All would agree that æsthetic gratification, when at all high, depends on a subtle harmony of different elements in a complex state of consciousness; and that the pleasure resulting from such harmonious combination is indefinitely greater than the sum of the simpler pleasures which the uncombined elements would yield.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

There are, first, those which the service claimed would directly promote or avert: secondly, there is the pain and secondary harm of disappointed expectation, if the service be not rendered: thirdly, we have to reckon the various pleasures connected with the exercise of natural benevolent affections, especially when reciprocated, including the indirect effects on the agent’s character of maintaining such affections.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

'Send me away somewhere.' "'What would happen to the young man then?' said I.' He is now in the seventh heaven of delight, expecting that his long cherished desire would be fulfilled to-morrow; and to-day you want me to send him the news of your death.
— from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore

They expounded to him a passage of sacred history or doctrine, enjoining upon him, if he could, to put it into verse.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, the Venerable, Saint

She has only devoted eighteen years out of the very heart of her existence to this great work.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

[Pg xvi] D ARLING , these shall be only to advertise you that this bearer and his fellow be despatched with as many things to compass our matter, and to bring it to pass as our wits could imagine or devise; which brought to pass, as I trust, by their diligence, it shall be shortly, you and I shall have our desired end, which should be more to my heart’s ease, and more quietness to my mind, than any other thing in the world; as, with God’s grace, shortly I trust shall be proved, but not so soon as I would [Pg xvii] it were; yet I will ensure you that there shall be no time lost that may be won, and further can not be done; for ultra posse non est esse .
— from The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn; With Notes by King of England Henry VIII

It has to be given each time the service is performed, but we cannot speak here of direct economic equivalence, since one of the terms of the equation consists of a service, the value of which cannot be assessed, except by conventional estimates.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

"Carus," says he, "our dearest emperor, was confined by sickness to his bed, when a furious tempest arose in the camp.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Goodwife Gaarrett saith that goodwife Seager said there was a day kept at Mr. Willis in reference to An Coale; and she further said she was in great trouble euen in agony of spirit, the ground as follows that she sent her owne daughtr Eliza Seager to goodwife Hosmer to carry her a mess a parsnips.
— from The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut (1647-1697) by John M. (John Metcalf) Taylor

The other, the hero of the second story, having one day expressed to his father the hatred he has for the bourgeois life that he is leading, leaves his family, who love him, in order to penetrate the "obscure future."
— from Contemporary Russian Novelists by Serge Persky

She was once more with her relatives, who, in the day of distress, had shown her so much love and faithfulness, and finally she had also her son, her own dear Eugene, from whom she had been separated during the sad years of their matrimonial disagreements.
— from Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

No reply was received, but a visitor who came to see him one day explained that this was probably because headquarters considered the telegram ridiculous, especially as there were no wolves in that part of Africa.
— from The Post Office and Its Story An interesting account of the activities of a great government department by Edward Bennett

The men slept heavily on deck, except Burns, who developed a slight fever from his injury, and moved about restlessly.
— from The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart

As they passed him, he gazed at the dashing captain—for it was Captain Sherwood, his own despised enemy—to whom he gave a look of hate and repugnance.
— from John Stevens' Courtship: A Story of the Echo Canyon War by Susa Young Gates