But what it was that inscrutable Ahab said to that tiger-yellow crew of his—these were words best omitted here; for you live under the blessed light of the evangelical land.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

That science can only be admitted to explain the phaenomena; though at the same time it must be confest, they are so clear of themselves, that there is but little occasion to employ it.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

His memory was stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes; and the only comfort of his exile was the sacred hope and promise of revenge.
— 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

Titchener, E. B. Lectures on the Elementary Psychology of Feeling and Attention.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

But many quite irrelevant and inappropriate thoughts sometimes occur even to a prisoner when he is being led out to execution.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Far to the King's left Elf the bard Led on the eastern wing With songs and spells that change the blood; And on the King's right Harold stood, The kinsman of the King.
— from The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

Every now and then, during the day, we had to scoop some pulp out of the pans, and tediously “wash” it in a horn spoon—wash it little by little over the edge till at last nothing was left but some little dull globules of quicksilver in the bottom.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain

And in this time I saw a body lying on the earth, which body shewed heavy and horrible, [
— from Revelations of Divine Love by of Norwich Julian

We'd been listenin'—'twas by long odds the easiest thing to do—and we kept right on.
— from The Postmaster by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

In his twenty-sixth year he appointed his daughter to be "lady" of the Elamite region of Markharshi, a record that throws an interesting light upon the position enjoyed by women among the Sumerians.
— from A History of Sumer and Akkad An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchy by L. W. (Leonard William) King

I really think I shall be able to arrange the whole subject more intelligibly than Darwin did, and simplify it immensely by leaving out the endless discussion of collateral details and difficulties which in the "Origin of Species" confuse the main issue....
— from Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 2 by Alfred Russel Wallace

Lady Castlewood had the best rooms in Hexton Castle, and the gaoler's garden to walk in; and though she repeatedly desired to be led out to execution like Mary Queen of Scots, there never was any thought of taking her painted old head off.
— from Boys and Girls from Thackeray by Kate Dickinson Sweetser

This mode of ornamentation is one of the most primitive and universal in a ruder form, although it appears but little on the early glazed wares of our own country; of those of France a fine example, attributed to the 14th century, is preserved at Sèvres.
— from Maiolica by C. Drury E. (Charles Drury Edward) Fortnum

The sails were hoisted, the rudder adjusted and the little boat breathlessly lowered off the edge of a rock.
— from The Island of Appledore by Cornelia Meigs

I feel that Brown has been let off too easily in the above paragraph.
— from Baddeck, and That Sort of Thing by Charles Dudley Warner

I took a departure from it intending to run to Cape Albany (Otway); the wind from 4 A.M. has blown at east-north-east and from that to north-east with its usual hazy dirty weather, in consequence of which we kept our wind till noon to be certain of clearing the shoals and breakers lying off this end of the island.
— from The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson With the journal of her first commander Lieutenant James Grant by Ida Lee

look!” would be the first exclamation on entering the shop; and never did artist survey a work of art more composedly than would some of those boys leaning on their elbows on the counter, admire the treasured weapons they longed to use one day in defence of the cause of their fatherland.
— from Rossa's Recollections, 1838 to 1898 Childhood, boyhood, manhood; customs, habits and manners of the Irish people; Erinach and Sassenach; Catholic and protestant; Englishman and Irishman; English religion; Irish plunder; social life and prison life; the Fenian movement; Travels in Ireland, England, Scotland and America by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa

Once in Bristol I interposed in a slogging contest between husband and wife and was very properly chastised for my interference, not only by the happy pair but by the entire street, who had valuable bets laid on the event.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, October 27, 1920 by Various