Because these were people she knew, she refrained from calling them "degenerates" or "infidels"

When some rich Muslim families in Şişli and Nişantaşı began buying pine trees to decorate and display in windows the way Christians did in films, I remember that even my mother felt uneasy, but because these were people she knew, she refrained from calling them "degenerates" or "infidels" as the religious press would, dismissing them rather as "harebrained."

O. Pamuk, The museum of Innocence (2009), 446

The absolute black of the sky dulled and dimmed

The absolute black of the sky dulled and dimmed and blanched slowly away, and finally half a dozen daubs of cloud, dull powder pink, sailed high in a pale-green sky, rust-red at the horizon.

M. Robinson, Housekeeping (1980),117

One seems to hear the bugles blowing for the Crusades

[']I rather wish sometimes, Connie,' said Lady Julia meditatively, 'that you were a little less of the grande dame. It's wonderful to watch you in action, I admit - one seems to hear the bugles blowing for the Crusades and the tramp of the mailed feet of a hundred steel-clad ancestors - but there's no getting away from it that you do put people's backs up a bit.'

P.G Wodehouse, Heavy Weather (1933), 240-241

A public-house for each individual inhabitant

The ideal towards which the City Fathers of all English county towns strive is to provide a public-house for each individual inhabitant; and those of Market Blandings had not been supine in this matter. From where Beach stood, he could see no fewer than six such establishments.

P.G. Wodehouse, Heavy Weather (1933), 153

The deceased was a Russian by birth, and therefore excitable

He did not attempt to disguise his own opinion, which was that the deceased had taken his own life. ... Various motives had been suggested, and the jury must bear in mind that the deceased was a Russian by birth, and therefore excitable, and liable to be overcome by feelings of melancholy and despair. He himself  had read a great deal of Russian literature and could assure the jury that suicide was of frequent occurrence among the members of that unhappy nation. We who enjoyed the blessing of being British might find that difficult to understand, but the jury could take it from him that it was so.

D.L. Sayers, Have his carcase (1932),  277

Satan is real

Preacher, tell them that Satan is real too. You can hear him in songs that give praise to idols and sinful things of this world. You can see him in the destruction of homes torn apart. I know that Satan is real. For once I had a happy home; I was loved and respected by my family; I was looked upon as a leader in my community. And then Satan came into my life, I grew selfish and un-neighbourly. My friends turned against me. And finally my home was broken apart. My children took their path into a world of sin.

Yes, preacher, it’s sweet to know that God is real. And to know that in him all things are possible. And we know that heaven is a real place, where joy shall never end. But sinner friends, if you’re here today, Satan is real too, and hell is a real place. A place of everlasting punishment.

The Louvin Brothers, 'Satan is Real', Satan is Real (1959), 1.11 - 2.24

Votaries initiated in the orgies of Dionysus ran about in goat-skins, mangling hounds in Bacchic frenzy

Accordingly during the whole period of his [Valens'] reign the altar fire was lit, libations and sacrifices were offered to idols, public feasts were celebrated in the forum, and votaries initiated in the orgies of Dionysus ran about in goat-skins, mangling hounds in Bacchic frenzy, and generally behaving in such a way as to show the iniquity of their master. When the right faithful Theodosius found all these evils he pulled them up by the roots, and consigned them to oblivion.

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Ecclesiastical History V.21.4-5, tr. NPNF