We are not here as those angels, celestial powers and bodies, sun and moon, to finish our course without all offence, with such constancy, to continue for so many ages: but subject to infirmities, miseries, interrupted, tossed and tumbled up and down, carried about with every small blast, often molested and disquieted upon each slender occasion,
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

As a heron when she fishes, still prying on all sides; or as a cat doth a mouse, his eye is never off hers; he gloats on him, on her, accurately observing on whom she looks, who looks at her, what she saith, doth, at dinner, at supper, sitting, walking, at home, abroad, he is the same, still inquiring, maundering, gazing, listening, affrighted with every small object; why did she smile, why did she pity him, commend him?
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

They had all been newly barbered, and were exceedingly stylish.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Lestiboudois was sent for, and Monsieur Canivet having turned up his sleeves, passed into the billiard-room, while the druggist stayed with Artemise and the landlady, both whiter than their aprons, and with ears strained towards the door.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The learned bishop of Cæsarea appears to be sensible, that the recent discovery of this marvellous anecdote would excite some surprise and distrust among the most pious of his readers.
— 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

"I am well enough," says Mr. George.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

I don't know what I expected, but I went out, and wandered eastward, soon losing my way in a labyrinth of grimy streets and black, grassless squares.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

" She received this abrupt declaration in a way even stranger than the manner of its making: she dropped her face on her hands and he saw that for a moment she wept.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

It was hard to give up to strangers the garden where he had planted shade and fruit trees with his own hands, and where, each spring he had watched the opening of the flowers; where in short, each object was bound to his heart by ties delicate as the finest silk, but strong as iron chains.
— from The Aldine, Vol. 5, No. 1., January, 1872 A Typographic Art Journal by Various

The subject of the reorganization of the army, which ever since the Mexican war held first place in his thoughts and correspondence, now engrossed his attention more than ever.
— from The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, Volume 1 (of 2) by Hazard Stevens

I was almost too tired to speak, but one thought was struggling for expression, and as we started up the first long hill, I had to say: “Anyone who ever spoke of the ‘peace and quiet of ranch life’ lived in New York and dreamed about it.
— from A Tenderfoot Bride: Tales from an Old Ranch by Clarice E. Richards

Every now and then the boom of the 4.7 gun, firing from the hill above us, would rattle through the tents, and with each shot a smile would come over his face, and he would mutter with great satisfaction, "They are getting it now."
— from The Tale of a Field Hospital by Frederick Treves

Then musingly, "So you're a wrestler, eh?" "Sure--what did yer think I was--a gigolo?"
— from Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings by Dorothy Wayne

That this promise may in due time be fulfilled to all who are in darkness, let us endeavour to imitate, in their devotedness of heart to God, those whose conduct we have been led here to consider, and who enjoyed so abundantly the benefits of that promise.
— from The Ordinance of Covenanting by John Cunningham

Their subsequent operations were left to the discretion of the generals; but Julian expected, that after wasting with fire and sword the fertile districts of Media and Adiabene, they might arrive under the walls of Ctesiphon at the same time that he himself, advancing with equal steps along the banks of the Euphrates, should besiege the capital of the Persian monarchy.
— from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2 by Edward Gibbon

She had already perceived us, and had altered her course slightly to come up with us, and, with every stitch of canvas set, she ploughed her way rapidly towards us.
— from A Lad of Grit: A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

203 But on the other side Charybdis was sucking in the water with a horrible noise, and with eddies so deep that a man might see the sand at the bottom.
— from Stories of the Old World by Alfred John Church

The women she rather excused than defended, laying to the door of the men their faults and imperfections; but the men, she said, were all bad—all, in one word, and without exception, sensualists.
— from The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 1 by Fanny Burney