Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the opposite end of the chamber separated and four soldiers of The Guard entered, surrounding a female figure.
— from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

No men are less addicted to reverie than the citizens of a democracy; and few of them are ever known to give way to those idle and solitary meditations which commonly precede and produce the great emotions of the heart.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

So these wise men persuaded [their scholars] to pull down the golden eagle; alleging, that although they should incur any danger, which might bring them to their deaths, the virtue of the action now proposed to them would appear much more advantageous to them than the pleasures of life; since they would die for the preservation and observation of the law of their fathers; since they would also acquire an everlasting fame and commendation; since they would be both commended by the present generation, and leave an example of life that would never be forgotten to posterity; since that common calamity of dying cannot be avoided by our living so as to escape any such dangers; that therefore it is a right thing for those who are in love with a virtuous conduct, to wait for that fatal hour by such behavior as may carry them out of the world with praise and honor; and that this will alleviate death to a great degree, thus to come at it by the performance of brave actions, which bring us into danger of it; and at the same time to leave that reputation behind them to their children, and to all their relations, whether they be men or women, which will be of great advantage to them afterward.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

They actually spoke of the great expectations they had of my new work, the poem of which had been written 'with undoubted poetic feeling.'
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

Let us once in our lives leave our junketing for a while, and put ourselves in a posture to give ‘em a bellyful of fighting, if they would be at that sport.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

Elinor had just been congratulating herself, in the midst of her perplexity, that however difficult it might be to express herself properly by letter, it was at least preferable to giving the information by word of mouth, when her visitor entered, to force her upon this greatest exertion of all.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Then he recited the Misereatur and the Indulgentiam, dipped his right thumb in the oil, and began to give extreme unction.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

But services of Swansea or Lowestoft or Spode, while easily cleaned, are equally easily broken, so that genuine Eighteenth Century pieces are more apt to see a cabinet than a dinner table.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

he was absent from the Nation at the time we passed up, the man whome we had acknowledged as the principal chief informed me that the Grey eyes was a greater Chief than himself and that he had given up all his pretentions with the Flag and Medal to the Grey eyes—The principal chief of the Chyenne's was then introduced he is a Stout jolley fellow of about 35 years of age whome the Ricaras Call the Grey Eyes
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

THE great end of men's entering into society, being the enjoyment of their properties in peace and safety, and the great instrument and means of that being the laws established in that society; the first and fundamental positive law of all commonwealths is the establishing of the legislative power; as the first and fundamental natural law, which is to govern even the legislative itself, is the preservation of the society, and (as far as will consist with the public good) of every person in it.
— from Second Treatise of Government by John Locke

After what we had seen and heard at the Centenary Conference, and after we had realised the great extent of the Roman work, we felt that till one understood why the Russian Church conducted no missionary work one could not understand the whole missionary problem; for when the Russian Church does undertake such work, her geographical position must render her important.
— from Changing China by Cecil, Florence Mary (Bootle-Wilbraham), Lady

But immediately another rocket shot up, and Petrus Martel, jumping on the ground, exclaimed: "What a disaster!
— from Mont Oriol; or, A Romance of Auvergne: A Novel by Guy de Maupassant

I reply, however, that statecraft permits, nay commands, self-defence, so that whoever does not defend himself is regarded as his own murderer,” in spite of the fact, that, as a Christian and “believer in the Kingdom of Christ, he must suffer all things, and may not in this guise either eat or drink or beget children.”
— from Luther, vol. 3 of 6 by Hartmann Grisar

"If," said my father—and here his hand was deep in his waistcoat—"if we accept the authority of Diodorus, as to the inscription on the great Egyptian library—and I don't see why Diodorus should not be as near the mark as any one else?" added my father interrogatively, turning round.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849 by Various

The romantic history transpires in the healthy atmosphere of the open air on the green earth beneath the open sky."— The Independent.
— from Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy by Frank Richard Stockton

I'd like to know how the affair strikes Miss Foster--suppose she cleared out to give 'em a few minutes together.
— from Master and Maid by L. Allen (Lizzie Allen) Harker

The new chief of staff did all that was possible to remedy this disorder; and the soldiers had just begun to feel the good effects of his presence, when he fell sick from overwork and fatigue, and died before being able, according to the Emperor's expression, to "make up for lost time.
— from Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon — Complete by Louis Constant Wairy

Was Pharoah (after saw the army winding its toilsome course along the river's brink, slowly and heavily, as the chariots of Pharaoh laboured through the sands of the Desert; and the appearance of the long array was as the) Page 365 : Was unbonnetted (the steep, and sometimes I beheld them in their turn on the ground endeavouring to protect their unbonneted heads with their targets, but to whom the victory was to be given I could discern no sign; and I said) Page 370 : Was Hogmanae ( Hogmanæ , the last day of the year.)
— from Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters by John Galt

Many little surprises for the pleasure of Bessie are planned by the generous Esther.
— from Oswald Langdon or, Pierre and Paul Lanier. A Romance of 1894-1898 by Levi Jackson Hamilton