Julian

“Grant [....] had no right to exist. He should have been extinct for ages. [....] That, two thousand years after Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, a man like Grant should be called — and should actually and truly be — the highest product of the most advanced evolution, made evolution ludicrous. [....] The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant, was alone evidence enough to upset Darwin.”
― Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams

“Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for Heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces."
"Kitty has no discretion in her coughs," said her father;" she times them ill."
"I do not cough for my own amusement," replied Kitty fretfully.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“Man is born free; and yet everywhere he is in chains.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract

“And to Pierre all people seemed to be such soldiers, saving themselves from life: some with ambition, some with cards, some with drafting laws, some with women, some with playthings, some with horses, some with politics, some with hunting, some with wine, some with affairs of state.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace