When I call to mind some devout persons who draw nigh to Thy Sacrament, O Lord, with the deepest devotion and affection, then very often I am confounded in myself and blush for shame, that I approach Thine altar and table of Holy Communion so carelessly and coldly, that I remain so dry and without affection, that I am not wholly kindled with love before Thee, my God, nor so vehemently drawn and affected as many devout persons have been, who out of the very earnest desire of the Communion, and tender affection of heart, could not refrain from weeping, but as it were with mouth of heart and body alike panted inwardly after Thee, O God, O Fountain of Life, having no power to appease or satiate their hunger, save by receiving Thy Body with all joyfulness and spiritual eagerness.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas

After all, there need be no question why the bees came to that one green nook in the dusty town.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the Anacalypsis we are told that "Magi came from the East to offer gifts at Socrates' birth, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh," the same kind of offering as that presented to the two divine infants Chrishna and Christ, according to their respective "inspired" biographers.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

I nodded at the old gentleman as Wemmick himself might have nodded, and we went in and sat down by the fireside.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The old gentleman saluted them very cordially, and seemed struck with the appearance of my sister, whom he could not help surveying with a mixture of complacency and surprize—‘Sister (said my uncle), there is a poor relation that recommends himself to your good graces—The quondam Humphry Clinker is metamorphosed into Matthew Loyd; and claims the honour of being your carnal kinsman—in short, the rogue proves to be a crab of my own planting in the days of hot blood and unrestrained libertinism.’
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

A contribution to a historical glossary of words, phrases, and turns of expression, obsolete and in present use, peculiar to our great public schools, together with some that have been or are modish at the universities.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

It followed the direction previously taken by the Count's cab, and as it passed the house and the open garden gate, a person inside looked at us out of the window.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

I had a secret impulse on my mind of something that was to take place, which drove me continually for that time to a throne of grace.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written By Himself by Olaudah Equiano

His great astronomical work was translated into Arabic in the year 827; the original Greek text was first printed in 1538 by Grynæus, with a commentary by Theon.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny

" The other got carefully erect, and the loud young soldier led him among the sleeping forms lying in groups and rows.
— from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane

"If you will pardon me for making the observation, gentlemen," said Mr. Desmond, with great dignity, "it was such attempts at discrimination, such reflections upon the American birth of British subjects, that were among the many causes of this present unfortunate war."
— from In Hostile Red by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler

As he approached her, he put on an expression of distress, and when the coachman had gone he began in a tone of great anxiety, "Merciful heavens, do I find you thus?
— from Only a Girl: or, A Physician for the Soul. by Wilhelmine von Hillern

3: Further, the obligation of a vow arises from the deliberation of the mind, a stated above (Q. 88, A. 1); while the obligation of an oath results from the truth of God Whose testimony is invoked.
— from Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

He made alliance with Octavius Mamilius, prince of Tusculum, giving him his daughter in marriage; nor was there any man greater than Mamilius in all the cities of the Latins; and Suessa Pometia, that was a city of the Volsci, he took by force, and finding that the spoil was very rich (for there were in it forty talents of gold and silver), he built with the money a temple to Jupiter on the Capitol, very great and splendid, and worthy not only of his present kingdom but also of that great Empire that should be thereafter.
— from Stories From Livy by Alfred John Church

How petty do the actions of our earthly life appear when the whole universe is opened to our gaze—yet there our passions are deep & irrisisbable [ sic ] and as we are floating hopless yet clinging to hope down the impetuous stream can we perceive the beauty of its banks which alas my soul was too turbid to reflect—If knowledge is the end of our being why are passions & feelings implanted in us that hurries [ sic ] us from wisdom to selfconcentrated misery & narrow selfish feeling?
— from Mathilda by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

"If they're the old Greek kind of dragon's-teeth soldiers they ought to fight each other to death," Noël said; "at least, if we had a helmet to throw among them."
— from The Wouldbegoods by E. (Edith) Nesbit

'I wish your uncle, Mr. Humpage, thought with you,' he said ruefully, 'but he has quite made up his mind that I am a villain of the deepest dye;' and then, encouraged to confide in her, he told the story of the old gentleman's furious entry and accusation.
— from The Giant's Robe by F. Anstey

"Plainly this, my lady queen; that I think the old gentleman has been sair abused; and that there are some na meikle better than him wha have been a great deal better ca'd.
— from The Three Perils of Man; or, War, Women, and Witchcraft, Vol. 3 (of 3) by James Hogg

Then she noticed that the grip of the old Gypsy was a firm one.
— from The Corner House Girls Under Canvas How they reached Pleasant Cove and what happened afterward by Grace Brooks Hill

As he passed to the open ground on my left, I joined him.
— from Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, Volume 1, Part 2 by Philip Henry Sheridan