Discovering gradually that a wonderful sense of fatigue resulted from these conscientious efforts, I began to reflect whether I might not dispense with that great labour, and concluded eventually that I might, and so sank supine into a luxury of calm before ninety-nine out of a hundred of the exhibited frames.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

"But I hope it will be long before this part of the country loses the services of my friend Chichely, even though it might get the best man in our profession to succeed him.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

You might have split the T'other governor to chips and wedges, without my caring, except that I might have come upon you for a glass or so now and then.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Another sort of slaves are the poor of the neighbouring countries, who offer of their own accord to come and serve them: they treat these better, and use them in all other respects as well as their own countrymen, except their imposing more labour upon them, which is no hard task to those that have been accustomed to it; and if any of these have a mind to go back to their own country, which, indeed, falls out but seldom, as they do not force them to stay, so they do not send them away empty-handed.
— from Utopia by More, Thomas, Saint

In the early centuries of the Christian era, the influential moral systems of Stoicism, of monastic and popular Christianity and other religious movements of the day, took shape under the influence of such conditions.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

But his fear was only momentary; and though he did not look the lawyer in the face, he answered coolly enough: “That is my name.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

You will be guilty of a great breach of politeness, if you answer either a note or letter upon the half sheet of the paper sent by your correspondent, even though it may be left blank.
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Florence Hartley

In the first place, the corpse opened its eyes and winked very rapidly for several minutes, as does Mr. Barnes in the pantomime, in the second place, it sneezed; in the third, it sat upon end; in the fourth, it shook its fist in Doctor Ponnonner’s face; in the fifth, turning to Messieurs Gliddon and Buckingham, it addressed them, in very capital Egyptian, thus: “I must say, gentlemen, that I am as much surprised as I am mortified at your behavior.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

And I wonder, I wonder whether those cunning eyes had cunning enough to interpret my dream."
— from Clementina by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason

Here is an extract from my home-letter journal of same date:— "Mr. Kingsland, the Mayor, came early to invite me to a grand day, being the inauguration of the Croton Waterworks.
— from My Life as an Author by Martin Farquhar Tupper

Now, although there can be no doubt that there are occasions when concealment is excusable, yet these are very rare exceptions, which occur but seldom in most men’s lives; and as a general rule a strict adherence to the truth is the only just and safe course, even though it may apparently lead one into a difficulty.
— from Manco, the Peruvian Chief Or, An Englishman's Adventures in the Country of the Incas by William Henry Giles Kingston

"Even this," said Saladin, half smiling at C œ ur de Lion's affectionate earnestness for the combat, "even this I may not lawfully do.
— from The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 by Ontario. Department of Education

Main provisions of the compromise were: (1) every white male citizen, except the insane, minors, paupers and criminals, was to be allowed to vote from that time forward, (2) the Governor was to be elected directly by the voters themselves rather than by the General Assembly and his term was to be extended from three to four years, (3) the Council of State was to be abolished, (4) membership in the House of Delegates was to be selected upon the basis of population, thereby giving the western counties a majority number; membership in the Senate was to be based upon population and property, thereby giving the eastern counties a majority, and (5) the voters were to be allowed to vote for judges, county officials and members of the Board of Public Works.
— from Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

"I've been eating wild game for the past two weeks," I explained, "and this clothing I—er—ah—." I paused, wondering how I could explain that it must be many hundred years old.
— from Armageddon—2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan

On the average it corresponds [233] to the climate of Central Europe, though it must be remarked, that the winter is far more severe on the shores of the Sea of Aral and in the mountainous parts of Khokand, and the summer, on the contrary, much warmer in those districts that lie to the south, and often almost tropical in the immediate neighbourhood of the great sandy deserts.
— from Sketches of Central Asia (1868) Additional chapters on my travels, adventures, and on the ethnology of Central Asia by Ármin Vámbéry

But in the present case especially, this interpretation must be rejected; partly on account of the reference to the words of the elder Micah, and partly on account of the parallel terms, "O earth and the fulness thereof," which, according to the constant usus loquendi , lead us far beyond the narrow limits of Palestine.
— from Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, Vol. 1 by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg