And, faint from excitement, she leaned her head on her cousin's shoulder and wept.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

For these, indeed, the few attempts which they occasionally made to come into contact with these natives, and the few mishaps which brought them to their shores, were all far from encouraging in results, and only strengthened the traditional superstitious fear of them.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

How any man can see so many people of all kinds, with all kinds of errands, and do so much hard work, and still keep himself calm, patient, and fresh for each visitor in the way that President McKinley does, I cannot understand.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington

It does not depend on the size of the house; the Lovejoys never have any trouble, and yet their one maid of all work has a far from "easy" place, and a vacancy at Brookmeadows is always sought after, even though the Oldnames spend ten months of the year in the country.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

As for Henry Adams, fresh from Europe and chaos of another sort, he plunged at once into a lurid atmosphere of politics, quite heedless of any education or forethought.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

But the intense eagerness and joy depicted in the face of Newman Noggs, which was suffused with perspiration; the surprising energy with which he directed a constant succession of blows towards a particular panel about five feet eight from the ground, and still worked away in the most untiring and persevering manner, would have sufficiently explained to the attentive observer, that his imagination was thrashing, to within an inch of his life, his body’s most active employer, Mr. Ralph Nickleby.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Ho, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient; yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath, squandered abroad.
— from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

However, the event showed me I was a fool for entertaining a sense even of surprise.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

But if Diocletian had been convinced of the reality of that valuable art, far from extinguishing the memory, he would have converted the operation of it to the benefit of the public revenue.
— 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

I assert that there is no country in Europe in which the public administration has not become, not only more centralized, but more inquisitive and more minute it everywhere interferes in private concerns more than it did; it regulates more undertakings, and undertakings of a lesser kind; and it gains a firmer footing every day about, above, and around all private persons, to assist, to advise, and to coerce them.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

Originally the consuls of these guilds were the only elected officials in the city, and in the early days of its liberty they were even charged with political duties, and are found, for example, signing a treaty of peace with a neighbouring state.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Solid he stood, erect, about five feet eight in height, with square features, thin, closed lips, brown hair, brown beard, both cut short, and neat.
— from With Fire and Sword by S. H. M. (Samuel Hawkins Marshall) Byers

Make a great fountain in it—beautiful marble—to bubble and gurgle, and trickle and foam, for ever and ever, and wash away the sins of the Lavingtons, that the little rosy children may play round it, and the poor toil-bent woman may wash—and wash—and drink—
— from Yeast: a Problem by Charles Kingsley

So lonesome that there were times when life looked absolutely worthless; when the blue devils made him their plaything, and he saw Billy Louise looking scornfully upon him and loving some other man better; when he saw his name blackened by the suspicion that he was a rustler—preying upon his neighbors' cattle; when he saw Buck Olney laughing in derision of his mercy and fixing fresh evidence against him to confound him utterly.
— from The Ranch at the Wolverine by B. M. Bower

Our residence has two ranges of buildings, running back about one hundred and fifty feet, exclusive of the front yard, with a wide area between them.
— from Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat In the U. S. Sloop-of-war Peacock, David Geisinger, Commander, During the Years 1832-3-4 by Edmund Roberts

It is extremely curious to see flocks after flocks follow exactly the same evolutions when they arrive at the same place.
— from True Stories about Dogs and Cats by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen

( g ) Air compressors, air flasks, field expedients.
— from Engineer Port Repair Ship by United States. War Department

Marcus Aurelius, far from exaggerating it, extenuated it with all his powers; and one of the glories of his reign is the extension of the right of association.
— from English Conferences of Ernest Renan: Rome and Christianity. Marcus Aurelius by Ernest Renan

The pitying heart that felt for human woe; The dauntless heart that feared no human pride; The friend of man, to vice alone a foe; 'For e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side.'"
— from Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2) by William Howitt