"My complaint," he said, "is as if a girth were buckled taut over my breast, and my endeavour in the night is to get it loose."
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey

I obey the first clause of the injunction by trying once more, but am not so successful with the second, for I am very stupid.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

By this I wish to show what I believe and not to confer with flesh and blood, that I may not run now nor hereafter in vain; for I know and am persuaded, that the true religion is not according to the teaching of men, but according to the inspiration of God: not according to the custom of education, but according to the truth, which is made manifest by the word of God.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs by John Foxe

[ 684 ] mína 2 n situation in pool wherein two or more balls are in contact with each other and the one in the back is directly in line with one of the pocket holes, so that it is almost certain that the ball or balls in front will be knocked into the hole.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

It is not enough to say a pleasing thing, an interesting thing, the orator must be able to convince; and to convince others he must have strong convictions.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

For the first time I fully realized the truth in the scriptural verses which state that a man of self-realization can appear at different places in two or more bodies at the same time.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

This does not appear to have been ever seen again; but even if it had, and if the date corresponded, it would prove nothing, as there were at least two other Miguels born about the middle of the century; one of them, moreover, a Cervantes Saavedra, a cousin, no doubt, who was a source of great embarrassment to the biographers.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

My father looked carelessly at the titlepage of my book, and said, "Ah! Cornelius Agrippa!
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

These other may, but are not: and thence come all those headstrong passions, violent perturbations of the mind; and many times vicious habits, customs, feral diseases; because we give so much way to our appetite, and follow our inclination, like so many beasts.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

I just felt a tree-mendous shock all of a suddent that struck me motionless—as if Tom Sayers had hit me a double-handed cropper on the top o’ my beak an’ in the pit o’ my bread-basket at one an’ the same moment.
— from Under the Waves: Diving in Deep Waters by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

During the narration, the old man became almost frantic with rage and sorrow, bursting forth once or twice with the most violent exclamations; and when George Stev
— from The Garies and Their Friends by Frank J. Webb

The question—the touchstone of loyalty—was accordingly put; and the minister, who relates the anecdote himself, tells us that three only, Mansfeldt, Barlaimont, and Arschot, were prepared to stand by the regent in carrying out the policy of the crown.
— from History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, Vols. 1 and 2 by William Hickling Prescott

3. Prominent Authorities. —A.E. Newton says: "Numerous facts indicate that offspring may be affected and their tendencies shaped by a great variety of influences, among which moods and influences more or less transient may be included."
— from Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics by B. G. (Benjamin Grant) Jefferis

"What you goin' to do about it, Buck?" "Two of my boys are out looking for the man.
— from Jim Waring of Sonora-Town; Or, Tang of Life by Henry Herbert Knibbs

This odor may be anchored by supposing that it moves to action; it starts changes that end in picking and enjoying a rose.
— from The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, and other essays in contemporary thought by John Dewey

If this trick be performed several times successively, [145] the number given in the third part of the operation must be always different; for if the result were several times the same, the deception might be discovered.
— from How to Behave and How to Amuse: A Handy Manual of Etiquette and Parlor Games by George H. (George Henry) Sandison

I would have gone again on Thursday, but Madame Savain came to try on my bodice and I had a protracted discussion with her about the slant of the skirts.
— from Monsieur, Madame, and Bébé — Volume 01 by Gustave Droz

At the office mighty busy, and brought myself into a pretty plausible condition before Sir W. Coventry come, and did give him a pretty tolerable account of every thing and went with him into the Victualling office, where we sat and examined his businesses and state of the victualling of the fleete, which made me in my heart blushe that I could say no more to it than I did or could.
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 43: May/June 1666 by Samuel Pepys

I will not think of my burial again.——Melchior will lay a wreath on my coffin.
— from The Awakening of Spring: A Tragedy of Childhood by Frank Wedekind