They had two great hooks like arms, for carrying trays; and they were painted pea-green, or vermilion, or black for convenience of distinction; in every other way they were only automatic machines and nobody would have looked twice at them.
— from The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

In favour of this view, I may add, firstly, that the wild C. livia has been found capable of domestication in Europe and in India; and that it agrees in habits and in a great number of points of structure with all the domestic breeds.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

The trees on the ramparts, and the people moving to and fro between them, were cut or divided into equal segments of deep shade and brassy light.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

But their conception of deity is entirely their own.
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon A revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations by J. B. (Joseph Barber) Lightfoot

Sophia hath already produced him two fine children, a boy and a girl, of whom the old gentleman is so fond, that he spends much of his time in the nursery, where he declares the tattling of his little grand-daughter, who is above a year and a half old, is sweeter music than the finest cry of dogs in England.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

For this cause, if a soldier is a prudent man, which he may be without being a jot the less brave, he will be sure not to utter his wish in the hearing of an enemy; for say what he will, an enemy will not believe him.—He will be cautious of doing it even to a friend,—lest he may suffer in his esteem:—But if his heart is overcharged, and a secret sigh for arms must have its vent, he will reserve it for the ear of a brother, who knows his character to the bottom, and what his true notions, dispositions, and principles of honour are: What, I hope, I have been in all these, brother Shandy, would be unbecoming in me to say:—much worse, I know, have I been than I ought,—and something worse, perhaps, than I think: But such as I am, you, my dear brother Shandy, who have sucked the same breasts with me,—and with whom I have been brought up from my cradle,—and from whose knowledge, from the first hours of our boyish pastimes, down to this, I have concealed no one action of my life, and scarce a thought in it—Such as I am, brother, you must by this time know me, with all my vices, and with all my weaknesses too, whether of my age, my temper, my passions, or my understanding.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

We agreed that no opportunity could be more favourable than the present for carrying our designs into effect, as an attempt at such a moment would never be anticipated.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

The three presidencies of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras were at this time mutually independent, and responsible only to the Court of Directors in England.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

Nor in my madness was I silent: and, should any chance offer, did I ever return a conqueror to my native Argos, I vowed myself his avenger, and with my words I stirred his bitter hatred.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil

Now the heavy hand of war dealt equal woe and counterchange of death; in even balance conquerors and conquered slew and fell; nor one nor other knows of retreat.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil

The arms of the torch-bearers were modeled in wild lights and shadows; the hats of the men made a dusky halo around their heads; the rain-coats of straw glistened with wet; occasionally some branch came out, distinct in every leaf, between the smoke and the big sparks and embers.
— from An Artist's Letters from Japan by John La Farge

“Are you capable of doing it, Eugenie?”
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

Death or the chance of death is everywhere, and we meet it not as fatalists do or those who believe they can earn eternal glory with a sacrifice, but lightly and with a song.
— from My War Experiences in Two Continents by S. (Sarah) Macnaughtan

Leval’s fighting formation was the usual ‘column of divisions,’ i. e. a front of two companies and a depth of three in each battalion, or (since these units averaged 650 men each, and the companies over 100 bayonets) a front of seventy-two men and a depth of nine.
— from A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. 4, Dec. 1810-Dec. 1811 Massena's Retreat, Fuentes de Oñoro, Albuera, Tarragona by Charles Oman

“They are in complete agreement that the cause of death in each case was senile decay.
— from Harry Escombe: A Tale of Adventure in Peru by Harry Collingwood

[17] "Omnia vincebas, sperabas omnia Cæsar; Omnia deficiunt, incipis esse nihil."
— from Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, Volume 2 (of 3) Illustrating the Arms, Arts, and Literature of Italy, from 1440 To 1630. by James Dennistoun

This occult conception of degeneracy is even yet a part of American folklore.
— from Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs and Results by Eugene S. (Eugene Solomon) Talbot

" V. The church of Dungannon is empty once more— No plumes on the altar, no clash on the floor, But the councils of England are fluttered to see, In the cause of their country, the Irish agree; So they give as a boon what they dare not withhold, And Ireland, a nation, leaps up as of old, With a name, and a trade, and a flag of her own, And an army to fight for the people and throne.
— from Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry by Thomas Osborne Davis