“I hope soon to receive a letter from a friend of mine, which will authorise your excellency producing me.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

“What ails you, eh?
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

No; for your hostility cannot so much hurt us as your friendship will be an argument to our subjects of our weakness, and your enmity of our power.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

If you start the fire on the east side, and then attack from the west, you will suffer in the same way as your enemy.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

"Holloa! who asked you?" exclaimed the Tailor, driving away the uninvited visitors; but the flies, not understanding his words, would not be driven off, and came back in greater numbers than before.
— from Grimm's Fairy Stories by Wilhelm Grimm

The invitation was one which, a year earlier, would have provoked a less ready response, for the party, though organized by Mrs. Fisher, was ostensibly given by a lady of obscure origin and indomitable social ambitions, whose acquaintance Lily had hitherto avoided.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

You and your enemy having had a difference, and having referred it to the arbitrament of war, which is, unfortunately, at present the only human jurisdiction having power to enforce decisions concerning such differences, if you win, and your enemy refuses to abide the decision, he is simply, as it were in contempt of court, and, in the scheme of things, as at present ordered, deserves punishment as an enemy to the general peace.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

Thinking this was a young Earl whom he had met with in society, Aubrey seemed pleased, and astonished them still more by his expressing his intention to be present at the nuptials, and desiring to see his sister.
— from The Vampyre; a Tale by John William Polidori

Looke, you doe ſirah, 25 Diſcharge this well, as you expect your place.
— from The Devil is an Ass by Ben Jonson

There you shall be met by my brother and myself, who will next day conduct you to this place, where, I am sure, you will find yourself perfectly at your case in the midst of an agreeable society.—Dear Letty, I will take no refusal—if you have any friendship—any humanity—you will come.—I desire that immediate application may be made to your mamma; and that the moment her permission is obtained, you will apprise Your ever faithful, LYDIA MELFORD Oct. 14.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

"What are you eating, boy?" demanded Mr. Pett, his disappointment turning to irritability.
— from Piccadilly Jim by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

“What are your engagements?
— from Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution by Rafael Sabatini

I told her, I said, "This is Myrtle 63 Evans, who helped Lee Oswald get that apartment; how are the Oswalds getting along," and she said, "You know, they are a queer kind of people," and she said, "I just told him, 'After all, how do you expect your wife and your child ever to speak the English language when all you ever talk to them is in Russian'?"
— from Warren Commission (08 of 26): Hearings Vol. VIII (of 15) by United States. Warren Commission

And so, with a "yours ever," the epistle ended.
— from The Emancipated by George Gissing

"Where are you, Elfie?" "Where am I?"
— from Queechy, Volume II by Susan Warner

"Well, what are your eyes and nose all red for then?" asked Amy reasonably.
— from The Outdoor Girls at the Hostess House; Or, Doing Their Best for the Soldiers by Laura Lee Hope

"Then wot are you 'ere for?"
— from The Incendiary: A Story of Mystery by William Augustine Leahy

It may be that no one will search for you here; but if you think it more advisable to go abroad, I will accompany you either to Yarmouth or Harwich, where you may take ship and get across to France.”
— from John Deane of Nottingham: Historic Adventures by Land and Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

she only draws her veil the closer; and you may look with all your eyes, and imagine that you see all that she can show, and yet see nothing.
— from Passages from the English Notebooks, Complete by Nathaniel Hawthorne

They saw in him a nobility disfigured and a chivalry marred, still capable of asserting itself, but which as yet every rebuke and every warning had failed to arouse; and on this account the good people of England sorrowed with a jealous sorrow over their “Prince Hal,” and looked forward with trembling to see how all this would end.
— from Parkhurst Boys, and Other Stories of School Life by Talbot Baines Reed