I was terribly afraid lest I should discover that my inspiration had left me—when suddenly I was seized with the idea that I had forgotten to write out the song of the helmsman in the first act, although, as a matter of fact, I could not remember having composed it at all, as I had in reality only just written the lyrics.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

As a matter of fact, a London gutter-boy walks unscathed among furnaces of color.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

As a matter of fact, her little newspaper fame was nothing at all to him.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser

“Think of me to-morrow, my dear Emma, about four o'clock,” was Mrs. Weston's parting injunction; spoken with some anxiety, and meant only for her.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

His remaining behind and his French name were really the only two points which could suggest suspicion; but, as a matter of fact, I did not begin work until he had gone, and his people are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you and I are.
— from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Hannibal, as a matter of fact, did leave a sufficient guard in his camp; and 274 as soon as the battle began, the Romans, according to their instructions, assaulted and tried to take those thus left by Hannibal.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Their lives and their deeds, looked at after my own fashion, I write down in my diary, as every one ought to do.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

This question implies only that, as a matter of fact, Shakespeare in writing tragedy did represent a certain aspect of life in a certain way, and that through examination of his writings we ought to [6] be able, to some extent, to describe this aspect and way in terms addressed to the understanding.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. (Andrew Cecil) Bradley

This same son, I imagine, is a man of expensive habits, no reckless spendthrift and no abandoned sensualist, but one who likes to have ‘everything handsome about him,’ and to go to a certain length in youthful indulgences, not so much to gratify his own tastes as to maintain his reputation as a man of fashion in the world, and a respectable fellow among his own lawless companions; while he is too selfish to consider how many comforts might be obtained for his fond mother and sisters with the money he thus wastes upon himself: as long as they can contrive to make a respectable appearance once a year, when they come to town, he gives himself little concern about their private stintings and struggles at home.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

As a matter of fact, it is a puzzle based on the principle contained in that curious Chinese symbol the Monad.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

As a matter of fact, she is the oldest city of the three, having been settled by the Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701, ninety years before the first white man built his hut where Buffalo now stands, and ninety-five years before the settlement of Cleveland.
— from Abroad at Home: American Ramblings, Observations, and Adventures of Julian Street by Julian Street

We said we did not, though as a matter of fact we did.
— from All Men are Ghosts by L. P. (Lawrence Pearsall) Jacks

And as a matter of fact, Jack had been trying to get you to go into the hospital because the doctors had advised him and you that you needed this operation immediately?
— from Warren Commission (14 of 26): Hearings Vol. XIV (of 15) by United States. Warren Commission

As a matter of fact, the larvæ of Oxyuris have been found in the nose.
— from The Animal Parasites of Man by Fred. V. (Frederick Vincent) Theobald

In answer, the old man lifted his head, pulled away a mass of false grey hair and a wax mask from, his face, and the old Jew pedlar, Abraham of Norwich, stood before the astonished ladies.
— from Earl Hubert's Daughter The Polishing of the Pearl - A Tale of the 13th Century by Emily Sarah Holt

As a matter of fact, not only was David Grieve a better novel than
— from Essays on Modern Novelists by William Lyon Phelps

As a matter of fact it would have been difficult to use cosmetics upon that face in the modern way, for there was a suggestion of something more than down upon the countenance, and there were certain irregularities of facial outline so prominent that such details as the little matter of complexion must be trifling.
— from The Story of Ab: A Tale of the Time of the Cave Man by Stanley Waterloo

The Robecq district was remarkable for its well-stocked farms, and with the general flight of the civilians large numbers of unmilked cows, geese, goats, hens, and all manner of farmyard creatures commenced to stray across the fields and down the roads.
— from The Story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry by Geoffrey Keith Rose

“As a matter of fact, so are we all, perfectly A-one,” said Arthur.
— from Aaron's Rod by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

As a matter of fact, metaphysics, spiritualism, and materialism, are conceptions of great vagueness, and the problem to reconcile them by any fashion of union, is rather like inquiring how many ways there are of placing three persons at table, or even a greater number.
— from The Monist, Vol. 1, 1890-1891 by Various