O Men, how very like ye are To Eve the universal mother, Possession hath no power to please,
— from Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] A Romance of Russian Life in Verse by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin

The student of history who has not been taught to expect the unexpected may justly boast himself inaccessible to the light.
— from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

He was base born on his mother's side, as the epigram tells us: "My name's Abrotonon from Thrace, I boast not old Athenian race; Yet, humble though my lineage be, Themistokles was born of me."
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

and, I hope, I shall forbear thinking of you with the least shadow of that fondness my foolish heart had entertained for you: I bear you, however, no ill will; but the end of my detaining you being over, I would not that you should tarry with me an hour more than needed, after the ungenerous preference you gave, at a time that I was inclined to pass over all other considerations, for an honourable address to you; for well I found the tables entirely turned upon me, and that I was in far more danger from you, than you were from me; for I was just upon resolving to defy all the censures of the world, and to make you my wife.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

The soft and shadowy tint, that overspread the scene, the waves, undulating in the moon-light, and their low and measured murmurs on the beach, were circumstances, that united to elevate the unaccustomed mind of Blanche to enthusiasm.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

The whorl was in form like a number of boxes fitting into one another with their edges turned upwards, making together a single whorl which was pierced by the spindle.
— from The Republic by Plato

In the first years of the reign of Theodosius, a Persian embassy arrived at Constantinople, to excuse the unjustifiable measures of the former reign; and to offer, as the tribute of friendship, or even of respect, a splendid present of gems, of silk, and of Indian elephants.
— 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

It would take one hundred trains of eighteen cars to the train to transport this one tow of six hundred thousand bushels of coal, and even if it made the usual speed of fast freight lines, it would take one whole summer to put it through by rail.' When a river in good condition can enable one to save $162,000 and a whole summer's time, on a single cargo, the wisdom of taking measures to keep the river in good condition is made plain to even the uncommercial mind.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

They will, at the same time, explain to us many other things by the way—for example, the fiery zeal on the one side and the cold maintenance of their cause on the other; why the one party has met with the warmest approbations, and the other has always been repulsed by irreconcilable prejudices.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

Who had ever taught me to employ thus usefully my youthful strength?
— from Hammer and Anvil: A Novel by Friedrich Spielhagen

My students need to search the Scriptures and “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” to understand [20] the personal Jesus' labor in the flesh for their salvation: they need to do this even to understand my works, their motives, aims, and tendency.
— from Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896 by Mary Baker Eddy

Then, even then, upholding my country's flag, the fury of my thoughts was all with you: If the flag falls I shall never see her again—that was what I was saying to myself.
— from Rose of the World by Egerton Castle

To invent indeed a conversation full of wisdom or of wit requires that the writer should himself possess ability; but the converse does not hold good, it is no fool that can describe fools well; and many who have succeeded pretty well in painting superior characters have failed in giving individuality to those weaker ones which it is necessary to introduce in order to give a faithful representation of real life: they exhibit to us mere folly in the abstract, forgetting that to the eye of the skilful naturalist the insects on a leaf present as wide differences as exist between the lion and the elephant.
— from Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

Next from the squadron, whence had issued forth The first fruit of Christ's vicars on the earth, Toward us mov'd a light, at view whereof My Lady, full of gladness, spake to me: "Lo! lo!
— from Divine Comedy, Cary's Translation, Paradise by Dante Alighieri

The usual low narrow room greeted Armand and Marguerite as they entered; the usual mildewed walls, with the colour wash flowing away in streaks from the unsympathetic beam above; the same device, “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!”
— from El Dorado: An Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

Not unless they take advantage of their position to win these races to God before they are absorbed into the world, and are thus lost as a regenerating force with which to elevate the unsaved millions of mankind.
— from The American Missionary — Volume 41, No. 8, August, 1887 by Various

Argument did not dissuade, and conjecture was baffled in the effort to explain this unexpected movement.
— from Alone by Marion Harland

He attained his wish, however; his father had no objection to make to his plans; and so we both went to Tharandt to study, and later travelled through Europe together, until my father's death called me home.
— from Castle Hohenwald: A Romance by Adolf Streckfuss