If, however, by an unforeseen chance it should be in my power to serve him farther, I must think very differently of him from what I now do, if I am not as ready to be useful to him then as I sincerely wish I could be at present.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Wolves have not more strength than several species of dogs; but, on account of their unmanageable fierceness, the idea of a wolf is not despicable; it is not excluded from grand descriptions and similitudes.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

“I wisht I never die if I done it, duke, and that’s honest.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Sir W. Coventry he hath not yet made acquainted with it, nor do intend it, it being done purely to ease himself of the many troubles and plagues which he thinks the perverseness and unkindness of Sir W. Coventry and others by his means have and is likely every day to bring upon him, and the Parliament’s envy, and lastly to put himself into a condition of making up his accounts, which he is, he says, afeard he shall never otherwise be.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod

page 5 p. 5 You will tell me too how long you remain in England; I fancy, till Winter: and then you will go to Rome again, with its new Dynasty installed in it.
— from Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883) by Edward FitzGerald

The sacred work is not departmental; it is one long organic process from the moment when a man is picked up from the field of battle to the moment when he is restored to the ranks of full civil life.
— from Another Sheaf by John Galsworthy

A very considerable proportion of Hudson's income found its way, if not directly, indirectly, into her pockets.
— from The Threatening Eye by E. F. (Edward Frederick) Knight

Any man could assume the yellow robe if he vowed to live in poverty and chastity, and wander through the land as a mendicant, a mode of obtaining a livelihood which is not difficult in India.
— from The History of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (of 6) by Max Duncker

“A woman’s work is never done” is in some households accepted as a natural law.
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 05, November 1884, No. 2 by Chautauqua Institution

Its strength lay in its freedom from cranks and bores, its weakness lay in its uniformity: a house which is not divided in itself may stand firm, but it is likely to be a dull and gloomy mansion.
— from Years of Plenty by Ivor John Carnegie Brown

The first allegro has for a theme a phrase of six measures, which is not distinguished in itself but becomes interesting through the artistic treatment.
— from Philip Hale's Boston Symphony Programme Notes by Philip Hale

His will, taken from the original on file at Somerset House, London, is as follows: “An attempt having been made to assassinate me on the night of the 10th instant, which may be repeated with success, and being desirous of settling my worldly affairs and there being no professional person at Paris to whom I can entrust the task of drawing my Will, I now draw it in my own hand writing, hereby revoking all former Wills particularly one likewise in my own hand writing made in the year 1807 previous to the Expedition to Copenhagen.
— from Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills by Virgil M. (Virgil McClure) Harris