With a heavy heart I returned to my boudoir—there to ponder upon some method of eluding my wife’s penetration, until I could make arrangements prior to my leaving the country, for to this I had already made up my mind.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

The one ruling characteristic of her life ever has been courage, moral and physical.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

She has no decency, while me, a Chinaman, me always polite!
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal

Into the bargain I have quite forgotten my religion; they call me a Protestant, you know, but really I am not sure whether I am one or not: I don't well know the difference between Romanism and Protestantism.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

“I can make a Peer,” said Mr Hatton, leaning back in his chair and playing with his seals, “but I do not pretend to make Baronets.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

Comme mes autres projets fonctionnent bien et me prennent du temps…
— from Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas by Marie Lebert

Then she called me and placed her in my arms.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

It yields about half as much as the "short staple" called Mexican and Petit gulf cotton, and known in commerce as upland cotton.
— from Soil Culture Containing a Comprehensive View of Agriculture, Horticulture, Pomology, Domestic Animals, Rural Economy, and Agricultural Literature by J. H. Walden

When called up for an after-dinner speech in Boston he burst out in his honest way—“I never had but six months’ schooling in all my life, and I confess I consider myself a poor tyke to be here addressing the most intelligent people in the world.”
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, November 1883 A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture. Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. by Chautauqua Institution

You cannot make a paper dollar without taking a dollar's worth of paper.
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12) Dresden Edition—Political by Robert Green Ingersoll

The receiving overseer, Roger Kendall, though thin and clerical, was a rather capable man, as prison officials go—shrewd, not particularly well educated, not over-intelligent naturally, not over-industrious, but sufficiently energetic to hold his position.
— from The Financier: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser

The first association of —— persons in any county notifying themselves as constituted to the central society, should be received as the society of the county making a part of the general establishment here proposed; but every county society should be free to adopt associate members, although residents of other counties, and to receive and avail the institution of communications from persons not members, whether in or out of their county.
— from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 9 (of 9) Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private by Thomas Jefferson

In the meantime the French generals were more active and energetic, taking places of defence between Albany and Oswego, strengthening the defences and garrison of Ticonderaga (then in possession of the French, and called by them Fort Carillon), making a palisaded camp near the mouth of Sandy Creek, close to Oswego, and at length attacking Oswego itself, the enterprising Montcalm making forced marches day and night, marching on foot, living and sleeping like his soldiers, and taking the fort the 9th of August, after a week's siege, capturing 1,600 prisoners, 120 cannon, six vessels of war, 300 boats, stores of ammunition and provisions, and three chests of money.
— from The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 1 of 2. From 1620-1816 by Egerton Ryerson

Cook could only ascertain that the cemeteries called Morai, are places where the natives observe certain religious customs, and that they always betrayed some uneasiness when the English approached.
— from Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century by Jules Verne

You and I can make a pretty good guess as to the figure; eh, Snengkeld?"
— from Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope