The character of the philosophic historian, to whom we are principally indebted for the knowledge of this singular transaction, would alone be sufficient to recommend it to our most attentive consideration.
— 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

Oliver and the girl returned, in a breathless state, to report that there were no tidings of him.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Advantage is a better soldier than rashness.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

These two points in our possession the enemy would necessarily be thrown back to the Memphis and Charleston road, or to the boundary of the cotton states, and, as before stated, that road would be lost to them for through communication.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

The dinner over, and the wine passed round, The hunters rise, and horns and bugles sound; They rouse the game with such a wild halloo, The good man is astonished at the crew; The worst was that, amid this noise and clack, The little kitchen garden went to wrack.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

And this was the true temperament, and middle region of my safety, to remain in Thy Image, and by serving Thee, rule the body.
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

WENDELL HOLMES The bluebird, breathing from his azure plumes The fragrance borrowed from the myrtle blooms; The thrush, poor wanderer, dropping meekly down, Clad in his remnant of autumnal brown; The oriole, drifting like a flake of fire Rent by a whirlwind from a blazing spire; The robin, jerking his spasmodic throat, Repeats imperious, his staccato note; The crack-brained bobolink courts his crazy mate, Poised on a bullrush tipsy with his weight: Nay, in his cage the lone canary sings, Feels the soft air, and spreads his idle wings.
— from The Story of My Life With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy by Helen Keller

It was a beautiful scene, the river gleaming like a flood of silver between its banks of green meadows and stately trees, the three boats with their bright colored occupants.
— from Only One Love; or, Who Was the Heir by Charles Garvice

For a brief span, they ran side by side.
— from The Boy Scouts of Lakeville High by Leslie W. Quirk

“Her home, Shon,”—the priest’s voice was very gentle—“her home was where they sing such words as these of a wanderer: “‘You’ll hear the wild birds singin’ beneath a brighter sky,’ The roof-tree of your home, dear, it will be grand and high;
— from Pierre and His People: Tales of the Far North. Complete by Gilbert Parker

There’s a question about these Tejanos with the United States Minister; and as this Kearney is an Irishman, and so a British subject, the representative of that country may make trouble too.
— from The Free Lances: A Romance of the Mexican Valley by Mayne Reid

Steadily she approached, bravely stemming the racing current, until at length her smoke-stack and pilot-house appeared above the bank.
— from The Frontiersman: A Tale of the Yukon by H. A. (Hiram Alfred) Cody

Before closing this chapter we will quote one other witness (a British subject), the Rev. Mr. Barnley, a missionary at Moose Factory, on the southwestern part of James Bay, to show the full policy of that company toward British missionaries, and also to prove the assertion we make that the Hudson’s Bay Company, as such, is, in a measure, guilty of and responsible for the Whitman and Frazer River massacres, and for the Indian wars and the murder of American citizens contiguous to their territory.
— from A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information by W. H. (William Henry) Gray

A sudden and violent knocking at the back door prevented anyone from having to be polite about how sorry they were, or fanciful about being sure the ring would turn up soon.
— from The Enchanted Castle by E. (Edith) Nesbit

He also gives another example of courage in an attack by this hawk upon a boy seeking to rob its nest.
— from Nature's Serial Story by Edward Payson Roe

This horror that had sprung out, this doubt upon Olalla, this savage and bestial strain that ran not only through the whole behaviour of her family, but found a 163 place in the very foundations and story of our love—though it appalled, though it shocked and sickened me, was yet not of power to break the knot of my infatuation.
— from The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 21 by Robert Louis Stevenson