Improvements of rent, by new buildings, repairs, etc. go to the discharge of the district, which occasions still further variations in the rate of particular houses.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

But the scene is now changed, and gradually the two ranks mingle; the divisions which once severed mankind are lowered, property is divided, power is held in common, the light of intelligence spreads, and the capacities of all classes are equally cultivated; the State becomes democratic, and the empire of democracy is slowly and peaceably introduced into the institutions and the manners of the nation.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville

the doctor went on, shaking his beard.
— from The Bet, and other stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

He had some charming rooms in Paris, decorated with old Spanish altar-lace, the envy of his female friends, who declared that his chimney-piece was better draped than the high shoulders of many a duchess.
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James

The man and woman seemed to have inherited in masculine and feminine form respectively the evil tendency of their race, sharing in common the principles, though manifesting them in different ways, of sullen passion, voluptuousness and recklessness.
— from Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker

403 Probability determines what object shall be perceived, II.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

The disgusting wrinkles of suffering that ridged his old face were patched up and painted, and on the smooth surface, wrinkles of good-nature and laughter, and of pleasant, good-humoured cheeriness, were laid on artistically with fine brushes.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

All this I did without one sound.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

she knows that I’m in trouble and that I’ve done wrong, or she wouldn’t have said that about not being able to turn a bad pumpkin into a beautiful gold coach; but perhaps she can get Aunt Truth to forgive me and try me again.
— from A Summer in a Canyon: A California Story by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

It is only the centre itself that possesses this property, and the same brightness is only extended to a sensible distance from this mathematical point when the screen is of very small diameter, and when its shadow is observed at a great distance: for the wider that the screen becomes, the more the little bright circle is contracted; and when the screen is four tenths of an inch in diameter, we only see a single point of light, at the distance of a yard, even with a powerful magnifier.
— from The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, July-December, 1827 by Various

The distracting problem, "What to do with our sons?" was in this way amazingly simplified.
— from The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore by J. R. (John Robert) Hutchinson

He is certain that Austria is about to declare war on Serbia, and that if she does, the whole of Europe will be involved.
— from Three Sides of Paradise Green by Augusta Huiell Seaman

As it was not very likely that the parents who left their offspring round on doorsteps were of saintly life, they were not presented for baptism like the children of church-members.
— from The Guardian Angel by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Stephen Switzer was an accomplished gardener, well known by a great many horticultural and agricultural works, which in his day were "on sale at his seed-shop in Westminster Hall."
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 77, March, 1864 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Bradford laughed with a glance of affectionate recognition of the soldier's compliment, and then the two arranged the details of the proposed expedition, while Alden standing straight and still as a statue watched the gloom of night blotting all the color from sky, and sea, and shore, even as the fog crept stealthily in swallowing all before it, and a great dumb wave of sorrow and dismay surged up from his own heart, and swallowed all the brightness of his life.
— from Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims by Jane G. (Jane Goodwin) Austin

In order to aid him in keeping his promise to the owners, Uncle Jonas took with him on board some ten or a dozen bottles of "old Jamaica," a beverage which he dearly loved; and although he seldom got absolutely drunk when on shore, it was rarely the case that he went to bed sober.
— from Jack in the Forecastle; or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale by John Sherburne Sleeper

Perhaps the word 'satisfaction' will hardly be found in the Bible; and where is it said in so many words, 'God is dissatisfied with our sins?'
— from Works of John Bunyan — Complete by John Bunyan