I love my love with a B because she's Beautiful; I hate my love with a B because she is Brazen; I took her to the sign of the Blue Boar, and I treated her with Bonnets; her name's Bouncer, and she lives in Bedlam.—Now, what do I make with my straw?' 'Ladies' bonnets?' 'Fine ladies',' said the person of the house, nodding assent.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Round the space between the end of the sheath and the [ 97 ] thick covering of leaves a single leaf is bound, and through this the sap bleeds into a pot fastened below.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

I dare affirm, that those who only love, do not feel the most charming sensations we are capable of: I am acquainted with another sentiment, less impetuous, but a thousand times more delightful; sometimes joined with love, but frequently separated from it.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

She has not had half enough boating because of these tiresome visits, and she likes it better than anything.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Masses of shadow here and there loomed out in the darkness, and sometimes, vibrating with one movement, they rose up and swayed like immense black waves pressing forward to engulf them.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The softness of his gentle old grandmother as she lay in bed and chatted with him, did not come from Boston.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

And so let it be a story à propos of the falling snow.
— from White Nights and Other Stories The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Volume X by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The presence of guttural sounds, diacritic aspirations, epenthetic and servile letters in both languages: their antiquity, both having been taught on the plain of Shinar 242 years after the deluge in the seminary instituted by Fenius Farsaigh, descendant of Noah, progenitor of Israel, and ascendant of Heber and Heremon, progenitors of Ireland: their archaeological, genealogical, hagiographical, exegetical, homiletic, toponomastic, historical and religious literatures comprising the works of rabbis and culdees, Torah, Talmud (Mischna and Ghemara), Massor, Pentateuch, Book of the Dun Cow, Book of Ballymote, Garland of Howth, Book of Kells: their dispersal, persecution, survival and revival: the isolation of their synagogical and ecclesiastical rites in ghetto (S. Mary’s Abbey) and masshouse (Adam and Eve’s tavern): the proscription of their national costumes in penal laws and jewish dress acts: the restoration in Chanah David of Zion and the possibility of Irish political autonomy or devolution.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

I rose very early, and taking horse at Scotland Yard, at Mr. Garthwayt’s stable, I rode to Mr. Pierces, who rose, and in a quarter of an hour, leaving his wife in bed (with whom Mr. Lucy methought was very free as she lay in bed), we both mounted, and so set forth about seven of the clock, the day and the way very foul.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

There was another window in the room from which she could have seen the sea, but Aunt Janet had had a great mahogany wardrobe placed right across it, and only the sound of the sea, creeping sometimes, lashing most often, came to her as she lay in bed, reminding her that the sea was there all the time.
— from Captivity by Leonora Eyles

“A lie lendin’ a helpin’ hand to a sick lass is better’n most truths.”
— from Rose O'Paradise by Grace Miller White

In a Nissen hut you have to turn your head upside down to get a view of the picture gallery at all, though it has its advantages to the girl herself as she lies in bed and can look at the faces of her parents, absolutely concave, curving over her nose.
— from The Sword of Deborah: First-hand impressions of the British Women's Army in France by F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson) Jesse

On the afternoon of the day before the surrender the following notice was posted on all the Allied ships:— "Let it be impressed on all—officers and men—that a state of war exists during the armistice.
— from Winning a Cause: World War Stories by John G. (John Gilbert) Thompson

I rose very early, and taking horse at Scotland Yard, at Mr. Garthwayt's stable, I rode to Mr. Pierces, who rose, and in a quarter of an hour, leaving his wife in bed (with whom Mr. Lucy methought was very free as she lay in bed), we both mounted, and so set forth about seven of the clock, the day and the way very foul.
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S. by Samuel Pepys

The Second Minnesota, led by Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Brigadier-General) J. W. Bishop, deployed as skirmishers, led its brigade to the foot of the ridge, where it joined in the scramble for the crest.
— from Minnesota, the North Star State by William Watts Folwell

The way the queen had traversed was evident after she left it, by the agitation created, which was never afterwards quelled: she had soon visited every part of the hive, and occasioned a general agitation; if some places still remained tranquil, the bees in agitation arrived, and communicated their motion.
— from New observations on the natural history of bees by François Huber

Christmas has always been a day of songs, of carols and of hymns; and so let it be for ever.
— from The Good News of God by Charles Kingsley

Yama was a child of the Sun, and thence named Vaivaswata ; another of his titles was Dhermaraja , or King of Justice; and a third Pitripeti , or Lord of the Patriarchs: but he is chiefly distinguished as Judge of departed souls; for the Hindus believe, that, when a soul leaves its body, it immediately repairs to Yamapur , or the city of Yama , where it receives a just sentence from him, and thence either ascends to Swerga , or the first Heaven; or is driven down to Narac , the region of serpents; or assumes on earth the form of some animal, unless its offence had been such, that it ought to be condemned to a vegetable, or even to a mineral prison.—Sir W. Jones .
— from The Curse of Kehama, Volume 2 (of 2) by Robert Southey