Nevertheless, they were tears of remorse, and now, as I write after such a lapse of years, I still regret having deceived one so worthy of my esteem and love.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

In a great empire like that of Rome, a natural balance of money must have gradually established itself.
— 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

He has been informed that the conditions of society are not equal in our part of the globe, and he observes that among the nations of Europe the traces of rank are not wholly obliterated; that wealth and birth still retain some indeterminate privileges, which force themselves upon his notice whilst they elude definition.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

I do not pretend to say that the rules of tactics apply to these operations; for their name, coups de main , implies that ordinary rules are not applicable to them.
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

Everything was a friend, or bore her thoughts to a friend; and though there had been sometimes much of suffering to her; though her motives had often been misunderstood, her feelings disregarded, and her comprehension undervalued; though she had known the pains of tyranny, of ridicule, and neglect, yet almost every recurrence of either had led to something consolatory: her aunt Bertram had spoken for her, or Miss Lee had been encouraging, or, what was yet more frequent or more dear, Edmund had been her champion and her friend: he had supported her cause or explained her meaning, he had told her not to cry, or had given her some proof of affection which made her tears delightful; and the whole was now so blended together, so harmonised by distance, that every former affliction had its charm.
— from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

They offer reviews and news about movies, video, music, and sport.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno

Possibly, after that time has elapsed, your majesty will not only prevent his crushing me, but will deprive him of that slipper, which was only meant to be the terror of rogues, and not of an humble Venetian, who is an honest man, though he escaped from The Leads.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

It is true that I have not confined my observations within the walls of any one town, nor to a single class of people; but having compared men of every class and every nation which I have been able to observe in the course of a life spent in this pursuit, I have discarded as artificial what belonged to one nation and not to another, to one rank and not to another; and I have regarded as proper to mankind what was common to all, at any age, in any station, and in any nation whatsoever.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Now to constitute possession of the arts these requisites are not reckoned in, excepting the one point of knowledge: whereas for possession of the virtues knowledge avails little or nothing, but the other requisites avail not a little, but, in fact, are all in all, and these requisites as a matter of fact do come from oftentimes doing the actions of Justice and perfected Self-Mastery.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

Barber’s Clerk , an overdressed shopboy who apes the manners of, and tries to pass himself off as, a gentleman; a term of reproach applied not to an artisan but to one of those who, being below, assume airs of superiority over, handicraftsmen.
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

After hir also no small numbers of attendants came in with Edward the Confessour, whome he preferred to the greatest offices in the realme, in so much that one Robert a Norman, became Archbishop of Canturburie, whose preferment so much enhanced the minds of the French, on the one side, as their lordlie and outragious demeanour kindled the stomachs of the English nobilitie against them on the other: insomuch that not long before the death of Emma the kings mother, and vpon occasion of the brall hapning at Douer (whereof I haue made sufficient mention in my Chronologie, not regarding the report of the French authors in this behalfe, who write altogither in the fauour of their Archbishop Robert, but following the authoritie of an English préest then liuing in the court)
— from Holinshed Chronicles: England, Scotland, and Ireland. Volume 1, Complete by William Harrison

If a set of Censors—for it would, as in the case of Literature, indubitably require more than one (perhaps one hundred and eighty, but, for reasons already given, there should be no difficulty whatever in procuring them) endowed with the swift powers conferred by freedom from the dull tedium of responsibility, and not remarkable for religious temperament, were appointed, to whom all sermons and public addresses on religious subjects must be submitted before delivery, and whose duty after perusal should be to excise all portions not conformable to their private ideas of what was at the moment suitable to the Public's ears, we should be far on the road toward that proper preservation of the status quo so desirable if the faiths and ethical standards of the less exuberantly spiritual masses are to be maintained in their full bloom.
— from Studies and Essays: Censorship and Art by John Galsworthy

Torrents of rain are not infrequent in winter and spring, but the small quantity of water which they furnish is quickly evaporated, and barely keeps alive the meagre vegetation in the bottom of the valleys.
— from History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12) by G. (Gaston) Maspero

The narrow-gauge roads and boats together can carry more cheaply than the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
— from Two Years in Oregon by Wallis Nash

No dogma was ever admitted that would not bear the test of reason, and no article of faith was ever assented to which seemed to militate against the supremacy of intellect over all feelings and passions.
— from A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volume 1, 3rd ed. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by James Fergusson

The bloody work seemed finished in the other rooms, and now the dreaded footsteps were drawing near.
— from Fairy Circles Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites, and Hobgoblins by Villamaria

The only real anxiety now is the finding of the Three Degree Depot.
— from Scott's Last Expedition Volume I Being the journals of Captain R. F. Scott by Robert Falcon Scott

Whatever peoples it found there; they were replaced by Celts, Romans, Greeks, Slavs, and Teutons, who broke in upon the barbarism of prehistoric Europe; displaced the older races, Allophylian, Neolithic, Iberian, Finnic, or by whatever other name we may find it convenient to designate them; but not without a considerable intermingling of the old blood with that of the intruders.
— from The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies by Wilson, Daniel, Sir

At first I thought of returning a negative answer; but, recollecting that Mr. Boyer must soon be here, I concluded it best to embrace this opportunity of talking further with him.
— from The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton A Novel: Founded on Fact by Hannah Webster Foster