There is a sort of jealousy which needs very little fire: it is hardly a passion, but a blight bred in the cloudy, damp despondency of uneasy egoism.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

Be thankful that Oblivion covers so much; that all carrion is by and by buried in the green Earth's bosom, and even makes her grow the greener.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

“But it will be a bad business if the old gentleman turns them out of the farm next Michaelmas, eh?” said Mrs. Irwine.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

BULLY, a braggart; but in the language of the streets, a man of the most degraded morals, who protects prostitutes, and lives off their miserable earnings.—
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

In a few minutes she returned, bland and benignant as before; but I thought she had forgotten to give the “poor ittie doggie” anything to eat, judging by the avidity with which he swallowed down chance pieces of cake.
— from Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Humanity is to be a brotherhood, but, in the federation of nations, France is to stand first.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant

They have sent out some people and it would be a bad business if they caught you with the pig; at the very least, you would be shut up in the dark hole."
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

Those originate deeds of blood, and begin bad impulses to men.
— from Hazlitt on English Literature: An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature by William Hazlitt

"Might be a banker, but I think he's a drummer.
— from Mixed Faces by Roy Norton

It improves the lace, to wet it with sweet-oil, after it is rolled on the bottle, and before boiling in the suds.
— from A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School by Catharine Esther Beecher

The fear of death, he discovered, could best be alleviated by believing in the divine revelation; accordingly he proceeded to adopt this belief.
— from Boswell the Biographer by George Mallory

The tree selected was not, as one would suppose, immediately on the shore, but a bit back in the thick growth.
— from Canadian Wilds Tells About the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Indians and Their Modes of Hunting, Trapping, Etc. by Martin Hunter

That took me back a bit, but I told him, just as I’ve told you.
— from The Moon Rock by Arthur J. (Arthur John) Rees

I use the word "battles" advisedly, because battles in this war have generally been prolonged struggles for the possession of trenches, often lasting many days, and sometimes weeks.
— from In the Russian Ranks: A Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland by John Morse