He finished off by squeaking so like a pig that the spectators thought that he had a porker concealed about him.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop

The first two modes of payment are intelligible enough, but what the penalty is I do not understand, or how a penalty can be a payment.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

“Why, it seems that I crushed for him a parliament councillor.”
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

When the time came for the porter to depart, Sindbad gave him a purse containing one hundred sequins, saying, "Take this, Hindbad, and go home, but to-morrow come again and you shall hear more of my adventures.
— from The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Andrew Lang

The fruit, however, may have a pericarp consisting of mucilage, starch, sugar and gum, etc., while the seeds contain fatty matter, fixed or essential oils or alkaloids, as is the case with coffee and cacao.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. (Trinidad Hermenegildo) Pardo de Tavera

For to say a man has a positive clear idea of any quantity, without knowing how great it is, is as reasonable as to say, he has the positive clear idea of the number of the sands on the sea-shore, who knows not how many there be, but only that they are more than twenty.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

Most persons probably stop with the idea that "helmet" denotes a queer kind of headgear a people called the Greeks once wore.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

By which it is manifest, that speaking by the Spirit, or Inspiration, was not a particular manner of Gods speaking, different from Vision, when they that were said to speak by the Spirit, were extraordinary Prophets, such as for every new message, were to have a particular Commission, or (which is all one) a new Dream, or Vision.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Watson greatly enjoyed having a private chat with Sibyl.
— from Daddy's Girl by L. T. Meade

This bachelor, though his name was Samson, was none of the biggest in body, but a very great man at all manner of drollery; he had a pale complexion, but good sense.
— from The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

AUSTRALIA; its History and present Condition.
— from Australia, its history and present condition containing an account both of the bush and of the colonies, with their respective inhabitants by W. (William) Pridden

I believe there can be no difficulty whatever in accomplishing this, nor of crossing the Kojuck without loss, provided the heights are properly crowned on either side.
— from History of the War in Afghanistan, Vol. 3 (of 3) Third Edition by Kaye, John William, Sir

If Fred in a weak moment paid a higher price to the vendor of a property than he, as promoter, could afford, it was Joe who took the smug vendor out to dinner and, by persuasion, argument, and the frank expression of his liking for the unfortunate man, tore away a portion of his ill-gotten gains.
— from Bones in London by Edgar Wallace

This heat and pressure caused elements in the rocks to join together into different combinations to form new minerals, such as garnets.
— from Texas Rocks and Minerals: An Amateur's Guide by Roselle M. Girard

I planted about two acres and a half of upland; and as it was only about fifteen years since the land was cleared, and I myself had got out two or three cords of stumps, I did not give it any manure; but in the course of the summer it appeared by the arrowheads which I turned up in hoeing, that an extinct nation had anciently dwelt here and planted corn and beans ere white men came to clear the land, and so, to some extent, had exhausted the soil for this very crop.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

When the sun dips below the horizon, a private Congress is held, the fate of the measure is decided; a bundle are tied together; and while one goes ahead as a bait, another is held back as a rod.
— from Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850 by Thomas Hart Benton

The child in question is not in the least precocious, but having understood the knowledge he has gained, he is able to make use of it, he has a definite mental perspective, a sure grasp on things, which makes study of any kind easy for him, and progression correspondingly rapid.”
— from When Winter Comes to Main Street by Grant M. (Grant Martin) Overton