| 1. | But perhaps he will not come he may write, or he may come himself, and studiously abstain from meeting me--he did when he went away. - from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens |
| 2. | They also abstain from all heavy thoughts which inflate the heart.. - from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche |
| 3. | Then we must abstain from spoiling the dead or hindering their buria. - from The Republic by Plato |
| 4. | I was careful, however, to show no concern and to abstain from any pursuit of them, and in the course of a day or two things got back to the old footing. - from The Time Machine by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells |
| 5. | "It is well for you that a low fever has forced you to abstain for the last three days there would have been danger in yielding to the cravings of your appetite at first. - from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |
| 6. | A man of any rank may, without any reproach, abstain totally from tasting such liquors. - from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith |
| 7. | When they at last became men they lived but a short time, for they would not abstain from mutual injury, nor pay the service due to the gods, and were therefore banished to Hades. - from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens |
| 8. | For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornicatio. - from The King James Bible |
| 9. | I concealed the fact of his having swallowed nothing for four days, fearing it might lead to trouble, and then, I am persuaded, he did not abstain on purpose it was the consequence of his strange illness, not the cause. - from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte |
| 10. | And who abstains from meat that is not gaun. - from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare |
| 11. | And he who abstains will be regarded by the world as a fool for his pains. - from The Republic by Plato |