Master Thomas said that the evidence he had of our intention to run away, was strong enough to hang us, in a case of murder.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

They cannot give me one clew to the secrets of her life from the day of her birth until the day she entered that house.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

Her thoughts seemed strange even to herself.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

As soon as she said this, Cardenio and the barber drew close to her side, eager to hear what sort of story the quick-witted Dorothea would invent for herself; and Sancho did the same, for he was as much taken in by her as his master; and she having settled herself comfortably in the saddle, and with the help of coughing and other preliminaries taken time to think, began with great sprightliness of manner in this fashion.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Why should I bind another, by a deed or promise, to do me any good office, when I know that he is already prompted, by the strongest inclination, to seek my happiness, and would, of himself, perform the desired service; except the hurt, he thereby receives, be greater than the benefit accruing to me?
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

This example is very full, if one thing were not to be objected, namely the multitude of friends for the perfect friendship I speak of is indivisible; each one gives himself so entirely to his friend, that he has nothing left to distribute to others: on the contrary, is sorry that he is not double, treble, or quadruple, and that he has not many souls and many wills, to confer them all upon this one object.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

And with regard to time, it may not be unpleasant to survey the picture of dependance like a kind of ladder; as, for instance; early in the morning arises the postillion, or some other boy, which great families, no more than great ships, are without, and falls to brushing the clothes and cleaning the shoes of John the footman; who, being drest himself, applies his hands to the same labours for Mr Second-hand, the squire's gentleman; the gentleman in the like manner, a little later in the day, attends the squire; the squire is no sooner equipped than he attends the levee of my lord; which is no sooner over than my lord himself is seen at the levee of the favourite, who, after the hour of homage is at an end, appears himself to pay homage to the levee of his sovereign.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

When I had taken my seat, Miss Snapper, who from the coach had seen everything that happened; made me a compliment on my behaviour, and said she was glad to see me returned without having received any injury; her mother too owned herself obliged to my resolution: the lawyer told me, that I was entitled by act of parliament to a reward of forty pounds, for having apprehended a highwayman.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

The sun was sinking low and dim in the west, and Glenn was on the eve of turning homeward, when, on emerging from the flat prairie to a slight eminence that he had marked as boundary of his excursion, he beheld at no great distance an enormous mound, of pyramidical shape, which, from its isolated condition, he could not believe to be the formation of nature.
— from Wild Western Scenes A Narrative of Adventures in the Western Wilderness, Wherein the Exploits of Daniel Boone, the Great American Pioneer are Particularly Described by J. B. (John Beauchamp) Jones

Upon this, the wife bethought herself of a way how, she might remove her husband's jealousy, and at the same time revenge herself on the parrot, which she effected thus: Her husband being gone another journey, she commanded a slave, in the night time, to turn a hand-mill under the parrot's cage; she ordered another to throw water, in form of rain, over the cage; and a third to take a glass, and turn it to the right and to the left before the parrot, so as the reflections of the candle might shine on its face.
— from The Arabian Nights Entertainments - Volume 01 by Anonymous

But silent was the war-cry that had urged his followers to battle; stilled was the silver eloquence that had won them to his purpose.
— from Tecumseh: A Chronicle of the Last Great Leader of His People Vol. 17 of Chronicles of Canada by Ethel T. Raymond

You shall eat there hereafter.
— from Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, A Reader for the Fourth Grade by Augusta Stevenson

However, she had got round Schumann, and worked him so effectually that he was willing to help her.
— from The Undying Past by Hermann Sudermann

The same stimuli as call forth kindly emotions towards a person’s own children evoke similar emotions towards his grand- and great-grandchildren.
— from The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas by Edward Westermarck