And so saying he cut a couple of capers in the air with every sign of extreme satisfaction, and then ran to seize the bridle of Dorothea’s mule, and checking it fell on his knees before her, begging her to give him her hand to kiss in token of his acknowledgment of her as his queen and mistress.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

But there are times at which every state is compelled to use the words, 'just,' 'equal,' in a secondary sense, in the hope of escaping in some degree from factions.
— from Laws by Plato

But enough of the Persians: a different lesson is taught by the Athenians, whose example shows that a limited freedom is far better than an unlimited.
— from Laws by Plato

She had a special memory for the vicissitudes of the "new people" who rose to the surface with each recurring tide, and were either submerged beneath its rush or landed triumphantly beyond the reach of envious breakers; and she was apt to display a remarkable retrospective insight into their ultimate fate, so that, when they had fulfilled their destiny, she was almost always able to say to Grace Stepney—the recipient of her prophecies—that she had known exactly what would happen.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Their acquaintance was exceedingly sought after.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen

According to this, then, those things which are essentially and truly divine are called simple, because in them quality and substance are identical, and because they are divine, or wise, or blessed in themselves, and without extraneous supplement.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

The audience was extraordinarily sparse, and not of the selectest character at that, and Hamilton's report of the proceeds presented but a "beggarly account of empty boxes."
— from Twelve Years a Slave Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana by Solomon Northup

Just as the Bears turn round the pivot of the axis without ever setting or sinking under the earth, there are likewise stars that keep turning round the southern pivot, which on account of the inclination of the firmament lies always under the earth, and, being hidden there, they never rise and emerge above the earth.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

Mademoiselle de Menthon, whom I attended in the afternoon, was ever so.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Entering upon their studies and being each alike endowed with the highest understanding, they ascended with equal step and marvellous commendation to the glorious altitudes of philosophy; and in this way of life they continued good three years, to the exceeding contentment of 492 Chremes, who in a manner looked upon the one as no more his son than the other.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

The latter arrangement became of great importance also, in so far that thereby for the first time alongside of the two standing supreme magistrates were placed two assistants, whom each supreme magistrate nominated at his entrance on office, and who in due course also went out with him on his leaving it—whose position thus, like the supreme magistracy itself, was organized according to the principles of a standing office, of a collegiate form, and of an annual tenure.
— from The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) by Theodor Mommsen

The fact that they were able so frequently to defeat the highly trained and well equipped Spanish forces, and to hold their ground as successfully, as they did year after year, is the highest possible tribute to their valor, their intelligence in military matters, and their patriotic devotion.
— from The History of Cuba, vol. 3 by Willis Fletcher Johnson

We made the round of the camp that night very late before turning in to see that all was extra safe.
— from Two Dianas in Somaliland: The Record of a Shooting Trip by Agnes Herbert

They were thinking about their commerce, their navigation, and their fisheries, rather than about the repression of “rebels”; and they desired that their alliance with England should confirm and extend the benefits conferred upon them in these respects by the old treaty.
— from The Sovereignty of the Sea An Historical Account of the Claims of England to the Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the Territorial Waters by Thomas Wemyss Fulton

The operations of that autumn, which established Sheridan's fame and culminated in his final defeat of Early at Cedar Creek on October 19, made him master of all the lower part of the valley.
— from Abraham Lincoln by Charnwood, Godfrey Rathbone Benson, Baron

When a certain volume of the air was expelled, so that it could no longer resist external pressure, then the external air rushed down the polar gulf, creating by meeting warm outward-flowing currents cyclones such as we were then experiencing.
— from The Goddess of Atvatabar Being the history of the discovery of the interior world and conquest of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw

He was full of humor, told a clever story or two, and was entirely self-possessed.
— from The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete by Abraham Lincoln

At the termination of the American war, England seemed completely exhausted: she had come out of a long and expensive contest, deprived of what many regarded as her most valuable possessions, and having contracted an enormous debt.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, By William Stevenson by William Stevenson