The Boeotian left, as far as the centre, was worsted by the Athenians.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

I therefore said nothing of this to General Barnard, and soon after he returned to his post with General Grant, at City Point, bearing letters and full personal messages of our situation and wants.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

I don't want to hurt you, but if you behave like a frantic rustic, I must.
— from The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

There were two study tables, both long and flanked with benches; over the centre of each hung a lamp; beneath this lamp, on either side the table, sat a teacher; the girls were arranged to the right hand and the left; the eldest and most studious nearest the lamps or tropics; the idlers and little ones towards the north and south poles.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

"Therefore, Volumnia, I desire to say in your presence—and in the presence of my old retainer and friend, Mrs. Rouncewell, whose truth and fidelity no one can question, and in the presence of her son George, who comes back like a familiar recollection of my youth in the home of my ancestors at Chesney Wold—in case I should relapse, in case I should not recover, in case I should lose both my speech and the power of writing, though I hope for better things—" The old housekeeper weeping silently; Volumnia in the greatest agitation, with the freshest bloom on her cheeks; the trooper with his arms folded and his head a little bent, respectfully attentive.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Little by little, at first only as a shadowy chance of what might be, if things could be rightly done, one began to feel that, somewhere behind the chaos in Washington power was taking shape; that it was massed and guided as it had not been before.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

Such natures feel but little affection for those who are nearest to them; they keep their kindness for remoter circles of acquaintance, and show most to those who dwell on its utmost limits.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

So that one kind of lawlessness arises from bad laws, another from disobedience to existing laws, and the third from the absence of laws.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

Among his various eccentric habits he had a humorous one of always cheating at cards, which rendered necessary on his part, not only a close observance of the game, and a sleight-of-hand in counting and scoring, but also involved the constant correction, by looks, and frowns, and kicks under the table, of Richard Swiveller, who being bewildered by the rapidity with which his cards were told, and the rate at which the pegs travelled down the board, could not be prevented from sometimes expressing his surprise and incredulity.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

From time to time the company of mourners was reinforced by late arrivals from distant mands, and, as each detachment, now of men and now of women, came in view across the open downs, one could not fail to be reminded of the gathering of the clans on some Highland moor.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

Sue so expectant of new disclosures and fresh experiences that her face beamed like a full moon.
— from Susanna and Sue by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

The windows are not made for the street, to be looked at from the outside; they are there for the room, to distribute light and emphasize any special use they may be put to.
— from The Whistler Book A Monograph of the Life and Position in Art of James McNeill Whistler, Together with a Careful Study of His More Important Works by Sadakichi Hartmann

The creek here makes a wide bend, leaving a fertile intervale where thousands of cattle could graze: the trees are always green, the river never dry.
— from Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 90, June, 1875 by Various

She clung a little closer to Blaise, like a frightened, exhausted child.
— from The House of Dreams-Come-True by Margaret Pedler

She is like a satin-box, and a woman ought to be like a flower; ought to look as if they'd bend if a breeze went over them.
— from Franklin Kane by Anne Douglas Sedgwick

"Never shall you be lonely again, for I am going to be all things to you.
— from The Carpet from Bagdad by Harold MacGrath

It is needless to say that there was but little appetite for dinner at Dr. Stein's table on this Saturday; Oscar rose as soon as he could hope to be excused, and Emma did not remain any longer.
— from Gritli's Children by Johanna Spyri

But this lonesome and time-hallowed ruin was now lit up as for some gay festival; lights were flickering through the crevices, and the coming of the guests, each mounted on her enchanted steed, was accompanied by loud and fiend-like acclamations.
— from Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by John Roby

Over the streamlet sang thrushes and goldfinches and bull-finches innumerable, and their voices shook down the blossom like a fall of pink snow, which threatened to cover even the daisies.
— from The White Wolf and Other Fireside Tales by Arthur Quiller-Couch