In the sheet of glass there are only two surfaces; in the powder the light is reflected or refracted by each grain it passes through, and very little gets right through the powder.
— from The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

And though this Increase of density may at great distances be exceeding slow, yet if the elastick force of this Medium be exceeding great, it may suffice to impel Bodies from the denser parts of the Medium towards the rarer, with all that power which we call Gravity.
— from Opticks Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light by Isaac Newton

To lack of space, no less than to the scope of the present series, is due the exclusion of a full account of the technical literature of law, science, and art, which contains much that would interest even the general reader; but the brief epitome given in the Appendix will, I hope, suffice to direct the student to all the most important authorities.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

“How! no boat!” exclaimed Groslow; “it is impossible.”
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

For the plasticity of man has become exceedingly great in democratic Europe: men who learn easily, who readily adapt themselves, are the rule: the gregarious animal of a high order of intelligence is prepared.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The hills extend thro the gouge and is about 200 foot above the water—in the bend as also the opposite Sides both abov and below the bend is a butifull inclined Plain in which there is great numbers of Buffalow, Elk & Goats in view feeding & Scipping on those Plains Grouse, Larks & the Prarie bird is Common in those Plains.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

There were several more that had been equally great in the field, not one of whom but was persuaded that he had a considerable hand in bringing the war to a happy termination.
— from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

[2016] King Hieron got more by Simonides' acquaintance, than Simonides did by his; they have their best education, good institution, sole qualification from us, and when they have done well, their honour and immortality from us: we are the living tombs, registers, and as so many trumpeters of their fames: what was Achilles without Homer?
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

It was a girl called Tinker Bell exquisitely gowned in a skeleton leaf, cut low and square, through which her figure could be seen to the best advantage.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

But every good is expedient, and necessary, and profitable, and useful, and serviceable, and beautiful, and advantageous, and eligible, and just.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

This worthy gentleman, a successful and opulent planter, had been elected Governor in 1860.
— from Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War by Richard Taylor

Dear Count Czernin ,—According to our agreement, I take the liberty briefly to lay before you my views of our discussions of the 14th and 15th inst., and would be extremely grateful if Your Excellency would be so kind as to advise me of your views on my activities.
— from In the World War by Czernin von und zu Chudenitz, Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria, Graf

By especial grace I have once been admitted to see him, and learned from his own mouth, although I needed not to hear that I was already assured of, namely, the entire innocence that he hath as touching these late revolts.
— from Idonia: A Romance of Old London by Arthur Frederick Wallis

“Bah!” exclaimed Gibault in disgust; “you is most awferfully onfeelosophicule, as Bounce do say.
— from The Wild Man of the West: A Tale of the Rocky Mountains by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

Evening is the time for walking; and often have I seen beautiful faces, and bright eyes, gleaming in the moonbeams.
— from Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume 1 (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Mrs. Lanaghan

a week Find it a base copy of a good originall, that vexed me Found in my head and body about twenty lice, little and great Have not much to lose, and therefore will venture all His satisfaction is nothing worth, it being easily got I have itched mightily these 6 or 7 days
— from Quotations from Diary of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys

I will tell you: I am going to Paris to meet one who, before another year has gone, will be wanted by every Government in Europe; who, if I do not put my hand upon his throat in the midst of his foul work, will make graves as thick as pines in the wood there before you know another month; one who is mad and who is sane, one who, if he knew my purpose, would crush me as I crush this paper; one who has everything that life can give and seeks more, a man who has set his face against humanity, and who will make war on the nations, who has money and men, who can command and be obeyed in ten cities, against whom the police might as well hope to fight as against the white wall of the South Sea; a man of purpose so deadly that the wisest in crime would not think of it—a man, in short, who is the product of culminating vice—him I am going to meet in this Paris where I go without aim—without aim, ha!"
— from The Iron Pirate: A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea by Max Pemberton

Nothing had been forgotten, the provisions were abundant and of good quality; each vessel was provided with all kinds of scientific instruments by the best makers, a library of the most trustworthy authorities, passports couched in the most flattering terms and signed by every government in Europe, and unlimited credit in all the towns of Asia and Africa.
— from Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century by Jules Verne