These are dangerous examples, rare and sickly exceptions to our natural rules: we must yield to them, but with great moderation and circumspection: no private utility is of such importance that we should upon that account strain our consciences to such a degree: the public may be, when very manifest and of very great concern.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Well, it is strange enough this old Norse view of Nature; different enough from what we believe of Nature.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

The cook forgot to sneer at her shabby old gowns (which, indeed, were quite eclipsed by that lady's finery when she was dressed to go to church of a Sunday evening), the others no longer grumbled at the sound of her bell, or delayed to answer that summons.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The formidable tension of the intellect that wishes to hold its own against pain shows everything that one now looks upon in a new light, and the inexpressible charm of this new light is often powerful enough to withstand all the seductiveness of suicide and to make the continuation of life seem very desirable to the sufferer.
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

But whether she ever tried or no, lay hidden in her own closed heart.
— from Hard Times by Charles Dickens

In some countries, as in Scotland, where the government was weak, unpopular, and not very firmly established, the reformation was strong enough to overturn, not only the church, but the state likewise, for attempting to support the church.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Well, may you see things well done there,—adieu!— Lest our old robes sit easier than our new! ROSS.
— from Macbeth by William Shakespeare

In the present circumstances of our alliance with these States, every trait of national character, and even every traditional incident, which, by leading us to understand and respect their peculiarities, may enable us to secure their friendship and esteem, become of infinite importance.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

come back, Vinson,” and he’s gone into the larder, and cut off great pieces of meat, and sent me with them, and p’raps brandy or wine, to some poor soul; and he always gi’ed me a shilling, either then or next day, for myself, besides meat and drink.
— from The Vicar of Morwenstow: Being a Life of Robert Stephen Hawker, M.A. by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

"I saw Eternity the other night Like a great ring of pure and endless light, All calm, as it was bright:-- And round beneath it, time in hours, days, years, Driven by the spheres, Like a vast shadow moved, in which the world And all her train were hurl'd."
— from A Cotswold Village; Or, Country Life and Pursuits in Gloucestershire by J. Arthur (Joseph Arthur) Gibbs

We are not in Paris that you should expect the one, nor in Constantinople where the other might be possible.
— from In the Palace of the King: A Love Story of Old Madrid by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford

The truths of Geometry presuppose the laws of Number, and a more special class of laws peculiar to extended bodies, but require no others: Geometry, therefore, can be studied independently of all sciences except that of Number.
— from Auguste Comte and Positivism by John Stuart Mill

Some said he had gone to India, others to Van Diemen's Land, but in truth none knew, or cared to know, save Elspeth, the old nurse, who had tended him and his father before him, and who in her heart nourished for him an undying affection.
— from Mrs. Geoffrey by Duchess

'That's w'ere it 'urts,' sez 'e, 'toes or no toes.'
— from The Doctor : A Tale of the Rockies by Ralph Connor

His parents were not affluent, but their circumstances were sufficiently easy to offer no obstacle to his natural talents.
— from Wanderings in Spain by Théophile Gautier

There is his drawing to go by, and where everything has been done in such excellent taste one need have little fear that in a few years a new building would settle down harmoniously with the rest.
— from Nooks and Corners of Old England by Allan Fea