Covering my face with both hands, I emitted a deep and deathlike groan, as if my tormented soul were rending me asunder—I, the most exquisitely fastidious of men, and whose wife was to have been the most delicate and refined of women, with all the fresh dew-drops glittering on her virgin rosebud of a heart!
— from Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Language the dialectical garment of facts.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

He breakfasted leisurely with Sam, who also spent his days and nights in sleeping in front of the fire; then he felt low-spirited and even frightened at the solitude, and was-seized by a longing for his daily game of cards, as one is by the craving of a confirmed habit, and so he went out to meet his companion, who was to return at four o'clock.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop

"As the sun went down, the cavaliers came to a lofty part of the mountains, commanding, to their right, a distant glimpse of a part of the fair Vega of Malaga, with the blue Mediterranean beyond, and they hailed it with exultation, as a glimpse of the promised land.
— from The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole

So White Fang hung around the landing with the disreputable gang of Indian dogs, waiting for steamers.
— from White Fang by Jack London

And we heard a justice of the Peace this morning say to the King, that he had been endeavouring to suppress this tumult, but could not; and that, imprisoning some [of them] in the new prison at Clerkenwell, the rest did come and break open the prison and release them; and that they do give out that they are for pulling down the bawdy-houses, which is one of the greatest grievances of the nation.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

DOUBLE DUTCH, gibberish, or any foreign tongue.
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

In this process the berries are spread in a thin layer on open drying grounds, or barbecues, often having cement or brick surfaces.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

"If I only could have sister Mary with me over Sunday in these dull and lonely little towns, I could stand it the rest of the week," she wrote; and to a friend who sent her an account of a visit to her mother: "I am very glad you do go occasionally to see dear mother, sitting there in her rocking-chair by the window as life ebbs out and out.
— 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

Vat vill dese men to? Shenneral Paker say he vill hab de guns, oder he vill pekin to fire in von half hour.
— from Other Fools and Their Doings, or, Life among the Freedmen by H. N. K. (Harriet Newell Kneeland) Goff

2. That every master or person in charge of a United States vessel who fails, without reasonable cause, to render such assistance or give such information as aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to a penalty of $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; and for the above sum the vessel shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against by process in any district court of the United States by any person; one half such sum to be payable to the informer and the other half to the United States.
— from A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 9, part 1: Benjamin Harrison by Benjamin Harrison

At first nothing, beyond his own heart-throbs, was to be heard but the slow wind making its moan among the masses of spruce and larch of Yalbury Wood which clothed the heights on either hand; but presently there came the sound of light wheels whetting their felloes against the newly stoned patches of road, accompanied by the distant glimmer of lights.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

Emily felt herself drawn to her new acquaintance with a fondness which doubtless grew out of her situation with her brother; which soon found reasons enough in the soft, lady-like, and sincere manners of Lady Marian, to justify her attachment on her own account.
— from Precaution: A Novel by James Fenimore Cooper

When the king gave Bertrand du Guesclin the countship of Longueville, in the diocese of Rouen, which had belonged to Philip, brother of the King of Navarre, Du Guesclin promised the king that he would drive out by force of arms all the plunderers and robbers, those enemies of the kingdom; but he did nothing of the sort; nay, the Bretons even of Du Guesclin, on returning from Rouen, pillaged and stole in the villages whatever they found there— garments, horses, sheep, oxen, and beasts of burden and of tillage.” Charles V. was not, as Louis XII.
— from A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 2 by François Guizot

The attack was made on the 28th of October: the French having been driven from the town by the artillery, the light dragoons galloped forward in pursuit with distinguished gallantry, overtook their opponents, cut down one hundred with their sabres, took fifty-nine prisoners, and captured five pieces of artillery, besides tumbrils and baggage waggons, for which they were honoured with the approbation of Major-General Abercromby and of His Royal Highness the duke of York.
— from Historical Record of the Seventh, or the Queen's Own Regiment of Hussars Containing an Account of the Origin of the Regiment in 1690, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1842 by Richard Cannon

“The secret declaration goes on to give the most complete details of how the treasure may be reached.
— from The Great God Gold by William Le Queux

The lovely girl, overcome by her sudden escape from death, from sorrow and misery—overcome at the sight of Ranadar, free, and making her free, felt a deep gush of joy and bliss, too great for utterance.
— from The Duke's Prize; a Story of Art and Heart in Florence by Maturin Murray Ballou