They never raise any that hold these maxims, either to honours or offices, nor employ them in any public trust, but despise them, as men of base and sordid minds.
— from Utopia by More, Thomas, Saint

Having well ballasted the holds of our human vessels, we weighed anchor, hoised up sail, stowed the boats, set the land, and stood for the offing with a fair loom gale, and for more haste unpareled the mizen-yard, and launched it and the sail over the lee-quarter, and fitted gyves to keep it steady, and boomed it out; so in three days we made the island of Tools, that is altogether uninhabited.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

Prostrate obelisks were raised from the ground, and erected in the most conspicuous places; of the eleven aqueducts of the Cæsars and consuls, three were restored; the artificial rivers were conducted over a long series of old, or of new arches, to discharge into marble basins a flood of salubrious and refreshing waters: and the spectator, impatient to ascend the steps of St. Peter's, is detained by a column of Egyptian granite, which rises between two lofty and perpetual fountains, to the height of one hundred and twenty feet.
— 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

A cruel, unfeeling temper has distinguiseed the monks of every age and country: their stern indifference, which is seldom mollified by personal friendship, is inflamed by religious hatred; and their merciless zeal has strenuously administered the holy office of the Inquisition.
— 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 I did not feel sure whether writers of fiction might not have applied to man what they had often observed in animals, I begged for information from Dr. Crichton Browne with respect to the insane.
— from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin

“To the health of our Sovereign, the Emperor!”
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

As we approach'd the house, on our return, we perceiv'd several strangers in the parlour.
— from American Historical and Literary Curiosities: Second Series, Complete by J. Jay (John Jay) Smith

For if we knew this, it would make us to trust to have, of our Lord's gift, all that we desire.
— from Revelations of Divine Love by of Norwich Julian

We may, therefore, find a very distinct line drawn between such forms as the Chimæra and such as the Hydra, or our conventional Dragon.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

For either death is a long sleep, the best of sleeps, or a journey to another world in which the souls of the dead are gathered together, and in which there may be a hope of seeing the heroes of old—in which, too, there are just judges; and as all are immortal, there can be no fear of any one suffering death for his opinions.
— from Apology by Plato

Every garment that the King put on passed first through the hands of Olivares, who stood by whilst Philip dressed.
— from The Court of Philip IV.: Spain in Decadence by Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp) Hume

I therefore crave permission to offer to your Imperial Majesty the profound gratitude of the hearts of our people, and to utter our prayers that the merciful God may bless your Imperial Majesty with length of days, with wisdom, honour, and riches, and so direct all your actions, that your name may be inscribed in golden characters for ever, and the memory of your deeds smell as sweet as a garden of roses.
— from Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume 1 (of 2) Comprising Their Life and Work as Recorded in Their Diaries, from 1812 to 1883 by Montefiore, Judith Cohen, Lady

During the night our yemschik contrived to drive us up against a tree, to the irretrievable injury of the hood of our tarantass.
— from The Siberian Overland Route from Peking to Petersburg, Through the Deserts and Steppes of Mongolia, Tartary, &c. by Alexander Michie

“We are going to buy an interest in another line of ships, and dad says that in another year he will put me at the head of our New York offices.
— from Dave Porter's Great Search; Or, The Perils of a Young Civil Engineer by Edward Stratemeyer

It was the leading object of De Witt’s policy to diminish the influence which the princes of the House of Orange had acquired, as much by their services and high personal qualities, as by their power and territorial possessions, and to strengthen the republican institutions of his country, which he saw to be endangered, as it was ultimately destroyed, by their hereditary tenure of the office of Stadtholder.
— from The Gallery of Portraits: with Memoirs. Volume 7 (of 7) by Arthur Thomas Malkin

Led on by it, I proceeded to have one of those ridiculous “generous impulses”—I persuaded myself that there must be some decency in this liberality, in addition to the prudence which I flattered myself was the chief cause.
— from The Deluge by David Graham Phillips

The history of censorship in Europe in modern times is the history of opinion, of freedom, and of society.
— from The Collector Essays on Books, Newspapers, Pictures, Inns, Authors, Doctors, Holidays, Actors, Preachers by Henry T. (Henry Theodore) Tuckerman