But you don't find inspiration in them; and you won't in her when she ceases to be a poet's dream and becomes a solid eleven stone wife.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw

I see it, and so does mother; you are not like your old self a bit, and seem ever so far away from me.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

You are not like your old self a bit, and seem ever so far away from me.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

She just came riding in—” Mr. Picker strode to the centre of the stage and, by a simple expedient strangely unthought-of before—by merely pulling away the bucket, separated Gypsy from the candy.
— from Missy by Dana Gatlin

A man attacked by a slight epileptiform seizure while in the act of writing will sometimes continue to write a few sentences unconsciously, which, although probably nonsensical, will often be correct in spelling and grammar.
— from Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, April 1885 by Various

Thou only virtuous, gentle, kind, Amid a world of hate; And by a slight endurance seal A fellow-being’s lasting weal.
— from Shelley by John Addington Symonds

And remember, reader, that it was on the silvered sands, every inch of which was associated with some reminiscence of childhood; it was beneath a moon smiling as fondly and brightly as she ever smiled on the domes of Venice or between the trees of Fiesole; it was by the margin of waves whose murmurs were soft and perfumed as Winifred's own breathing's when she slept; and remember that the girl was Winifred herself, and that the boy—the happy boy—had Winifred's love.
— from Aylwin by Theodore Watts-Dunton

And while she may go on with the closed heart and become a saint, even saintship is hardly sufficient to compensate any man or woman for a half-lived life.
— from The Translation of a Savage, Volume 3 by Gilbert Parker

Then someone with presence of mind said they ought to look for Ed, and Ben agreed; so everybody searched and they found him in this sawdust.
— from Ma Pettengill by Harry Leon Wilson

Harry dropped his knife, and by a superhuman effort succeeded, at the moment the rope was giving way, in catching hold of it with his right hand above the cut made by the beak of the bird.
— from The Underground City; Or, The Black Indies (Sometimes Called The Child of the Cavern) by Jules Verne

A big pompous fellow turned his wicked-looking white eye upon me, drew himself into a queer humped-up position, with all his feathers on end, and apparently by a strong effort squeezed out a husky and squeaky, yet loud cry of two notes, which sounded exactly like "Squee-gee!"
— from A Bird-Lover in the West by Olive Thorne Miller

Sandford passed three days, and was beginning the fourth, when sitting with Lord Elmwood and Rushbrook just after breakfast, a servant entered, saying, as he opened the door, to somebody who followed, "You must wait till you have my Lord's permission."
— from A Simple Story by Mrs. Inchbald