Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are all divorced from life, we are all cripples, every one of us, more or less.
— from White Nights and Other Stories The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Volume X by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are EXPRESSLY gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are all divorced from life, we are all cripples, every one of us, more or less.
— from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Vel propter ignorantium, quod bonis studiis non sit instructa mens ut debuit, aut divinis praeceptis exculta.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

3523 What spot is meant under this name, if indeed it is anything more than the creation of fancy, it is impossible to ascertain with any degree of precision.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny

Again and again did he strive to divine the cause, but could not do so; so he went wandering aimlessly about the town, without succeeding in making up his mind whether he or the officials had gone crazy.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

Now I hate to hear a person, especially if he be a traveller, complain that we do not get on so fast in France as we do in England; whereas we get on much faster, consideratis considerandis; thereby always meaning, that if you weigh their vehicles with the mountains of baggage which you lay both before and behind upon them—and then consider their puny horses, with the very little they give them—'tis a wonder they get on at all: their suffering is most unchristian, and 'tis evident thereupon to me, that a French post-horse would not know what in the world to do, was it not for the two words...... and...... in which there is as much sustenance, as if you give him a peck of corn: now as these words cost nothing, I long from my soul to tell the reader what they are; but here is the question—they must be told him plainly, and with the most distinct articulation, or it will answer no end—and yet to do it in that plain way—though their reverences may laugh at it in the bed-chamber—full
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

—— Trim ’s casuistry and address, under the cover of his low bow, prevented all suspicion in my uncle Toby, so he went on with what he had to say to Trim as follows: ——For my own part, Trim, though I can see little or no difference betwixt 232 my nephew’s being called Tristram or Trismegistus —yet as the thing sits so near my brother’s heart, Trim ——I would freely have given a hundred pounds rather than it should have happened.——A hundred pounds, an’ please your honour!
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeam dance Against my sandy shallows, I murmur under moon and stars In brambly wildernesses, I linger by my shingly bars, I loiter round my cresses; And out again I curve and flow To join the brimming river;
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

Our greatest expenditure of strength is made up of those small and most frequent discharges of it.
— from Ecce Homo Complete Works, Volume Seventeen by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The summit is made up of irregular volcanic tables, the most extensive of which is about two and a half miles long, and like the smaller ones is broken abruptly down on the edges by the action of the ice.
— from Steep Trails California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, the Grand Canyon by John Muir

[448] [Pg 363] Either the king or his ministers, however, were slow in making up their minds.
— from History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vol. II. by James Anthony Froude

This salt is much used in the colouring of fabrics; it is also used for the sizing of papers, and the clarification of tallow.
— from Popular Scientific Recreations in Natural Philosphy, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, etc., etc., etc. by Gaston Tissandier

The Superior or Articular Surface of the bone, which may easily be recognised by its smoothness, is moulded upon the lower articular surface of the second phalanx, being convex in its middle, and concave on either side.
— from Diseases of the Horse's Foot by H. Caulton (Harry Caulton) Reeks

After supper made my wife to read them all over, wherein she is mighty useful to me: and I find them all evasions, and in many things false, and in few to the full purpose.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys

But all the same, I do not think that she ever thought quite so well of me afterwards, and if I thought the more of her, still I made up my mind that the sooner she was married and had a husband of her own to preach to, the better it would be for all of us.
— from Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

“I haven’t been successful in my use of it since this horrible catastrophe happened.
— from Robin Linnet by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

It was impossible not to be impressed by the evidence that a lack of discipline had contributed to the colony's woes, and Dale, who sailed in March, undoubtedly was intended to draw upon his experience as a soldier for the better discipline of the colonists.
— from The Virginia Company Of London, 1606-1624 by Wesley Frank Craven

It must look round, it must have time to gather its wits, and so it must undergo the same experience time after time.
— from All Things are Possible by Lev Shestov

So I made up my mind I’d try to find me way back here and get help for me pal.
— from The Boy Scouts on the Roll of Honor by Robert Shaler