‘Because his brother was a little eccentric—though he is not half so eccentric as a good many people—he didn’t like to have him visible about his house, and sent him away to some private asylum-place: though he had been left to his particular care by their deceased father, who thought him almost a natural.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

And now again 'tis black,—and now the glee Of the loud hills shakes with its mountain mirth, As if they did rejoice o'er a young; earthquake's birth, Now where the swift Rhine cleaves his way between Heights which appear, as lovers who have parted In haste, whose mining depths so intervene, That they can meet no more, tho' broken hearted; Tho' in their souls which thus each other thwarted, Love was the very root of the fond rage Which blighted their life's bloom, and then departed— Itself expired, but leaving; them an age Of years all winter—war within themselves to wage.
— from The Vampyre; a Tale by John William Polidori

When this distension has so far progressed that the bulk of the corpse is materially increased without a corresponding increase of mass or weight, its specific gravity becomes less than that of the water displaced, and it forthwith makes its appearance at the surface.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

His memory would not be likely to return to him all at once.
— from Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

This afternoon I am told again that the town do talk of my Lord Arlington’s being to be Lord Treasurer, and Sir W. Coventry to be Secretary of State; and that for certain the match is concluded between the Duke of Richmond and Mrs. Stewart, which I am well enough pleased with; and it is pretty to consider how his quality will allay people’s talk; whereas, had a meaner person married her, he would for certain have been reckoned a cuckold at first-dash.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

he replied, 'You shall do nothing else but learn the Torah, you have no occasion to trouble yourself about earthly things, and as soon as you shall be seated in the circle of the Chassidim and students of the law, it will be well with you.'
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

If you care but little to know the truth, here is enough of it to leave you in repose.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal

The roses which Faust has evoked from briars are his defence: they are symbols of man completing his nature by a self-culture which finds its satisfaction in making some outward desert rejoice and blossom like the rose.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

The arrangements that may be necessary for those angles and fractions of our territory which lie on our northwestern frontier, must be left to those whom further discoveries and experience will render more equal to the task.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

why, there is not one of them but would hurrah for the Pope, or Mahomet, for the sake of a hearty gorge and a drunken bout, like those which they are treated with at election contests.’
— from Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest by George Borrow

In the porch or lobby of the same gate will be four tables of hewn stone, each 1-½ cubits square by a cubit high, on which will be laid the instruments for slaying the sacrifices, and whereon the sacrifices will be slain and their flesh laid out.
— from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume 7: The Finished Mystery by C. T. (Charles Taze) Russell

It looked as if he was going to make good, but luck, that element that is always present in games, especially in baseball, deserted the blue for the red.
— from Baseball Joe at Yale; or, Pitching for the College Championship by Lester Chadwick

After musing for a moment, he proceeded: "Do not think I would imply, good knight, that you could be really guilty of any higher offence against your king; but be you sure something has been laid to your charge more than you imagine."
— from Darnley; or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

The chilling air that blew through the dilapidated walls, the cruse of water, the scanty bread, the glimmering lamp, the comfortless and squalid bed, on which lay in the last stages of weakness a patriot and a hero—a being full of fine affections and abilities, reduced to the helplessness of an infant, and whom in leaving for the night I might be leaving to perish by the poniard of the robber—unmanned me.
— from Tarry thou till I come; or, Salathiel, the wandering Jew. by George Croly

If she would only wear rouge she would not be afraid of being seen; but last time I called, I observed the blinds were let down immediately." While her father spoke, there was a knock at the door.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen