And it comes in the end to their reducing everything to the building of walls and the planning of rooms and passages in a phalanstery!
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

And to this end, I will strive to reproduce thy condition faithfully, without discriminations; I will raise a part of the veil that covers the evil, sacrificing to truth everything, even vanity itself, since, as thy son, I am conscious that I also suffer from thy defects and weaknesses.
— from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal

The lessons only taught her the rules, and practice is necessary to acquire a language.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

p. 305) that reflex actions proper to the spinal cord are NATURAL; but, by the help of the brain, that is through habit, an infinity of ARTIFICIAL reflex actions may be acquired.
— from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin

At the twenty-eighth annual National Conference of Charities and Correction, at Washington, D.C., Mary E. Richmond read a paper upon "Charitable Co-operation" in which she presented a diagram and a classification of the social forces of the community from the point of view of the social worker
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

On entering his room, I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

That foster-brother of remorse and pain Drops poison in mine ear,—O to be free, To burn one’s old ships!
— from Poems, with The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde

When the pagan Roman Empire desired to become Christian, it inevitably happened that, by becoming Christian, it included the Church but remained a pagan State in very many of its departments.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

He did swim in deep waters on his belly, on his back, sideways, with all his body, with his feet only, with one hand in the air, wherein he held a book, crossing thus the breadth of the river of Seine without wetting it, and dragged along his cloak with his teeth, as did Julius Caesar; then with the help of one hand he entered forcibly into a boat, from whence he cast himself again headlong into the water, sounded the depths, hollowed the rocks, and plunged into the pits and gulfs.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

Then the dog dragged himself back, covered with bites and scratches, to be rewarded and petted by his master.
— from My Antonia by Willa Cather

What time he did so, a pair of bright little blue eyes were very busy with Mr. Caryll's carriage, from which Leduc, Mr. Caryll's valet, was in the act of removing a portmantle.
— from The Lion's Skin by Rafael Sabatini

The land through which the long procession slowly made its way, at the rate of about six miles a day, was stark and ruined; and provisions, as well as beds and all other necessaries, had to be carried for the whole multitude, the cavalcade covering over twenty miles of road.
— from The Court of Philip IV.: Spain in Decadence by Martin A. S. (Martin Andrew Sharp) Hume

[With this gentleman I spent from three to five hours daily, during my first stay of fifteen days, in walking about the city seeing sights and studying French reading and pronunciation].
— from The Youthful Wanderer An Account of a Tour through England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and the Rhine, Switzerland, Italy, and Egypt, Adapted to the Wants of Young Americans Taking Their First Glimpses at the Old World by George H. Heffner

The son, Howard, was a manly fellow, studious but wide awake, and upon him the old man rested a precious hope.
— from Judge Elbridge by Opie Percival Read

But the artillery was behind them, and from it was belched forth a hail of shrapnel which compelled the re-inforcements to draw rein and "pant to the place from whence at first they flew."
— from The Siege of Kimberley Its Humorous and Social Side; Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902); Eighteen Weeks in Eighteen Chapters by T. Phelan

Lord John's Views on the Ministry—Gloomy Prospects—Attacks on Lord Raglan—Russian and Prussian Diplomacy—Lord Palmerston more in favour—French View of the British Army—Russian Negotiations—Lord John Russell in Paris—Conference at Vienna—Lord Raglan unmoved—Terms proposed to Russia—Failure of the Duke of Newcastle—Hesitation of Austria and France—Deplorable State of the Armies—Chances of Peace—Meeting of Parliament—Further Negotiations—Lord John Russell resigns—Ministers stay in—The Debate on Roebuck's Motion—Resignation of Lord Aberdeen—Lord John Russell's real Motives—Lord Derby sent for—and fails—Wise Decision of the Queen—Ministerial Negotiations—Lord Palmerston sent for—The Peelites refuse to join—Lord Palmerston forms a Government—Lord Palmerston's Prospects—Lord John Russell sent to Vienna—Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons—General Alarm—Difficulties of Lord Palmerston—The Peelites secede—Lord John accepts the Colonial Office—Sir George Lewis Chancellor of the Exchequer—Death of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia—Lord Palmerston supposed to be a weak Debater—Weakness of the Government—Fresh Arrangements—The Budget—The Press page 217 CHAPTER IX.
— from The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 2) A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860 by Charles Greville

Condemned by Trajan to exposure to wild beasts in the amphitheatre at Rome, a passion for martyrdom possessed his soul.
— from The Catacombs of Rome, and Their Testimony Relative to Primitive Christianity by W. H. (William Henry) Withrow