“What is done cannot be undone,” replied Cyrus Harding.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

It is on the contrary the spot of sanity, which bids us right cordially hope.
— from Complete Short Works of George Meredith by George Meredith

“Nothing but utter ruin could have brought me to my senses,” he said to his wife one day, when he had been sitting for a long while silent, gazing out at a little fountain that sprang into air in a vain effort to reach the laden orange-tree that overshadowed it.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 19, April 1874‐September 1874 by Various

Truly, in his case, as he himself says, “Nothing but utter ruin could have brought him to his senses.”
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 19, April 1874‐September 1874 by Various

Besides, born and brought up Roman Catholic, he has that respect for his priest habitual to a proverb—would have, even if knowing the latter to be the veriest Pharisee that ever wore single-breasted black coat.
— from Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye by Mayne Reid

Unrestricted power "to fix the standard of weights and measures" is vested in congress, but until recently congress had not enacted any general regulations in execution of that power.
— from Monopolies and the People by D. C. Cloud

They met only at table, before the servants, hardly spoke to each other, unless he, the man of oleaginous manners, chose to indulge in some brutal, uncivil remark concerning her son, her years which were beginning to tell upon her at last, or a dress which was not becoming to her.
— from The Nabob, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Alphonse Daudet

“Bah! utterly ridiculous!” cried her father.
— from The Bomb-Makers Being Some Curious Records Concerning the Craft and Cunning of Theodore Drost, an Enemy Alien in London, Together with Certain Revelations Regarding His Daughter Ella by William Le Queux

Besides, born and brought up Roman Catholic, he has that respect for his priest, habitual to a proverb—would have, even if knowing the latter to be the veriest Pharisee that ever wore single-breasted black-coat.
— from Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye by Mayne Reid

If he hadn't had an idea in his head 'bout how to serve us out, he'd been up 'round City Hall to-day."
— from Teddy and Carrots: Two Merchants of Newpaper Row by James Otis