I wish Fred was dark, for I don't fancy light men; however, the Vaughns are very rich, and come of an excellent family, so I won't find fault with their yellow hair, as my own is yellower.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

A river in Picenum ran the color of blood, in Etruria a good part of the heavens seemed to be on fire, at Ariminum a light like daylight blazed out at night, in many portions of Italy the shapes of three moons became visible in the night time, and in the Forum a vulture roosted for several days.
— from Dio's Rome, Volume 1 (of 6) An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

I was only too glad of the permission, and very rapidly got it in over the nut, but it was very tight.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous

This second instance of his anxiety to delay what she so much wished for struck Catherine as very remarkable.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

He combines in a very remarkable manner two faculties which are seldom found united; a power of influencing the mind of the reader by the impalpable shadows of mystery, and a minuteness of detail which does not leave a pin or a button unnoticed.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe

He disdained the importunate advice; he rejected the humiliating aid; he secretly compared the ignominious, at least the inglorious, period of his own reign, with the fame of a beardless youth; and Valens rushed into the field, to erect his imaginary trophy, before the diligence of his colleague could usurp any share of the triumphs of the day.
— 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

An excellent talker, a voracious reader, a ready wit, an accomplished orator, with a clear mind and a powerful memory, he could never feel perfectly at ease whatever leg he stood on, but shifted, sometimes with painful strain of temper, from one sensitive muscle to another, uncertain whether to pose as an uncompromising Yankee; or a pure American; or a patriot in the still purer atmosphere of Irish, Germans, or Jews; or a scholar and historian of Harvard College.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

They vied with each other in pressing as close as possible, in order to dash among the first, when it should open, into that opulent cathedral, a vast reservoir where the wealth of three centuries had been piled up.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

Still, he recognised a most decided Buddhistic influence in Christ’s teaching, and the words in verses 29, 30, and 31 are very reminiscent of his views in regard to the Christian Savior.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

As Valerius rushed rashly into the line of the exiles, one of them ran him sideways through the body, and as the horse was in no way retarded by the wound of his rider, the expiring Roman fell to the ground, his arms falling over him.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

Once in a while a forlorn bunch of age would sit humped in a chair, now and then a victrola record sang forth its worn contents, twice the piano was heard.
— from Working With the Working Woman by Cornelia Stratton Parker

When the confederate column came up, Lovell surprised them with a volley right in their teeth, which sent them "whirling" back into the woods out of which they had come.
— from Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War by James Harvey Kidd

Again he came suggesting that he read the Bible to see if there was any part he could believe, and a bottle of red ink and a pen were left by his bedside, the officer suggesting that he mark any verse red if he could accept it.
— from And Judas Iscariot Together with other evangelistic addresses by J. Wilbur (John Wilbur) Chapman

You are a very remarkable kid.
— from Patience Sparhawk and Her Times: A Novel by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

It is however certain that Raphael made some designs for Pinturicchio, since two small compositions, almost identical with the frescoes at Siena, and other separate studies by his hand exist, although various reasons, too long to adduce here, render it extremely improbable that he was ever employed at Siena.
— from The Gallery of Portraits: with Memoirs. Volume 6 (of 7) by Arthur Thomas Malkin

Emerson was a very regular attendant at the meetings of the Saturday Club, and continued to dine at its table, until within a year or two of his death.
— from Ralph Waldo Emerson by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Why, the Colonne Vendôme is France, and a trophy of its past greatness,—alas, at present in the shade—is not the monument, but the record of a victorious race who strode through the world conquering as they went, planting the tricolour everywhere.
— from Paris under the Commune The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs) by John Leighton

Were the inventors of automatic machines to be ranged according to the excellence of their devices for producing sound artistic torture, the creator of the man-trap would occupy a very respectable if not a very high place.
— from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

For one moment we look, with clearer eyes than the poor old Dowager’s, across the cruel waste of waters into a very real dreamland, and we see Gerard, Baron van Helmont, after two years of weary waiting for glory, wearily waiting for glory still.
— from My Lady Nobody: A Novel by Maarten Maartens

It is a case of quoting: Laws lost their forces and right and wrong their meaning, Or, to speak truth, a Valois reigned no more.
— from Memoirs of the Duchesse De Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1841-1850 by Dino, Dorothée, duchesse de