More than half were destitute because they had no work and were unable to find any, and one-sixth were frauds, professional beggars, training their children to follow in their foot-steps—a veritable “tribe of Ishmael,” tightening its grip on society as the years pass, until society shall summon up pluck to say with Paul, “if any man will not work neither shall he eat,” and stick to it.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. (Jacob August) Riis

But whatever view you take, gentlemen, of this part of the prisoner's story—whatever opinion you form of the right of these two young people under such circumstances to take the law into their own hands—the fact remains that this young woman in her distress, and this young man, little more than a boy, who was so devotedly attached to her, did conceive this—if you like— reprehensible design of going away together.
— from Justice by John Galsworthy

Noble Pryncessys, this litel shoort ditee, Rewdly compiled, lat it be noon offence, To your womanly merciful pitee, Thouh it be rad in your audience: Peysed ech thyng in your iust advertence, So it be no displesaunce to your pay, Undir support of your pacience, Yevyth example, hornys to cast away.
— from A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483 Written in the Fifteenth Century, and for the First Time Printed from MSS. in the British Museum by Anonymous

Befor i Leve englent if it is not to much trobbell for you for i am in grat confushon my self now my sorrowes are dobbled i must humbly Beg on your Goodness to Consider me a Littell trifell of monney it wold Be a very Grat Comfort to your poor unhappy searvent Margreat Catchpole How small a matter a sentence of death for horse-stealing was counted in the closing years of the eighteenth century may be gathered from the fact that the contemporary newspaper report of 1797 runs only to five lines, as follows:— "Margaret Catchpole, for stealing a coach horse, belonging to John Cobbold, Esq., of Ipswich (with whom she formerly lived as a servant), which she rode from thence to London in about 10 hours, dressed in man’s apparel, and having there offered it for sale was detected.”
— from The History of Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk Girl by Richard Cobbold

Sometimes these will be things you partly understand, sometimes they will be things beyond you, but if you deserve the 22 in this position you will know the value of what you hear even when not quite able to decipher its depth.
— from Manual of the Enumeration A Text Book on the Sciences of the Enumeration, Book one by C. J. (Casper James) Coffman

And I guess it's just as well that you pick up some information about how to do the job; because some days perhaps you'll want to run the line of traps yourself; and then you'll have to know how to set them, as well as keep your scent from staying around, and warning timid animals away."
— from Rocky Mountain Boys; Or, Camping in the Big Game Country by St. George Rathborne

Now this was long before the belle Féronnière was ever heard of, and further it was prior to the intrigue with Jane Disome, who, by Queen Margaret’s showing, did not meet with “the young prince” until she had been married some time and was in despair of having children by her husband.
— from The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 3 (of 5) by Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre

Then you pick up some friends and go to Primitivo Lopez' saloon for a bit of a drink before dinner; well, you sit there drinking and you've got to be sociable, so you drink more than you should and the liquor goes to your head and you laugh and you're damned happy and if you feel like it, you sing and shout and kick up a bit of a row.
— from The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela