" "Of course you did, and spoiled your story by beginning at the wrong end.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I'll drop down and see you.”
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad, that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land, and order the grand-vizir to put her to death.
— from The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Andrew Lang

It is because you are trying to drown and stifle your instinct, which tells you another name——” “No, no, no!”
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

And, young man, instead of defending a swindle, you would
— from Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

In calling at a hotel, enter by the ladies' door, and send your card to the room of your friend by the waiter.
— 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

Jerry touched his hat in return, gave the basin to Dolly, and was taking off my cloth, when the gentleman, hastening up, cried out, “No, no, finish your soup, my friend; I have not much time to spare, but I can wait till you have done, and set your little girl safe on the pavement.”
— from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Dinner and supper you will always have with us, and lodgings you have at the Herr Hofkammerrath's; so all this will cost you nothing.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Green turf sloped down to either edge, brown snaky tree-roots gleamed below the surface of the quiet water, while ahead of them the silvery shoulder and foamy tumble of a weir, arm-in-arm with a restless dripping mill-wheel, that held up in its turn a grey-gabled Page 16 [Pg 16] mill-house, filled the air with a soothing murmur of sound, dull and smothery, yet with little clear voices speaking up cheerfully out of it at intervals.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

'No, no, no.' 'We heard her try to tell you what she'd done, and saw you take a paper from her hand, and watched you too, next day, to the pawnbroker's shop,' said the first. 'Yes,' added the second, 'and it was a "locket and gold ring."
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

What do and say Your Council at this hour?
— from Queen Mary; and, Harold by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

Or you comin' home from Jonesville on a cold night fraxious as a dog and sayin' you should die off if you didn't have supper in ten minutes.
— from Samantha at the St. Louis Exposition by Marietta Holley

But now that Elde hath hem thurghsought, They repente hem of her folye, 4950 That Youthe hem putte in Iupardye, In perel and in muche wo, And made hem ofte amis to do, And suen yvel companye, Riot and avouterye.
— from Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) — Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer

He was delicate and sickly, yet his bright, clear eyes showed that he had a strong will.
— from Little Folks of North America Stories about children living in the different parts of North America by Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade

How did a sweet young thing like you ever meet such a type of a vertebrate?
— from Writing for Vaudeville by Brett Page

He's due at seven, you know."
— from Their Silver Wedding Journey — Volume 3 by William Dean Howells

As I have repeatedly told you in our correspondence, the rent roll, after deducting your settlement upon Lady Dominey, has at no time reached the interest on the mortgages, and we have had to make up the difference and send you your allowance out of the proceeds of the outlying timber.”
— from The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

But that in the midst of this desolation the palace of the Chief Genii shall rise sparkling in the wilderness, and the horrible howl of their war-cry shall spread over the land at morning, at noontide and night; but that they shall have their annual feast over the bones of the dead, and shall yearly rejoice with the joy of victors.
— from The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 1 by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

You know both your Aunt Dorinda and I detest dogs, and so you must either sell him or give him away.”
— from The Staying Guest by Carolyn Wells

Around the tomb where lie the relics of this unhappy pair innumerable small lamps are ever burning, and every day at sunrise young Persian maidens deck the double urns with flowers.
— from The Humour and Pathos of Anglo-Indian Life Extracts from his brother's note-book, made by Dr. Ticklemore by J. E. Mayer