and that we had no designs of aggrandizement and no ambition for conquest, the President * * * eloquently says: “It is my earnest wish that the United States in making peace should follow the same high rule of conduct which guided it in facing war.”
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

In short, I must place such a confidence in your honour as a wise woman will scarce ever place in a man on any consideration.”
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Indeed our country of Scotland, in spite of the union of the crowns, is still in most places so devoid of clothing, or cover from hedges and plantations, that it was well you gave your readers a sound Monitoire with respect to that circumstance.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

Sometimes I have not been successful in my purpose, sometimes I have, supporting it upon the shoulders of the truth; which truth is so clear that I can almost say I have with my own eyes seen Amadis of Gaul, who was a man of lofty stature, fair complexion, with a handsome though black beard, of a countenance between gentle and stern in expression, sparing of words, slow to anger, and quick to put it away from him; and as I have depicted Amadis, so I could, I think, portray and describe all the knights-errant that are in all the histories in the world; for by the perception I have that they were what their histories describe, and by the deeds they did and the dispositions they displayed, it is possible, with the aid of sound philosophy, to deduce their features, complexion, and stature."
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Now Ladies, I think I need not demand the question, whether Signior Ansaldo were wel pleased, or no, who going to beholde it, saw it most plenteously stored, with al kind of fruit trees, flowers, herbes and plants, as no one could be named, that was wanting in this artificiall garden.
— from The Decameron (Day 6 to Day 10) Containing an hundred pleasant Novels by Giovanni Boccaccio

Leo, you know you would be more amused, you would be more happy, as well as I.’ ‘But this,’ he said, ‘is my proper sphere.’
— from Lady William by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Since it must provide subsistence for the criminal poor while undergoing punishment, not to do the same for the poor—who have not offended is to give a premium to crime.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 08, October, 1868, to March, 1869. by Various

The Spaniards in most places simply showed themselves to the natives; and the religious, who accompanied them, persuaded the untutored savages to submit to the King of Spain, through whom they would obtain the two-fold blessing of civilization and Christianity.
— from The Friars in the Philippines by Ambrose Coleman

That would be all very well if I were still in my pristine state of ignorance; but now that I bethink me of what I should have mentioned to you in the beginning of our conversation, I not only cease to wonder that I speak, but I am terrified at the thought of leaving off.
— from The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

To some it may perchance seem a paradox, this axiom of the philosophers; yet let us make the best inquiry we can if it be true that it is possible to do all things at once with fearfulness and with boldness.
— from The Teaching of Epictetus Being the 'Encheiridion of Epictetus,' with Selections from the 'Dissertations' and 'Fragments' by Epictetus

“You said it, Mr. President,” she said, and fired her finger at him again, powering him down.
— from Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow