| 1. | will make my faults public, and thus tarnish my characte. - from The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana |
| 2. | Elizabeth also wept and was unhappy, but hers also was the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair moon, for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness. - from Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley |
| 3. | Edmond, my friend, do not compel me to tarnish that noble and pure image reflected incessantly on the mirror of my heart. - from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Pere |
| 4. | They have allowed all this time to elapse, and then all of a sudden rake up events which have been forgotten to furnish materials for scandal, in order to tarnish the lustre of our high position. - from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Pere |