I would nevertheless leave it to the Consideration of those who are the Patrons of this monstrous Tryal of Skill, whether or no they are not guilty, in some measure, of an Affront to their Species, in treating after this manner the Human Face Divine , and turning that Part of us, which has so great an Image impressed upon it, into the Image of a Monkey; whether the raising such silly Competitions among the Ignorant, proposing Prizes for such useless Accomplishments, filling the common People's Heads with such Senseless Ambitions, and inspiring them with such absurd Ideas of Superiority and Preheminence, has not in it something Immoral as well as Ridiculous 3 .
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

In the early days of summer, the female of the eider, a pretty sort of duck, builds its nest amid the rocks of the fjords—the name given to all narrow gulfs in Scandinavian countries—with which every part of the island is indented.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

These affectionate names give, in some measure, an idea of the attachment by which we were united, but by no means that of the want we felt of each other, nor of our continual desire to be together.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

There are no ghosts in Soho Square, madam, save such childish inventions as I tell you of; but I fear your husband is in a very bad way, and that these ravings of his are but too sure an indication of the brandy-drinker's disease.
— from Mohawks: A Novel. Volume 3 of 3 by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

As things are now going, it seems to me that the noise and clamour must burst through all four walls, out into the quiet evening.
— from The Forest Schoolmaster by Peter Rosegger

[46] In some cases a very slight change suffices to give a new complexion [Pg 120] to the name, thus the Old Frankish Godenulf, ( ulf , wolf), through a Norman Godeneuf, is scarcely changed in our Goodenough .
— from Surnames as a Science by Robert Ferguson

"They are not ghosts," I said only.
— from The Thing from the Lake by Eleanor M. (Eleanor Marie) Ingram

You treat a native gentleman, I see, like a human being.
— from Miss Cayley's Adventures by Grant Allen

Sokr. — When I ask whether pleasurable things are not good, in so far forth as pleasurable — I ask in other words, whether pleasure itself be not good?
— from Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 2 by George Grote

“The white are for Greta, and these small ones for little Jan. Ah, they are nice gifts indeed!” said Mrs. Wendte, rubbing her hands.
— from Who Ate the Pink Sweetmeat? And Other Christmas Stories by Kate Upson Clark

If the laymen had money and political influence, which they haven’t, to protect them from prosecution on a charge of which on the face of it they are not guilty, it still would not be as base for them to avail themselves of that advantage as it is for a court to consider the alleged ‘holy calling’ of a minister and withhold adequate punishment for an atrocious crime he confesses that he committed.
— from Crimes of Preachers in the United States and Canada by M. E. Billings

We have no shelter except dog tents, and they are no good in such a climate as this.
— from Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom by Trumbull White

They are not great in scholarship, nor even in eloquence, but they exhibit a character of many-sided attractiveness which was the real secret of Robertson’s power.
— from The Age of Tennyson by Hugh Walker