He had never thought that a fugitive might be a hapless mother, a defenceless child,—like that one which was now wearing his lost boy’s little well-known cap; and so, as our poor senator was not stone or steel,—as he was a man, and a downright noble-hearted one, too,—he was, as everybody must see, in a sad case for his patriotism.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

gave him all his medicine, and did everything for him; and then he called me his good angel, and said I’d saved his life.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

A howling monster; a drunken monster!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

A slate gravestone would suit me as well as a marble one, with just my name and age, and a verse of a hymn, and something to let people know that I lived an honest man and died a Christian.
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

When Therykion tried to persuade Cleomenes to despatch himself, by reason of the ill posture of his affairs, and, having missed a death of more honour in the battle he had lost, to accept of this the second in honour to it, and not to give the conquerors leisure to make him undergo either an ignominious death or an infamous life; Cleomenes, with a courage truly Stoic and Lacedaemonian, rejected his counsel as unmanly and mean; “that,” said he, “is a remedy that can never be wanting, but which a man is never to make use of, whilst there is an inch of hope remaining”: telling him, “that it was sometimes constancy and valour to live; that he would that even his death should be of use to his country, and would make of it an act of honour and virtue.”
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

He clutched the hammer with all his might and dashed it at his temples, which he saw uppermost.
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson

Still she had energy enough to bring about the union of Denise Tascheron and Gregoire Gerard, gave her son into their keeping, left important bequests destined to keep alive her memory, and died during the summer of 1844 after confessing in public in the presence of Bianchon, Dutheil, Granville, Mme.
— from Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z by Anatole Cerfberr

Over the side-door, below the burial-place of Carlo Marsuppini of Arezzo, he made a Dead Christ with the Maries, wrought in fresco, which was very much praised; and below the tramezzo
— from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi by Giorgio Vasari

Now when the Master rose, be sure Against his men and dogs he swore, For 'tis a common trick of masters Others to blame for their disasters.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

Accordingly he made a descent upon the market-place, and laid violent hands upon those opposed to him; tried to rouse his relations and friends; and declared to the rest of the people there what hopes of success he had.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Pope Clement the Sixth, 4 the successor of Benedict, received them with hospitality and honor, acknowledged the innocence of their sovereign, excused his distress, applauded his magnanimity, and displayed a clear knowledge of the state and revolutions of the Greek empire, which he had imbibed from the honest accounts of a Savoyard lady, an attendant of the empress Anne.
— from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6 by Edward Gibbon

If everybody who sees sin upon his neighbor would do that—if he would take the Lord's counsel and go and see his brother alone, and tell him his fault—how many would be saved from backsliding, and how many a disgraceful split and controversy in churches might be saved!
— from Godliness : being reports of a series of addresses delivered at James's Hall, London, W. during 1881 by Catherine Mumford Booth

Facing the wind and rain, he recalled how Stacy, though never so enthusiastic about his marriage as Demorest, had taken up Van Loo sharply for some foolish sneer about his own youthfulness.
— from The Three Partners by Bret Harte

A subtle observer might have noticed a little hardness about her mouth, and disillusion hanging slightly on her eyes.
— from The White Peacock by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

Her husband, dying as he was, as he must and did know himself to be, shrunk from one of her appearance, unsexed as she had become by habits, and changed by years and suffering.
— from Graham's Magazine Vol. XXXII No. 2. February 1848 by Various

"Is it an honest mind, a decent life, an austerity of living as great as that of any priest, a neighbourliness that gives and takes in fairness—" "No, no, no," interposed the Cure eagerly.
— from The Right of Way — Volume 04 by Gilbert Parker

She tried to forget it, but could not, and kept repeating to herself, "Mrs. M. has made her plans," "that fib about her mamma," and "dowdy tarlatan," till she was ready to cry, and rush home to tell her troubles and ask for advice.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

“He believes on his sword and his mission, and death is for him only the door to his real home.
— from Historical Miniatures by August Strindberg