If thou dost nod, thou break’st thy instrument; I’ll take it from thee; and, good boy, good night.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

“I have before suggested that a genuine blackguard is never without a pocket-handkerchief.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

The saying is true, that the best Athenians are more than ordinarily good, because they are good by nature; therefore, be assured that I shall be glad to hear you talk as much as you please.'
— from Laws by Plato

He had made a great minister of finance, successfully performing the perilous task of transferring the currency of the country from a silver basis to a gold basis, and in so doing had proven himself fully a match, in protecting the interests of the Government, for the wiley local financiers representing the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, the chartered bank of India, Australia, and China, and other institutions run by experienced men of more or less piratical tendencies.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

And That All Government But Popular, Is Tyranny From Aristotles Civill Philosophy, they have learned, to call all manner of Common-wealths but the Popular, (such as was at that time the state of Athens,) Tyranny.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

no, if the truth must be told, Anthony GRINNED back.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

The Fool is referring to his own words, 'I would have none but knaves follow [my advice to desert the King], since a fool gives it'; and the last two lines of his song mean, 'The knave who runs away follows the advice given by a fool; but I, the fool, shall not follow my own advice by turning knave.'
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. (Andrew Cecil) Bradley

"If therefore," said' he, "thou hast already erected my statue, let it stand; but if thou hast not yet dedicated it, do not trouble thyself further about it, but dismiss thy army, go back, and take care of those affairs which I sent thee about at first, for I have now no occasion for the erection of that statue.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

These territories are governed by Congress, through territorial governments, and over them Congress has full sovereign powers.
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows

It is true, that where treaties of commerce stipulate for the mutual appointment of consuls, whose functions are connected with commerce, the admission of foreign consuls may fall within the power of making commercial treaties; and that where no such treaties exist, the mission of American consuls into foreign countries may PERHAPS be covered under the authority, given by the ninth article of the Confederation, to appoint all such civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

The path had been swept away by the last season's rains, and in some places where the valley narrowed to a gorge but a few yards wide, with the rocks rising sheer up hundreds of feet on [Pg 372] either side, the bottom was filled with large blocks of stone brought down by the floods, whose highest level could be seen forty or fifty feet above them on the rocks.
— from The Dash for Khartoum: A Tale of the Nile Expedition by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Now, can the absolute good be any thing else than an attribute of him who, properly speaking, is alone absolute being?
— from Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Victor Cousin

These are generally battle-axes, spears cruelly and fantastically jagged, hooked and barbed, and curious leaf-shaped knives of archaic aspect; some of the latter have blades broader than they are long, a shape also preserved by the Mpongwe.
— from Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, Volume 1 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

This "three days red with blood," too, is an expression curiously common in the account given by country folk of any battle of which they may have local tradition.
— from Highways and Byways in the Border Illustrated by Andrew Lang

[ 71 ] The stewardships are to be secured to those to whom they are given by a written deed, that they may not be deprived of their inheritance.
— from Outlines of Ecclesiastical History by B. H. (Brigham Henry) Roberts

If we take the usual proportion of the human foot, as between a fifth and a sixth part of the height of the whole body, the account given by Magellan agrees very exactly with this fact afforded us by Mr Candish; and it will be seen in the sequel, that this is not falsified by any of our subsequent navigators.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10 Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time. by Robert Kerr

No, I ain’t no blubberin’ calf, but sure I just couldn’t let the kid go back alone—and—But Gee, leddy, it sure is heaven up here with these big hills—and the green trees—and the flowers—And, leddy,” he pulled at Nathalie’s sleeve as she turned to go away, “I kin be a sight o’ help ter yer, for I knows how to wash dishes, and I kin cook too, a good bit.”
— from The Liberty Girl by Rena I. Halsey

The reading of râchâm as porphyrio is followed in the Septuagint, and the reading has been defended on the ground that the bird must belong to the aquatic group, being placed between the pelican and cormorant.
— from Bible Animals; Being a Description of Every Living Creature Mentioned in the Scripture, from the Ape to the Coral. by J. G. (John George) Wood