A sound of craving and eagerness that had nothing articulate in it but blood.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

For, what would staid British responsibility and respectability have said to orange-trees in boxes in a Bank courtyard, and even to a Cupid over the counter?
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

5. Describe the character, appearance, and actions of Corceca, and explain the allegory.
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser

And when Judas saw their camp, and how numerous their enemies were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good courage, and exhorted them to place their hopes of victory in God, and to make supplication to him, according to the custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth; and to show what was their usual habit of supplication in the greatest dangers, and thereby to prevail with God to grant you the victory over your enemies.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

As the Cornelii are eminent Traders, their good Correspondence with each other is useful to all that know them, as well as to themselves: And their Friendship, Good-will and kind Offices, are disposed of jointly as well as their Fortune, so that no one ever obliged one of them, who had not the Obligation multiplied in Returns from them all.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

" "Yes, yes, to the inn," repeated Captain Wentworth, comparatively collected, and eager to be doing something.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen

He compares, weighs, criticises, and endeavours to get at the truth of the thing, and in this way resembles the critical historian.
— from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer

The ruins of stately churches, and even the marble columns which had been consecrated to Saint Michael the archangel, were employed without scruple by the profane and rapacious Moslems; and some Christians, who presumed to oppose the removal, received from their hands the crown of martyrdom.
— 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

Although by the interference of Count Villabuena, and the dexterity of Paco and the gipsy, Mariano's daring self-devotion was rendered superfluous, it had its uses, inasmuch as his disappearance with Herrera prevented the slightest suspicion from falling upon those who had really contrived and effected the escape.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 364, February 1846 by Various

With poised pencil he wavered over where to put the closet and entrance to her bath.
— from The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter

Now that Cyprus again enjoys the comforts of a judicious government, she will speedily bring forth all the fruits of the earth with profusion.
— from Cyprus: Historical and Descriptive by Franz von Löher

An analogy of political principles; the natural relations of commerce and industry; the efforts and immense sacrifices of both nations in the defence of liberty and equality; the blood which they have spilled together; their avowed hatred for despots; the moderation of their political views; the disinterestedness of their councils; and especially, the success of the vows which they have made in presence of the Supreme Being, to be free or die; all combine to render indestructible the connections which they have formed.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 1 (of 16) by United States. Congress

And on this point they strongly recommend the religion of the Christians, and especially the life of the apostles.
— from The City of the Sun by Tommaso Campanella

It is sometimes said that universal education is essential in order that the great mass of humanity may live in greater comfort and enjoy the luxuries that in the past have been vouchsafed only to the few.
— from Craftsmanship in Teaching by William C. (William Chandler) Bagley

Some witnesses, under this style of examination, lose their tempers completely, and if the examiner only keeps his own and puts his questions rapidly enough, he will be sure to lead the witness into such a web of contradictions as entirely to discredit him with any fair-minded jury.
— from The Art of Cross-Examination With the Cross-Examinations of Important Witnesses in Some Celebrated Cases by Francis L. (Francis Lewis) Wellman

Scandinavia;—that Christianity contains all that is living, all that is true to God and nature and man, in any or all of these religious systems, and a great deal more;—that it has absorbed many of them, and will eventually solve the continuity, and embrace the devotees of them all in its catholic fulness.
— from British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIV July and October, 1871 by Various