I was very much concerned for his misfortunes, and felt that any recognition short of ninepence would be mere brutality and hardness of heart.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

India has never had a real sense of nationalism.
— from Nationalism by Rabindranath Tagore

How can I tell whether you are a royal secretary or not?
— from The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

In the corner near her was a rich surprise of new-blown, crystal-dewed roses.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

In intercourse with scholars and artists one readily makes mistakes of opposite kinds: in a remarkable scholar one not infrequently finds a mediocre man; and often, even in a mediocre artist, one finds a very remarkable man.
— from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

And he must plan as well, no less than for what I have mentioned, that they may have abundant provisions and run short of none of the necessaries of life.
— from The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1 by Emperor of Rome Julian

Lord Ruthven in his carriage, and amidst the various wild and rich scenes of nature, was always the same: his eye spoke less than his lip; and though Aubrey was near the object of his curiosity, he obtained no greater gratification from it than the constant excitement of vainly wishing to break that mystery, which to his exalted imagination began to assume the appearance of something supernatural.
— from The Vampyre; a Tale by John William Polidori

Perhaps it would be as well to start out with a broad and rapid sketch of Nietzsche as a writer on Morals, Evolution, and Sociology, so that the reader may be prepared to pick out for himself, so to speak, all passages in this work bearing in any way upon Nietzsche’s views in those three important branches of knowledge.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

If, by chance, an outsider presents herself to see a nun, or one whom she has known and loved in the outer world, a regular series of negotiations is required.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

And with these words the slumbering youth awakes: "Rise, son of Nestor; for the road prepare, And join the harness'd coursers to the car." "What cause (he cried) can justify our flight To tempt the dangers of forbidding night?
— from The Odyssey by Homer

A rapid succession of notes would in this case produce confusion and discord.
— from On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences by Mary Somerville

These "rotten boroughs" as they were called, were usually in the hands of wealthy landowners; one great Peer literally carrying eleven boroughs in his pocket, so that eleven members went to the House of Commons at his dictation.—It would seem that a reform so obviously needed should have been easy to accomplish.
— from A Short History of England, Ireland and Scotland by Mary Platt Parmele

When at last midnight had passed and nothing had happened, they decided to abandon their vigil and return some other night.
— from Legend Land, Vol. 2 Being a Collection of Some of the Old Tales Told in Those Western Parts of Britain Served by the Great Western Railway by G. Basil (George Basil) Barham

The star-fishes have a radiating system of nerves suited to their form.
— from On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 2 (of 2) by Mary Somerville

In another part of South America, near the town of Cumana, is a vast cavern in the Valley of Caripe, which was many years ago visited by Baron Humboldt, who found it inhabited by a remarkable species of nocturnal bird, called the guacharo.
— from The Mines and its Wonders by William Henry Giles Kingston

XIV Gemina arrives from Britain and receives submission of Nervii and Tungri.
— from Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II by Cornelius Tacitus