He could no longer say that he would always reject her, and not to say that was in spirit to accept her now.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy

Mr. Winkle looked somewhat stern at this interruption, and Mr. Pickwick angrily requested his attendant not to jest with one of the best feelings of our nature; to which Sam replied, ‘That he wouldn’t, if he was aware on it; but there were so many on ‘em, that he hardly know’d which was the best ones
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

If it were that thou hadst at one time both a stepmother, and a natural mother living, thou wouldst honour and respect her also; nevertheless to thine own natural mother would thy refuge, and recourse be continually.
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

"As you know, all my sympathies are with the King and Queen, and in whatsoever way I can serve their Majesties I am ready here and now to pledge myself to that service."
— from Calvert of Strathore by Abbe Carter Goodloe

Those who are rich here are not the best off, for it is they who are squeezed when our lords have need of money.
— from At the Point of the Bayonet: A Tale of the Mahratta War by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Henslow made a friend of my father (he was known as the “man who walks with Henslow”), and recommended him as naturalist to the “Beagle,” where he was made into a man of science.
— from Rustic Sounds, and Other Studies in Literature and Natural History by Darwin, Francis, Sir

"But, as to my resources, I do not lack for money, and am ready, here and now, to lay you, or any one else, a thousand guineas that I shall be one of the first three to pass the winning-post on the fifteenth."
— from The Amateur Gentleman by Jeffery Farnol

“All right,” he acquiesced, none too heartily.
— from Coelebs: The Love Story of a Bachelor by F. E. Mills (Florence Ethel Mills) Young

His fame had preceded him, and men were surprised to see only beardless youth in one whose speeches, and learning, and wit, and fine social qualities, had already rendered him at Natchez "the observed of all observers."
— from The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss by George Lewis Prentiss

But one evening just as they were all in the midst of their fun, up came the watchmen to drag the lad off to the town hall; for the sheriff had laid a charge against him, and said he had waylaid him and robbed him and nearly taken his life.
— from East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen

Caio, however, with Llansawel and Pumpsaint, its daughter benefices, was a rich holding, and not to be sacrificed except for something better.
— from Pabo, the Priest: A Novel by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

The Lucy Foster had come across the Gulf like a runaway horse, and now they were expecting to strike in somewhere.
— from The Deep Sea's Toll by James B. (James Brendan) Connolly