In the morning the monk wrote me that the passage was made, and that he should only require to work at the ceiling of my cell to break through the last board and this would be done in four minutes.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

As the last theoretic pulse dies away, it does not leave the mental process complete: it is but the forerunner of the practical moment, in which alone the cycle of mentality finds its rhythmic pause. { 124}
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James

There were no smock-frocks, even among the country folk; they retarded motion, and were apt to catch on machinery, and so the habit of wearing them had died out.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

This variety of pursuits shows, that every one does not place his happiness in the same thing, or choose the same way to it. Were all the concerns of man terminated in this life, why one followed study and knowledge, and another hawking and hunting: why one chose luxury and debauchery, and another sobriety and riches, would not be because every one of these did NOT aim at his own happiness; but because their happiness was placed in different things.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

Thompson, foreseeing that the whole slavery of attending the sick and wounded, as well as the cruelty of Mackshane, must now fall upon his shoulders, grew desperate at the prospect, and, though I never heard him swear before, imprecated dreadful curses on the heads of his oppressors, declaring that he would rather quit life altogether than be much longer under the power of such barbarians.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

He being gone, I to the office, where at the choice of maisters and chyrurgeons for the fleet now going out, I did my business as I could wish, both for the persons I had a mind to serve, and in getting the warrants signed drawn by my clerks, which I was afeard of.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

What are the causes of monotony?
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

A dispute had arisen, who, among the citizens of Mecca, was entitled to the prize of generosity; and a successive application was made to the three who were deemed most worthy of the trial.
— 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

Like all objects of perception, it lies within the universal forms of knowledge, time and space, which are the conditions of multiplicity.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

What are the conditions of minimum sparking?
— from Hawkins Electrical Guide v. 02 (of 10) Questions, Answers, & Illustrations, A progressive course of study for engineers, electricians, students and those desiring to acquire a working knowledge of electricity and its applications by N. (Nehemiah) Hawkins

More fortunate than most of the tenants, I was able to carry on my business.
— from The Orange Girl by Walter Besant

"Life at the East," he says, "lacks two of its most important elements,—the want of intelligent and refined women as the companion of man, and a Sunday.
— from Famous Givers and Their Gifts by Sarah Knowles Bolton

Nay, were it thought necessary, there are means, arising in part out of the comparative leisure at most country offices on the Saturday, by which Sunday work at the chief office might be reduced considerably below its present amount.
— from The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of Penny Postage, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Hill, Rowland, Sir

About three hours after sunrise the silence which reigned for a brief period was broken by a flourish of trumpets, followed by the shouting of warriors and the clangour of mail.
— from Cressy and Poictiers: The Story of the Black Prince's Page by John G. (John George) Edgar

½I will abide the coming of my lord.¸ Tennyson.
— from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1st 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

They are not deposited here for the sake of accumulating gain and wealth for the glory of this world; they were sealed by the prayer of faith, and because of the knowledge which they contain, they are of no worth among the children of men, only for their knowledge.
— from An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions And of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records by Orson Pratt

And were they not all at the meeting with the “Devill and other witches at the croce of Murestaine,” above Kinneil, upon “the threttin of October last, where yow all danced, and the Devill acted the pyiper, and where yow endevored to have destroyed Andrew Mitchell, sone to John Mitchell, elder in Dean of Kinneil?”
— from Witch Stories by E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn) Linton

Falsehood, caprice, dishonesty, obstinacy, revenge, and all the train of vices which are the consequences of mistaken or neglected education, which are learned by bad example, and which are not inspired by nature, need scarcely be known to children whose minds have from their infancy been happily regulated.
— from Practical Education, Volume I by Richard Lovell Edgeworth