Though these religious aberrations pained me, I cannot say I was not at all influenced by them.
— from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore

As a palliative to this rash arrogance, people are in the habit of giving way on everything.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: the Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer

But in the case of the restoration of an expelled Mason to the rights and privileges of Masonry, by a Grand Lodge, does such restoration restore him to membership in his lodge?
— from The Principles of Masonic Law A Treatise on the Constitutional Laws, Usages and Landmarks of Freemasonry by Albert Gallatin Mackey

She went to the spring at the back of the house and filled the tank from a bark bucket, and then she ran down to the river and pulled her Daddy’s left ear—the one that belonged to her to pull when she was good.
— from Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

This propitiation of such divinities,—a propitiation so wanton, so impure, so immodest, so wicked, so filthy, whose actors the innate and praiseworthy virtue of the Romans disabled from civic honours, erased from their tribe, recognised as polluted and made infamous;—this propitiation, I say, so foul, so detestable, and alien from every religious feeling, these fabulous and ensnaring accounts of the criminal actions of the gods, these scandalous actions which they either shamefully and wickedly committed, or more shamefully and wickedly feigned, all this the whole city learned in public both by the words and gestures of the actors.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

At their parting she gave him a wishing-ring, and said, "Take this ring and put it on thy finger, and then thou wilt immediately be transported whithersoever thou wouldst be, only thou must promise me not to use it in wishing me away from this place and with thy father.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

The verses that streamed during those years from His pen, described as “a copious rain” by Himself, whether in the form of epistles, exhortations, commentaries, apologies, dissertations, prophecies, prayers, odes or specific Tablets, contributed, to a marked degree, to the reformation and progressive unfoldment of the Bábí community, to the broadening of its outlook, to the expansion of its activities and to the enlightenment of the minds of its members.
— from God Passes By by Effendi Shoghi

The heads of the two religious and political parties were in such hereditary, long-continued, and intimate relations up to the time when one signed the other's death-warrant, that it was impossible to write the life of one without also writing that of the other.
— from PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete by John Lothrop Motley

Upon which I observed to them that this line would interfere with lands patented by the British Government previous to the Revolution, and particularly mentioned Totten and Crossfield's purchase and Jessup's patent; but I mentioned, at the same time, that I was neither authorised nor disposed to controvert their claims, which I would submit to the Legislature, who I could not doubt would pay due attention to them, and adopt proper measures to effect a settlement with them upon fair and liberal terms.
— from Life of Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea (Vol. II) Including the Border Wars of the American Revolution and Sketches of the Indian Campaigns of Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne; And Other Matters Connected with the Indian Relations of the United States and Great Britain, from the Peace of 1783 to the Indian Peace of 1795 by William L. (William Leete) Stone

This explanation was received with smiles, but his friends came to the rescue, and proved that he was in the habit of writing names on every bit of paper which came to hand.
— from Jim Cummings; Or, The Great Adams Express Robbery by A. Frank Pinkerton

It was not a silent prayer that the Reverend Absalom put up.
— from Annie Laurie and Azalea by Elia Wilkinson Peattie

Having illustrated a remarkable type of solar spot, it is interesting to submit to the reader a precise observation of these curious solar flames.
— from Astronomy for Amateurs by Camille Flammarion

This was done, and the others waited restlessly enough for a full hour for them to return, although Phil took occasion to point out how fortunate they all were to secure a friend and protector in this, their hour of greatest need.
— from The Daring Twins: A Story for Young Folk by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

In a few minutes the waiting men saw the gleam of torches amid the trees to their right, and presently a tall, bearded, white man appeared, followed by half a dozen natives.
— from By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories by Louis Becke

The doctor then thought it time to rise and put on his clothes, in the time of which the spectre laid up the coals again in the chimney, and, going to the table, lifted the candles and went to the door, opened it, still looking to the Principal as he would have him following the candles, which he now, thinking there was something extraordinary in the case, after looking to God for direction, inclined to do.
— from The Book-Hunter A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by John Hill Burton

Thus truly the majesty of rule will be attended with an honorable and willing regard on the part of the citizens; for when once they have been brought to conclude that they who rule are strong only with the authority given by God, they will feel that those duties are due and just, that they should be obedient to their rulers, and pay to them respect and fidelity, with somewhat of the same affection as that of children to their parents. "
— from Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 1, January 1886 by Various