Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

The wide-awake retail coffee roaster always features his roasting machine, which is generally highly ornamental and draws attention even when not in use.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

From my brother, it went thus: "Three Bengali boys in English clothes running away from home toward Hardwar via Moghul Serai.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experiences he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

I thought it strange at the time, and think it more so now; for I am assured that claims, real and fictitious, have been proved up against this identical cotton of three times the quantity actually captured, and that reclamations on the Treasury have been allowed for more than the actual quantity captured, viz., thirty-one thousand bales.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

“Or, I tell you what,” Nastya interrupted impulsively, completely rejecting and forgetting her first hypothesis.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

For her the slim narcissus stored the cool rain; and for her the anemones forgot the Sicilian winds that wooed them.
— from Intentions by Oscar Wilde

Sometimes the crocodile-spirit is requested to act as the forwarding agent in the transaction; thus we find a short lanchang -charm running as follows:— “Ho, Elder of the Sloping Bank, Jambu Agai, 141 Receive this ( lanchang ) and forward it to the River-Bay, It is So-and-So who presents it.
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

All of a sudden a tremendous crab crawled up and before she could run away, fastened his great claw in her sleeve.
— from The Iceberg Express by David Cory

When the Court rises at four, he frequently spends a couple of hours in getting ready his notes for summing up, which may come at any time if a case collapses.
— from The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 42, June, 1894 An Illustrated Monthly by Various

Before the war this was a thriving place; its magnificent harbor made it easily accessible for the largest merchant-ships, and the richly productive country round about furnished heavy cargoes of the fleecy staple that gave to the South the name of the "cotton kingdom."
— from The Naval History of the United States. Volume 2 by Willis J. (Willis John) Abbot

Then she could relax and fill her own place.
— from Women in Love by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

One large opening above the furnace lets the heat in to some central room, and from here it circulates into all other rooms not closed off from the central room.
— from Mechanical Devices in the Home by Edith Allen

The Captain rose, after filling his glass to the brim.
— from The Argosy Vol. 51, No. 1, January, 1891 by Various