The old personal charm was still there under this new gaudy manner.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce

The protected calls the chief ‘patron’; and the condition may not unaptly be compared to that of personal commendation, [6] like salvamenta , founded on the disturbed state of society.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

But it was a chance, the only possible chance.
— from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

The speedy completion of the prophecy inspired Philip with a just esteem for so able a counsellor; and Decius appeared to him the only person capable of restoring peace and discipline to an army whose tumultuous spirit did not immediately subside after the murder of Marinus.
— 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

The test of pleasure cannot be applied except to that which has no other good or evil, no truth or falsehood.
— from Laws by Plato

The children hate him from the bottom of their hearts, but on this occasion, practical considerations override sentiment.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

IV.— Importunity and Opportunity of Time, Place, Conference, Discourse, Singing, Dancing, Music, Amorous Tales, Objects, Kissing, Familiarity, Tokens, Presents, Bribes, Promises, Protestations, Tears, &c. All these allurements hitherto are afar off, and at a distance; I will come nearer to those other degrees of love, which are conference, kissing, dalliance, discourse, singing, dancing, amorous tales, objects, presents, &c., which as so many sirens steal away the hearts of men and women.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

v. 15. Gens sola, et in toto orbe praeter ceteras mira, sine ulla femina, omni venere abdicata, sine pecunia, socia palmarum.
— 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

For those Brahmins believed in the first place that the priests were more powerful than the gods, and in the second place that it was observances which constituted the power of the priests: as a result of which their poets were never tired of glorifying those observances (prayers, ceremonies, sacrifices, chants, improvised melodies) as the real dispensers of all benefits.
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

In one, then, are the most notable actions of that Cosimo and those virtues that were most peculiar to him, with his greatest friends and servants and portraits of his children, all from life; and so, also, that of the elder Lorenzo, that of his son, Pope Leo, that of Pope Clement, that of Signor Giovanni, the father of our great Duke, and that of the Lord Duke Cosimo himself.
— from Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 10 (of 10) Bronzino to Vasari, & General Index. by Giorgio Vasari

Eleven months ago I couldn’t for the life of me understand why those jewels had been pawned at all; to-day I realize that it was the only possible course.
— from Cleek of Scotland Yard: Detective Stories by Thomas W. Hanshew

It will correspond somewhat to our present Christmas Day.
— from A Christmas Garland by Beerbohm, Max, Sir

Having inherited the debts and assets of the old Potomac Company, it also inherited something of more value,—that priceless right of way up the Potomac Valley, the only possible Western route through Maryland for either a canal or a railroad.
— from Pilots of the Republic: The Romance of the Pioneer Promoter in the Middle West by Archer Butler Hulbert

“Oh no, sir; he’s on the bridge now, and I ought to have relieved him before this,” I replied, only thinking of poor “Conky” and his tea then for the first time.
— from The Ghost Ship: A Mystery of the Sea by John C. (John Conroy) Hutcheson

from the Christian sects, whose observances reflect those of primitive cults,
— from Amurath to Amurath by Gertrude Lowthian Bell

This frosting may be put on cookies or cake by forcing through a pastry bag and fine tube or paper cone, making lines or other decorations.
— from For Luncheon and Supper Guests by Alice Bradley

But in all my adventures, under whatever name, I have earned testimonials of probity, could manifestations of so vulgar a virtue be held of account by the enlightened people of Paris.
— from The Parisians — Complete by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

When, then, I have stated, that our path carried us over hill and dale,—that we threaded deep forests, and from time to time traversed an open plain, and that all this while the snowy ridges of the Riesengebirgen stood up like a wall upon our left hand, I have left myself nothing in the shape of description to add, out of which the reader could hope to derive an accession, either to his information or his amusement.
— from Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. II by G. R. (George Robert) Gleig

The Bishop had spoken that morning in the old plain church of how he wished them to observe certain days of prayer and thanksgiving.
— from Cinderella in the South: Twenty-Five South African Tales by Arthur Shearly Cripps