I think, Emma, I shall try and persuade her to stay longer with us.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

" Svein changed colour, and said, "There are people, Harald, who say that thou hast done as much before as only to hold that part of an agreement which appears to suit thy own interest best.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

Everyone accused Fotheringay of a silly trick, and presented him to himself as a foolish destroyer of comfort and security.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

I said that very likely, and to reciprocate her kindness, Angela must likewise have been her husband, but she answered, with a smile, that Angela played husband only to Nanette, and Nanette could not deny it.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

As for the baronet, having run himself considerably in debt, on a contested election, he has been obliged to relinquish his seat in parliament, and his seat in the country at the same time, and put his estate to nurse; but his chagrin, which is the effect of his own misconduct, does not affect me half so much as that of the other two, who have acted honourable and distinguished parts on the great theatre, and are now reduced to lead a weary life in this stew-pan of idleness and insignificance.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

It was one of the days when the glitter of winter shines through a pale haze of spring.
— from Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Aeneas, gone to seek th’ Arcadian prince, Has left the Trojan camp without defence; And, short of succours there, employs his pains In parts remote to raise the Tuscan swains.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil

But in other respects, it is said that he was a nervous man, and very fond of glory; so that, as previously he and Asclepiades had been fellow journeymen of a builder, when Asclepiades was naked on the roof carrying mortar, Menedemus would stand in front of him to screen him when he saw any one coming.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

Thus supported, the Rana resumed his dignity, and in forcible language signified to all present his anxious desire to do nothing which was harsh or ungracious; but that, thus compelled, he would not recede from what became him as their sovereign.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

And they say the other divisions of sorrow have their use; that pity incites us to hasten to the assistance of others, and to alleviate the calamities of men who have undeservedly fallen into them; that even envy and detraction are not without their use, as when a man sees that another person has attained what he cannot, or observes another to be equally successful with himself; that he who should take away fear would take away all industry in life, which those men exert in the greatest degree who are afraid of the laws and of the magistrates, who dread poverty, ignominy, death, and pain.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Melendez sent a trumpeter, summoning them, also pledging his honor for their safety.
— from Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes by A. M. (Abbie M.) Brooks

White Weasel found a world of half-suspected things all coming to him at once, and gradually a realizing sense stole over him that the ponies and the eating and the land were very serious things, all put here for use and trouble to the Absaroke.
— from John Ermine of the Yellowstone by Frederic Remington

There is, however, a tradition which tends to show quite the contrary: it is said that after Paoli had pointed out the disposition of his troops for the fatal conflict Napoleon dryly remarked, "The result of these arrangements was just what it was bound to be."
— from The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 1 (of 4) by William Milligan Sloane

For there is no such thing as placing hands in defensive position in Jiu Jitsu; the entire science of this particular wrestling lies in keeping your hands out of the reach of your opponent.
— from Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942 by Various

'Here, take this,' said Toole, and put half-a-dozen spoonsful of claret and water into his lips, and he seemed to revive a little.
— from The House by the Church-Yard by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

These unfortunates followed Laura helplessly, for whenever she took a prisoner he remained her slave henceforth.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Charles Dudley Warner

I smiled thinly at Phil Harrison and shrugged.
— from Highways in Hiding by George O. (George Oliver) Smith

I venture to say that any potter has more knowledge of nature than is written in these books.
— from Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes (Volume II) by Martin Luther

We dug a little below, bored a bole, and the father slipped through a pickaxe handle, and fainted away as he felt the little one slide down again but rest on the handle.
— from The Voyage of the Rattletrap by Hayden Carruth