" "Father," replied Telemachus, "you will come to know me by and by, and when you do you will find that I can keep your counsel.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

So carefully was this secret guarded that until the papers of the Illuminati were seized in 1786 no one outside this inner circle knew that Weishaupt was the head of the Order.
— from Secret Societies And Subversive Movements by Nesta Helen Webster

The inner circle, known as the Esoteric Section, or rather the Eastern School of Theosophy--usually referred to as the E.S.--is in reality a secret society, consisting in its turn of three further circles, the innermost composed of the Mahatmas or Masters of the White Lodge, the second of the Accepted Pupils or Initiates, and the third of the Learners or ordinary members.
— from Secret Societies And Subversive Movements by Nesta Helen Webster

Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever!
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

That I can keep your counsel, and not mine own.
— from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare

D’Artagnan was over him at a bound, and said to the Englishman, pointing his sword to his throat, “I could kill you, my Lord, you are completely in my hands; but I spare your life for the sake of your sister.”
— from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

"For there can live no hatred in thine eye, Therefore in that I cannot know thy change:
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

The technical occupation of a Vāriyar in a temple is called kazhakam, which is probably derived from the Dravidian root kazhaku, to cleanse.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

The reflection finds no resting place.—I have prayed, and sighed, and wept plentifully.—If this terrible suspence continues much longer, I shall have another fit of illness, and then the whole family will be in confusion—If it was consistent with the wise purposes of Providence, would I were in my grave—But it is my duty to be resigned.—My dearest Letty, excuse my weakness—excuse these blots—my tears fall so fast that I cannot keep the paper dry—yet I ought to consider that I have as yet no cause to despair
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

"After one year or ten you will find that I can keep a secret."
— from All Adrift; Or, The Goldwing Club by Oliver Optic

And at least , he thought, I can keep an eye on her this way .
— from Pagan Passions by Randall Garrett

"Possibly the stars may show that in case King Charles sells Dunkirk to London even for a much larger sum than I shall offer, he may be compelled to spend the money and a great deal more in defending the city."
— from The Touchstone of Fortune Being the Memoir of Baron Clyde, Who Lived, Thrived, and Fell in the Doleful Reign of the So-called Merry Monarch, Charles II by Charles Major

"I am not in the least afraid, and I think I can keep up with you.
— from Tom, The Bootblack; or, The Road to Success by Alger, Horatio, Jr.

Her first appearance in this masquerading was at the kirk on the Sunday following her adventure with Mr. Melcomb, and it was with a sore difficulty that I could keep my eyes off her, even in prayer; and when the kirk skailed, she walked before him, spreading all her grandeur to catch his eye, in such a manner as had not been seen or heard of since the prank that Lady Macadam played Miss Betty Wudrife.
— from The Annals of the Parish Or, the Chronicle of Dalmailing During the Ministry of the Rev. Micah Balwhidder by John Galt

I was told that I could kill the worms with salt and water, and from that day I never spitted a living worm, though at the expense probably of some loss of success.
— from Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Charles Darwin

Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge; at other times I beheld Him in my heart as my FATHER, as my GOD: I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy Presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him.
— from The Practice of the Presence of God the Best Rule of a Holy Life by Lawrence, of the Resurrection, Brother

His grandson, though true in complexion, knows more about engines than he does of wooden swords and how to use them.
— from Tropic Days by E. J. (Edmund James) Banfield

In the meantime we have the three Irish Churches keeping the peace between themselves, but distinctly divided.
— from Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 3 (of 3), 1660-1690 by Richard Bagwell

“Why, what was that, Padre?” “I thought, chiquita , that I could know evil––something that God does not and can not know.”
— from Carmen Ariza by Charles Francis Stocking