Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal, no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire He permitted the Persians to oppress for a while the provinces, and to insult with impunity the capital of the East; while the Roman emperor explored his perilous way through the Black Sea, and the mountains of Armenia, penetrated into the heart of Persia, and recalled the armies of the great king to the defence of their bleeding country.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

If asked to explain his conduct, his shyness would not allow him to tell the truth, and lack of invention and practice would find him incapable of contriving a lie that would wash.
— from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain

Where some definite external outcome is wanted, the end has to be held to with some persistence, which increases as the contemplated result is complex and requires a fairly long series of intermediate adaptations.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

That the stage is now by his pains a thousand times better and more glorious than ever heretofore.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

My uncle Toby took down the sword from the crook, where it had hung untouched ever since the lieutenant's death, and delivered it to the corporal to brighten up;—and having detained Le Fever a single fortnight to equip him, and contract for his passage to Leghorn,—he put the sword into his hand.—If thou art brave, Le Fever, said my uncle Toby, this will not fail thee,—but Fortune, said he (musing a little),—Fortune may—And if she does,—added my uncle Toby, embracing him, come back again to me, Le Fever, and we will shape thee another course.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

The etymology has been most improbably deduced from Vandalusia, country of the Vandals.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

And he appealed to God, and to his wife's conscience; and said that he had not any inclination at first to enjoy her, if he had known she was his wife; but since, said he, thou leddest her about as thy sister, I was guilty of no offense.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

But I doubt whether the expressions he used would sound as remarkable to-day; showing how the literary and spoken languages, which used to be as sky from earth asunder, are now coming nearer each other.
— from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore

In this rigorous climate, 128 where the snows seldom melt, the fruits are tardy and tasteless, even honey is poisonous: the most industrious tillage would be confined to some pleasant valleys; and the pastoral tribes obtained a scanty sustenance from the flesh and milk of their cattle.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

As soon as the emperor had approved their labors, he ratified, by his legislative power, the speculations of these private citizens: their commentaries, on the twelve tables, the perpetual edict, the laws of the people, and the decrees of the senate, succeeded to the authority of the text; and the text was abandoned, as a useless, though venerable, relic of antiquity.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

But since then Eric has been compelled to hide there twice to escape capture, and we have made the room below more comfortable.
— from My Lady of Doubt by Randall Parrish

—A name for Cherumans, in Malabar, who are permitted to come as far as the eaves (ira) of their employers’ houses.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

Neilstrom had been an instructor under Vocational Apt, and he was at a loss to explain his presence at Stark Falls.
— from This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch

But even if I yelled out a credo when the Eugenists had me on the rack, I should not know what creed to yell.
— from Eugenics and Other Evils by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

All other Englishmen, whether their experience has lain in County Courts, High Courts, or Courts of Appeal, talk lovingly of English law with their tongues in their cheeks.
— from The Egregious English by T. W. H. (Thomas William Hodgson) Crosland

As he saw the staid and time-laden perfection, the enshrined history, the form and presentment of his ancestors, a novel feeling came to birth in Arthur Lisle, a sense of family, of his own inalienable share in all this though he owned none of it, of its claim on him.
— from A Young Man's Year by Anthony Hope

y this time everybody has seen Rip Van Winkle, and everybody has expressed the same unbounded admiration of Mr. JEFFERSON'S matchless genius.
— from Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 38, December 17, 1870. by Various

Come, behold the works of the Lord, What desolations he hath made in the earth, He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.
— from Poems You Ought to Know by Elia Wilkinson Peattie

[pg 093] thought, and by reason thereof is able to empty his stu-
— from Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 by Mary Baker Eddy