I was not unhappy, nor much afraid, yet I wept.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

His wit all see-saw, between that and this, } Now high, now low, now master up, now miss, } And he himself one vile antithesis.
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope

Zeno, therefore, the chief of your sect, advances no argument sufficient to induce us to think that the world reasons, or, indeed, that it is animated at all, and consequently none to think it a Deity; though it may be said that there is nothing superior to it, as there is nothing more beautiful, nothing more useful to us, nothing more adorned, and nothing more regular in its motions.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero

On these unfortunately necessary mechanisms a great deal of ingenuity has been expended.
— from How it Works Dealing in simple language with steam, electricity, light, heat, sound, hydraulics, optics, etc., and with their applications to apparatus in common use by Archibald Williams

Enter Hector, Troilus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Menelaus and Diomedes with lights.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

But let us now mention, as succinctly as possible, those disasters which were still more vexing, because nearer home; I mean those discords which are erroneously called civil, since they destroy civil interests.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

At that moment, he turned toward us, scrutinized both of us from head to foot, then settled down in his corner and paid us no more attention.
— from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc

Above all let us not make a mockery of the [President’s] instructions , where, after stating that we took [ 136 ] up arms only in obedience to the dictates of humanity * * *
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

He rose up next morning at the usual hour, but he could not eat, in spite of his fast on the previous night, and he had to come back to the house in the middle of the afternoon in order to go to bed again.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Kidd remained there with his Sloop until next morning, and then set sail intending, as he said, for Boston.
— from The Book of Buried Treasure Being a True History of the Gold, Jewels, and Plate of Pirates, Galleons, etc., which are sought for to this day by Ralph Delahaye Paine

But that there animal 'ud never make a 'it as a Toby,' he said, examining Dandy critically: 'why, that's bin a gen'leman's dawg once, that has—we don't want no amatoors on our show.'
— from The Black Poodle, and Other Tales by F. Anstey

She may have grown suspicious, for feminine perceptions are keen, and, though the movement was graceful and not precipitate, a distance of several feet divided us next moment, and we stood silent, looking at each other, while my heart beat at what appeared double its usual rate.
— from The Mistress of Bonaventure by Harold Bindloss

Believing it just possible for General Merritt to reach us next morning, and knowing that, if possible, come he would, I directed one of my trumpeters to be on the alert for the expected signal.
— from Campaigning with Crook, and Stories of Army Life by Charles King

If the commander of a squad goes over to the enemy, he can but deliver up nine men and ten guns, and perhaps reveal the supposed name of the one man who, in a disguise, has communicated with him from the parent society.
— from Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century by Ignatius Donnelly

Be warned; if you are not condemned unheard, no more are you released because the accuser overrode his right.
— from The Blue Star by Fletcher Pratt

The fact, however, does not absolutely compel belief, and, unless new manuscripts are discovered, may always be doubted by admirers of Mary.
— from The Mystery of Mary Stuart by Andrew Lang

I heard him relate, among many other things, that there were pickpockets on the train, who had already robbed a man of forty dollars and a return ticket; but though I caught the words, I do not think I properly understood the sense until next morning; and I believe I replied at the time that I was very glad to hear it.
— from Across the Plains, with Other Memories and Essays by Robert Louis Stevenson

The thing to do for me is to turn me loose upon New Murkley, and let me decorate those great rooms.
— from It was a Lover and His Lass by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Throughout the West Indies the planter is usually not merely a sugar-grower, but a sugar-maker also.
— from At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies by Charles Kingsley