Would the Platonists presume to allege their superiority to us, because we were in this life ignorant of what they themselves were doomed to be ignorant of when perfected in purity and wisdom in another and better life, and which they must be ignorant of if they are to be blessed?
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

Whether we consider him as a man, with his powerful yet gracious personality, or as a religious reformer, who did much to break down old religious prejudices by showing the underlying beauty and consistency of the Roman church, or as a prose writer whose style is as near perfection as we have ever reached, Newman is one of the most interesting figures of the whole nineteenth century.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

He is, I think, so honest and true a servant to us both, and one that loves us, that I was not much troubled at his being privy to all this, but rejoiced in my heart that I had him to assist in the making us friends, which he did truly and heartily, and with good success, for I did get him to go to Deb.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

The pure animal spirits, which make both mind and body shoot out, and unfold the tender blossoms of hope are turned sour, and vented in vain wishes, or pert repinings, that contract the faculties and spoil the temper; else they mount to the brain and sharpening the understanding before it gains proportionable strength, produce that pitiful cunning which disgracefully characterizes the female mind—and I fear will ever characterize it whilst women remain the slaves of power!
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects by Mary Wollstonecraft

The consequence of all this was, that no one was permitted to be invested with the knowledge of these sublime truths, until by a course of severe and arduous trials, by a long and painful initiation, and by a formal series of gradual preparations, he had proved himself worthy and capable of receiving the full light of wisdom.
— from The Symbolism of Freemasonry Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols by Albert Gallatin Mackey

She used to see through us both—" "Amelia!" gasped her infuriated elder, looking as if she would box her ears and knock her cap off, as she had often done to Becky.
— from A Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time by Frances Hodgson Burnett

She chose to occupy herself with wild-beasts in the mountains together with Artemis, and, when she was seduced by Zeus, continued some time undetected by the goddess, but afterwards, when she was already with child, was seen by her bathing and so discovered.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod

To say the truth, it was more for show than use, being not of strength to bear the weight of the larger coins, and therefore she kept nothing in it but some little toys that girls are fond of.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

She faced death, as women mostly do, bravely and even gaily, racked slowly to unconsciousness, but yielding only to violence, as a soldier sabred in battle.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

"Some time, undoubtedly; but not till I give bail."
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 17, March, 1859 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

The shocking treachery used by the Moors being well known to me, I refused to accept his offers except on his furnishing me with hostages for his good faith.
— from Three Frenchmen in Bengal The Commercial Ruin of the French Settlements in 1757 by Samuel Charles Hill

Being near the island of Tofoa, the castaways rowed towards it for the purpose of obtaining some bread-fruit and water, with which the natives at first seemed very willing to supply them, until Bligh imprudently advised his men to say, in answer to the queries put them about the ship, that it had overset and sunk.
— from Fifty-two Stories of the British Navy, from Damme to Trafalgar. by Alfred H. (Alfred Henry) Miles

We can easily guess that magic is the earlier and the more important part of animistic technique, for among the means with which spirits are to be treated there are also found the magic kind [98] , and magic is also applied where spiritualization of nature has not yet, as it seems to us, been accomplished.
— from Totem and Taboo Resemblances Between the Psychic Lives of Savages and Neurotics by Sigmund Freud

The lower shelves can be used for rubbish—the delicious rubbish that is so much nicer than expensive toys; and the upper shelves can be used for the work in hand and better toys, kept for Sundays and holidays and those grand occasions when nursery company comes, and visitors may arrive who have no imaginativeness, or only see old bits of wood once sacred to cotton, shankless buttons, fir-cones, and scraps of silk and paper, where other bolder folk perceive strings {167} of diamonds and pearls, and libraries of fairies, and wardrobes sacred to unknown but much-beloved friends; whose houses are the fir-cones, and who dress themselves magnificently in sweepings begged from the maid, or even from that proud lady, the dressmaker,
— from From Kitchen to Garret: Hints for young householders by J. E. (Jane Ellen) Panton

As, in talking with me, he had easily started the subject I might be supposed to understand best, and to be the most interested in, so, in talking with others, he guided himself by the same rule.
— from Hunted Down: The Detective Stories of Charles Dickens by Charles Dickens

How impressive and beautiful are the calm smile, the unruffled brow of the resigned creature!
— from The Works of Honoré de Balzac: About Catherine de' Medici, Seraphita, and Other Stories by Honoré de Balzac

The work whose title is given above has been sent to us by the reverend father himself, we presume on account of the article translated, with some preliminary observations of our own, from F. Vercellone, on the ideology of St. Augustine, which appeared in a recent number; and we beg to thank him for his kindness.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 11, April, 1870 to September, 1870 by Various

At the beginning of it there was a broken bridge; in places it seemed torn up by shells; it disappeared in the violet dusk.
— from The Valley of Vision : A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales by Henry Van Dyke