To navigate the Euxine before the month of May, or after that of September, is esteemed by the modern Turks the most unquestionable instance of rashness and folly.
— 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

↑ 3 A constructive expedient to achieve a symmetrical stability is exemplified by the Mailu system of canoe-building, where a platform bridges two parallel, hollowed-out logs.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

She wears a little sailor hat of black straw that has long been exposed to the dust and soot of London and has seldom if ever been brushed.
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw

The reading of the holy Scriptures is enjoined by both.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

Now, when they are coming to the city of Bubastis they do as follows:—they sail men and women together, and a great multitude of each sex in every boat; and some of the women have rattles and rattle with them, while some of the men play the flute during the whole time of the voyage, and the rest, both women and men, sing and clap their hands; and when as they sail they come opposite to any city on the way they bring the boat to land, and some of the women continue to do as I have said, others cry aloud and jeer at the women in that city, some dance, and some stand up and pull up their garments.
— from The History of Herodotus — Volume 1 by Herodotus

He says that there is but one only living and true God, who is a good, wise, and powerful spirit (this Indian say too) and that there are three persons in the god head, of one substance and power, God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, that the Father is of none, neither begotten, or proceeding, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, and that the Holy Ghost visited a virgin, and conveyed the Son into her; where he continued nine moons and then was born like other children, was born God and man, that when he was about thirty years old began to preach, but the great men no like his preaching, sent their warriors, who took and killed him.
— from A Pickle for the Knowing Ones by Timothy Dexter

It is ill-bred to send invitations either by the dispatch, or through the post-office; and besides being discourteous, you risk offending your friends, as these modes of delivery are proverbially uncertain.
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Florence Hartley

The universal difficulty of keeping silence is expressed by Lotze [56] in the dictum that we learn expression very young and silence very late.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

Oh, dear friend, how shall I ever bear it!...
— from The Story of My Life With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy by Helen Keller

I am sure you will be glad to hear, as likewise dear Mrs. Jennings, I spent two happy hours with him yesterday afternoon, he would not hear of our parting, though earnestly did I, as I thought my duty required, urge him to it for prudence sake, and would have parted for ever on the spot, would he consent to it; but he said it should never be, he did not regard his mother's anger, while he could have my affections; our prospects are not very bright, to be sure, but we must wait, and hope for the best; he will be ordained shortly; and should it ever be in your power to recommend him to any body that has a living to bestow, am very sure you will not forget us, and
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

We are sceptics in everything but our superstitions.
— from The Book of This and That by Robert Lynd

Were they swept into eternity by a freshet?
— from Myths and Legends of Our Own Land — Volume 07 : Along the Rocky Range by Charles M. (Charles Montgomery) Skinner

So obvious is this that it may be the last card of Conservatism to play off the war spirit against the reform spirit, as was done with some temporary success in England by Beaconsfield, and as is latterly being done by his successors.
— from The Evolution of States by J. M. (John Mackinnon) Robertson

There it is, a great animal, half the length of one’s arm, with bushy, long red tail arched high for easier running, its grayish coat showing in the bars of sunlight, its eyes bright and black and keen.
— from The Singing Mouse Stories by Emerson Hough

If he stayed where he was, he would undoubtedly be tracked down, and put to some ignominious end by the usurper.
— from The Radio Planet by Ralph Milne Farley

The Brazilian tongue, a language spoken by people less savage, is equally barren; the people who speak it, where more than three is to be expressed, are obliged to use the Portuguese.'
— from Life of Johnson, Volume 5 Tour to the Hebrides (1773) and Journey into North Wales (1774) by James Boswell

Sick people are as sensitive as babies to the subtle influence exerted by the one who is so constantly over them.
— from Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses by Harriet Camp Lounsbery

“Here philosophers and scholars in every branch of science devote themselves to study; and they are surrounded by thousands of disciples from all countries.
— from The Tour: A Story of Ancient Egypt by Louis Couperus

These are evidently tips for whiners in the school itself, but we have a more awful picture in the demand, 'Wherefore, honoured Sir, I earnestly beg you to take steps against evil-doings and punish these fellows scholastically.'
— from Old Picture Books, With Other Essays on Bookish Subjects by Alfred W. (Alfred William) Pollard