My second maxim was to be as firm and resolute in my actions as I was able, and not to adhere less steadfastly to the most doubtful opinions, when once adopted, than if they had been highly certain; imitating in this the example of travelers who, when they have lost their way in a forest, ought not to wander from side to side, far less remain in one place, but proceed constantly towards the same side in as straight a line as possible, without changing their direction for slight reasons, although perhaps it might be chance alone which at first determined the selection; for in this way, if they do not exactly reach the point they desire, they will come at least in the end to some place that will probably be preferable to the middle of a forest.
— from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences by René Descartes

the women will ask me when they find the men want to see me." An article as necessary to a lady in this position as her brougham or her bouquet is her companion.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The result is that within an area not twice as large as Massachusetts we find a marvelous diversity of folk, as is shown by the variety in physical aspect, moral quality, language, and creed in the several important valleys and other divisions of that complicated topography.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

How could I possibly prefer the spoilt pet of a wealthy family, who would hate her governess as a nuisance, to a lonely little orphan, who leans towards her as a friend?”
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

Again, in the course of my life, which had been, after all, nine tenths a life of effort, virtue and control, it had been much less exercised and much less exhausted.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The river yielded a free passage to the victorious Zimisces; and the historian may imitate the speed with which he overran the once famous cities of Samosata, Edessa, Martyropolis, Amida, and Nisibis, the ancient limit of the empire in the neighborhood of the Tigris.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

The seconds lengthened out as a nightmare, till at last the stupendous stillness was broken by the wild clamour of a loon, far down on the lake.
— from The House in the Water: A Book of Animal Stories by Roberts, Charles G. D., Sir

Before one auberge stood a half drunken crowd, one of whom, as we went slowly by, seized a long pole to rush on me withal, and was with difficulty held back by two of his comrades; the rest laughed; and I, who had no expectation of an attack, (not thinking a lady’s habit would wake such animosity,) as mine enemy struggled hard, and I did not know how the contest might end, thought proper not to wait to see, and we rode away.
— from A Ride on Horseback to Florence Through France and Switzerland. Vol. 2 of 2 Described in a Series of Letters by a Lady by Augusta Macgregor Holmes

“It is agreed among naturalists that a lion is a larger, a stronger, and more dangerous enemy than a cat; yet if a man were to have his choice, either a lion at his foot fast bound with three or four chains, his teeth drawn out, and his claws pared to the quick, or an angry cat in full liberty at his throat, he would take no long time to determine.”
— from Swift by Leslie Stephen

'(2) That, except as against native tribes and land forces unsupplied with siege artillery, it is not a fortress at all.
— from Rulers of India: The Earl of Mayo by William Wilson Hunter

He laughed and answered: "Nay, 'tis a lovely red, I vow."
— from The Black Box: A Tale of Monmouth's Rebellion by W. Bourne Cooke

There is, however, another class of fruits or seeds, usually termed nuts, in which there is a large amount of edible matter, often very agreeable to the taste, and especially attractive and nourishing to a large number of animals.
— from Darwinism (1889) An exposition of the theory of natural selection, with some of its applications by Alfred Russel Wallace

These sentiments deepened, as he lay, hours long, awake at night till, at length, a low fever seized him, and long intervals of dreary incoherency would break the tenor of his sounder thoughts.
— from Gerald Fitzgerald, the Chevalier: A Novel by Charles James Lever

In the evening, soon after dinner, the large hall, with high-backed carved chairs arranged in rows as for a meeting, and an armchair next to a little table, with a bottle of water for the speaker, began to fill with people come to hear the foreigner, Kiesewetter, preach.
— from Resurrection by Tolstoy, Leo, graf