He moved aside the vase of flowers—a bunch of purple with a few pink blossoms on long stalks—and seizing in both hands a long sheet of bluish paper, ran his eye over it, propped his forearms on the edge of the desk, and began to read aloud in an even, distinct, and careless voice.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

His sworn hate for humanity, a hate that perhaps was bent on some dreadful revenge—what had provoked it? Was he one of those unappreciated scholars, one of those geniuses "embittered by the world," as Conseil expressed it, a latter–day Galileo, or maybe one of those men of science, like America's Commander Maury, whose careers were ruined by political revolutions?
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

The fat man, moved by pity, rowed the boat back, and, as soon as Patissot had recovered from his seasickness, they bethought themselves of luncheon.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Mean while the south-wind rose, and, with black wings Wide-hovering, all the clouds together drove From under Heaven; the hills to their supply Vapour, and exhalation dusk and moist, Sent up amain; and now the thickened sky Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain Impetuous; and continued, till the earth No more was seen: the floating vessel swum Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow Rode tilting o'er the waves; all dwellings else Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp Deep under water rolled; sea covered sea, Sea without shore; and in their palaces, Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped And stabled; of mankind, so numerous late, All left, in one small bottom swum imbarked.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

Pegler glanced timidly but proudly round the walls—‘such a fine house as this.
— from Hard Times by Charles Dickens

“God be praised,” replied the poor wife joyfully; “they are my brothers; I will make them a sign, as well as I can, for them to make haste.”
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Thou shalt be paid right well, for three suits of clothes shalt thou have a year, with good food and as much ale as thou canst drink; and, besides this, I will pay thee forty marks each Michaelmastide.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Therefore the People are to be taught, to abstain from violence to one anothers person, by private revenges; from violation of conjugall honour; and from forcibly rapine, and fraudulent surreption of one anothers goods.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

But in dealings of exchange such a principle of Justice as this Reciprocation forms the bond of union, but then it must be Reciprocation according to proportion and not exact equality, because by proportionate reciprocity of action the social community is held together, For either Reciprocation of evil is meant, and if this be not allowed it is thought to be a servile condition of things: or else Reciprocation of good, and if this be not effected then there is no admission to participation which is the very bond of their union.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle

Bobbie planted rose-bushes in her garden, but all the little new leaves of the rose-bushes shrivelled and withered, perhaps because she moved them from the other part of the garden in May, which is not at all the right time of year for moving roses.
— from The Railway Children by E. (Edith) Nesbit

Dress them, parboil until they are tender, then cut off the legs and wings, slice off the breast pieces, roll in flour or meal and fry in hot pork fat till they are nicely browned.
— from Canoe and Camp Cookery A Practical Cook Book for Canoeists, Corinthian Sailors and Outers by Seneca (Writer on outdoor life)

Close observers are convinced that the [121] tongue of a snake is endowed with peculiar sensibilities; and it is the more astonishing, therefore, that reason and observation have so long been blinded and enslaved by prejudice regarding it.
— from Snakes: Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life by Catherine Cooper Hopley

His headstrong obstinacy had well nigh involved all his friends in his own sad fate: one alone of them, whose sense of gratitude had indissolubly attached him to the fortunes of his benefactor, preferred rather to risk his life in his service than to desert him in the hour of distress.
— from The Banished: A Swabian Historical Tale by Wilhelm Hauff

Poesie: Poetry Pullen: Poultry Punese: A bed-bug Pursy: Rich Quarteridge: A tax or payment due quarterly Quatenus: So far as (it is) (L.)
— from Hudibras, in Three Parts, Written in the Time of the Late Wars by Samuel Butler

When Macgreggor lighted his candle, and saw the little hole in the wall, at which appeared one of George’s eyes, he almost gave a cry of surprise; but prudence restrained him, and he merely touched Watson’s arm, pointed to the hole, and then quietly unlocked the door of their room.
— from Chasing an Iron Horse Or, A Boy's Adventures in the Civil War by Edward Robins

But nobody was to be seen but Prickly Porky, Jimmy Skunk, and Unc' Billy Possum rolling around in the leaves at the top of the hill and laughing fit to kill themselves.
— from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess

9 Aw-rua-baw-na Rs. 5/- Beer pot (Ra-cha).
— from The Lushei Kuki Clans by John Shakespear

Sophy went away, but presently returning and taking up her work, but with eyes that betrayed how she was listening; but there was so entire an apparent absence of personal suffering, that Albinia began to discharge the weight from her mind, and believe that the sentiment had been altogether imaginary even on Sophy’s side, and the whole a marvellous figment of her own.
— from The Young Step-Mother; Or, A Chronicle of Mistakes by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

The great excess of alcohol distills over first, until the boiling point rises to the ether producing temperature, when ether is obtained, and finally the sulphurous oily product.
— from New York Journal of Pharmacy, Volume 1 (of 3), 1852 Published by Authority of the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York. by College of Pharmacy of the City of New York

The Psalmist says, “bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days,” but police records will show that David materially overrates the average.
— from The Economic Functions of Vice by John McElroy