obtain it, screamed and struggled, and ran into corners, and threatened and remonstrated, and did everything but leave the room, until some of the less adventurous gentlemen were on the point of desisting, when they all at once found it useless to resist any longer, and submitted to be kissed with a good grace.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Let our artists rather be those who are gifted to discern the true nature of the beautiful and graceful; then will our youth dwell in a land of health, amid fair sights and sounds, and receive the good in everything; and beauty, the effluence of fair works, shall flow into the eye and ear, like a health-giving breeze from a purer region, and insensibly draw the soul from earliest years into likeness and sympathy with the beauty of reason.
— from The Republic by Plato

Hegel's success against sentimentality and romantic idealism was already a sign of its fatalistic trend of thought, in its belief that superior reason belongs to the triumphant side, and in its justification of the actual "state" (in the place of "humanity," etc.).—Schopenhauer: we are something foolish, and at the best self-suppressive.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

When they had taken this resolution, they came out of their trenches, but could no way sustain the fight, being too much disabled, both in mind and body, and having not room to exert themselves, and thought it an advantage to be killed, and a misery to survive; so at the first onset there fell about seven thousand of them, after which stroke they let all the courage they had put on before fall, and stood amazed at Herod's warlike spirit under his own calamities; so for the future they yielded, and made him ruler of their nation; whereupon he was greatly elevated at so seasonable a success, and returned home, taking great authority upon him, on account of so bold and glorious an expedition as he had made.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

At last I resolved to confide in a renegade, a native of Murcia, who professed a very great friendship for me, and had given pledges that bound him to keep any secret I might entrust to him; for it is the custom with some renegades, when they intend to return to Christian territory, to carry about them certificates from captives of mark testifying, in whatever form they can, that such and such a renegade is a worthy man who has always shown kindness to Christians, and is anxious to escape on the first opportunity that may present itself.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The rest of the guests (an old tutor or schoolmaster, goodness knows why invited; a young man, very timid, and shy and silent; a rather loud woman of about forty, apparently an actress; and a very pretty, well-dressed German lady who hardly said a word all the evening) not only had no gift for enlivening the proceedings, but hardly knew what to say for themselves when addressed.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

At Hobart Town he started a studio, and returned to sketching and portrait-painting, and his conversation and manners seem not to have lost their charm.
— from Intentions by Oscar Wilde

Well, thou shalt see; thy eyes shall be thy judge, The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio:— What, Jessica!—Thou shalt not gormandize, As thou hast done with me;—What, Jessica!— And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out— Why, Jessica, I say!
— from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

In 1669 full stops after slip and rock me and no stop after troubles 3 Rock] rock 1669 4 my MSS. : thy 1669 6 asleep] all sleap B 9 golden-mouth'd] gold-mouth'd B , S 14 still] still.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

In platter or basket for all to admire, Or hung on strings before the fire, There to swing and sputter and roast, While many an one of the merry host Gives a tender thought to that first Willie-wee Who went as a sailor-boy over the sea.
— from Christmas Carols and Midsummer Songs by Various

Her sailors and soldiers are ready, aye ready, And will fight for old England, again and again.
— from A Soldier's Experience; or, A Voice from the Ranks Showing the Cost of War in Blood and Treasure. A Personal Narrative of the Crimean Campaign, from the Standpoint of the Ranks; the Indian Mutiny, and Some of its Atrocities; the Afghan Campaigns of 1863 by T. (Timothy) Gowing

The hero goes forth to shoot and sees a royal stag, but whenever he raises his gun to fire the animal changes into a woman.
— from Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, Bisclaveret: Four lais rendered into English prose by Marie, de France, active 12th century

Some of these changes, such as shyness and reticence, may be the cause of considerable suffering to the girl and a perplexity to her elders, but on the whole they are comparatively easy of comprehension, and are more likely to elicit sympathy and kindness than blame.
— from Youth and Sex: Dangers and Safeguards for Girls and Boys by Frederick Arthur Sibly

If sailing vessels of less than 7 tons gross tonnage, shall not be obliged to carry the white light mentioned in subdivision ( b ) 2 of this article, but if they do not carry such light they shall have at hand, ready for use, a lantern showing a bright white light, which shall on the approach of or to other vessels be exhibited where it can best be seen in sufficient time to prevent collision; and they shall also show a red pyrotechnic light, as prescribed in subdivision ( b ) 2, or in lieu thereof a flare-up light.
— from A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 8, part 2: Grover Cleveland by Grover Cleveland

Such a shaking and rumbling and rattling I never did hear!
— from The Man Who Rocked the Earth by Arthur Cheney Train