He shewed me that if I were an old man like him, and able to insure a happy and independent existence to my sweetheart after my death, I should do well to keep her from all men, especially as there was so perfect a sympathy between us; but that as I was a young man, and did not intend to bind myself to her by the ties of marriage, I should not only consent to a union which seemed for her happiness, but that as a man of honour it was my duty to use my influence with her in favour of the match.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

I wish you to journey back some twenty years in time, and westward some thousands of miles in space, that I may lay before you a singular and terrible narrative—so singular and so terrible that you may find it hard to believe that even as I tell it, even so did it occur.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

Aetius lived in the first half of the sixth century, and compiled a voluminous treatise on medicine in sixteen books.
— from Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times by John Stewart Milne

[38] It remains to be proved that, while the terminology of morals is still retained, and while the law does still and always, in a certain sense, measure legal liability by moral standards, it nevertheless, by the very necessity of its nature, is continually transmuting those moral standards into external or objective ones, from which the actual guilt of the party concerned is wholly eliminated.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Because he is not Catholic, and the sentiment of charity is most prevalent,” etc. 4 [283] 1 The Walled City, the original Manila, is still known to the Spaniards and older natives exclusively as such, the other districts being referred to by their distinctive names.—Tr.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal

O sacred receptacle of my joys, Sweet cell of virtue and nobility, How many sons hast thou of mine in store That thou wilt never render to me more!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

The resemblance betwixt the actions of animals and those of men is so entire in this respect, that the very first action of the first animal we shall please to pitch on, will afford us an incontestable argument for the present doctrine.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Yasha sits on the cape and imperturbably strums on the accordion, while the old man is still more eager to exert himself.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

The process of "nitrification" (as it is termed), which he has so fully investigated, consists in the conversion into nitrates (which serve to nourish plant life) of the organic matter in sewage.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 467, December 13, 1884 by Various

And it has long been observed that when the public has once made up its mind that one man is supreme in his own line, it has generally little attention to spare for those who seek to have it reconsider its decision.
— from Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters by John Galt

And yet the old man, in spite of this general aspect of severity, betrayed the weakness and timidity which indigence imparts to all unfortunates.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

Even nowadays, though, the thirstiness of mankind is something supernatural.
— from The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

The old man is still living, he is seventy-five years of age, and has been in the London Gas-light Company's service forty-three years.
— from All about Battersea by Henry S. Simmonds

Tired and weary, I remained two days at home, wishing to see nothing, hear nothing, trying to absorb myself in my books, and to take up the lost thread of my interrupted studies, but all to no purpose.
— from Paris under the Commune The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs) by John Leighton

My reply is most assuredly there are such; and I will prove my assertion in this respect to be correct, without resorting to the use of subtle reasonings or invoking the aid of learned theories, but will be content to rest it upon the sure foundation of chemical science,—on that science which teaches the action of one body with another, which shews us that in some cases no change whatever is effected by the mechanical combination of two or more indifferent substances; and that in other instances, the chemical union of two bodies will be productive of a third, having properties wholly dissimilar from either of the two original substances:—thus, that one or more elementary substances or chemical compounds may enter into combination with a fatty body to produce a third, and yet have no power of action whatsoever upon the muscles, the [ix] bones, the nerves, or any other than the fatty tissues of the living organism.
— from Obesity, or Excessive Corpulence: The Various Causes and the Rational Means of Cure by J.-F. (Jean-François) Dancel

The old man is smitten with the elephantiasis, or black leprosy.
— from The Abominations of Modern Society by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage

'More hearts than one was entirely your own, Sir C.,' said Miss F., 'made out by an obvious perversion of language; and with regard to the other matters, I suspect I'm not so wrong as you try to make me appear.'
— from The Humour and Pathos of Anglo-Indian Life Extracts from his brother's note-book, made by Dr. Ticklemore by J. E. Mayer

This opinion may, in some respect, be owing to the veneration I have for antiquity, but more to observing that some fables discover a great and evident similitude, relation, and connection with the thing they signify, as well in the structure of the fable as in the propriety of the names whereby the persons or actors are characterized; insomuch, that no one could positively deny a sense 319 and meaning to be from the first intended, and purposely shadowed out in them.
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon