Moreover, every one knows that tortoises as well as turtle are of such a make, that if you but put them on their backs you thereby expose their bright sides without the possibility of their recovering themselves, and turning into view the other.
— from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville

Of a surety, although their bodily eyes did not perceive any part of this good fortune of theirs, [BK] yet the eyes of the understanding, to wit of the soul pure and clean with unending glory, having received in this world the holy [Pg 202] sacraments, and departed from this life with some little portion of faith, would quickly be able to recognise the former error of their blindness.
— from The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. II by Gomes Eannes de Zurara

Next after these appere in armour bright, All save ther hedis, semely knightis nine, And every clasp and nail, as to my sight, [Pg lxxiv] Of ther harneis were of red gold so fine, With cloth of gold, and furrid with ermine, Were the tappouris of their stedis strong, Both wide and large, that to the ground did hong; And every boss of bridle and paitrel That they had on was worth, as I would wene, A thousand pound; and on ther hedis well Dressid were crounis of the laurir grene, The best ymade that evir I had sene;
— from The Works of John Dryden, Now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes; Vol. 12 (of 18) by John Dryden

“For God’s sake, Ada, choke those brats,” yelled the exasperated Minton, “and yourself helping them.
— from Forging the Blades: A Tale of the Zulu Rebellion by Bertram Mitford

"I must therefore beg you to excuse an indiscretion of which I have been the involuntary accomplice, monsieur.
— from Avarice--Anger: Two of the Seven Cardinal Sins by Eugène Sue

Would you, sir, proclaim to the world your affection for this miscreant of society, after this conduct, and endeavor to interest your audience with the ties of kindred that bound you to each other?
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

I wanted to be young, to enjoy life, to live!
— from The Salamander by Owen Johnson

Look at the thousand ties that bind you to Europe.
— from Select Speeches of Kossuth by Lajos Kossuth

As an osier light, That bending yields to ev'ry blast of wind, His heart to fraud was flexible,—his heart, Where dark Deceit, in honest guise array'd, Had sown its seeds, and poison'd ev'ry grain Which, warm'd by potent Truth's congenial ray, With Virtue's plenteous harvest might have teem'd.
— from Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 2 (of 2) Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc. by James Peller Malcolm

The township, with its fixed property and its inhabitants for the time being, yielded that element of permanence now wanting in the gens.
— from Ancient Society Or, Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery, through Barbarism to Civilization by Lewis Henry Morgan