The Englishman looked gravely at him; and, as though he, too, knew where Vronsky was going, he added: “The great thing’s to keep quiet before a race,” said he; “don’t get out of temper or upset about anything.” “All right,” answered Vronsky, smiling; and jumping into his carriage, he told the man to drive to Peterhof.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Some day, when you and I are in our graves, there’ll be a railroad stretching hundreds of miles—all the way down from the cities of the Northern States to New Orleans—and its got to run within thirty miles of this land—may be even touch a corner of it.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Charles Dudley Warner

The grassy clods now calved; now half appeared The tawny lion, pawing to get free His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce, The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw In hillocks: The swift stag from under ground Bore up his branching head: Scarce from his mould
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

On April 13 the storm burst and rolled several hundred thousand young men like Henry Adams into the surf of a wild ocean, all helpless like himself, to be beaten about for four years by the waves of war.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

Devoid of eloquence or genius, Baroncelli was distinguished by a resolute spirit: he spoke the language of a patriot, and trod in the footsteps of tyrants; his suspicion was a sentence of death, and his own death was the reward of his cruelties.
— 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

This was foreseen by Varus, who accordingly, after Archelaus was sailed, went up to Jerusalem to restrain the promoters of the sedition, since it was manifest that the nation would not be at rest; so he left one of those legions which he brought with him out of Syria in the city, and went himself to Antioch.
— from The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Flavius Josephus

“We’ll, you know Mr. Harvey told us it could make twenty-five miles an hour, and that’s fast enough to beat anything but a racer,” said Herb.
— from The Radio Boys at Ocean Point; Or, The Message that Saved the Ship by Allen Chapman

"We don't want to break a record," said he, pulling up and panting after attempting to keep up with Johnson for five minutes.
— from The Man from Archangel, and Other Tales of Adventure by Arthur Conan Doyle

“Oh, Bompard will come back all right,” said he.
— from The Beach of Dreams: A Romance by H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole

His being a Roman saved him from being made a prisoner.
— from Higher Lessons in English: A work on English grammar and composition by Brainerd Kellogg

His nose and cheeks were purple, his eyes bloodshot, and a matted growth of brown hair strayed from beneath a ragged slouch hat.
— from Canoe Boys and Campfires; Or, Adventures on Winding Waters by William Murray Graydon

One day, reclining upon the breast of Acis, concealed behind a rock, she hears the giant pouring out to the woods and mountains his story of love and despair: “I, who despise Jove and the heavens and the piercing lightnings, dread thee, daughter of Nereus; than the lightnings is thy wrath
— from The Standard Cantatas: Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers A Handbook by George P. (George Putnam) Upton

Whoever had been about Richard since his birth, she must know the history of, and he for a kiss will do her bidding.
— from The Ordeal of Richard Feverel — Complete by George Meredith