His hospitable attentions were brief, but expressive, being confined to a shake of the hand, a slap on the shoulder, a loud laugh, and a pressing invitation to “fall to, and help themselves.”
— from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Then he turned the doctor’s dictum over in his mind; he tried to believe that Goriot was not so dangerously ill as he had imagined, and ended by collecting together a sufficient quantity of traitorous excuses for Delphine’s conduct.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

Though no part of it may ever be carried to America, it may be carried to other countries, which purchase it with a part of their share of the surplus produce of America, and it may find a market by means of the circulation of that trade which was originally put into motion by the surplus produce of America.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Whatever else be certain, this at least is certain,—that the world of our present natural knowledge is enveloped in a larger world of some sort of whose residual properties we at present can frame no positive idea.
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James

I must own I have always been an enemy to specifics which I thought inconsistent with the nature of the animal economy; but certainly the authority of Solomon is not to be questioned.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

This difficulty of direct vision had troubled me more or less for the last forty-eight hours; but my present enormous elevation brought closer together, as it were, the floating bodies of vapor, and the inconvenience became, of course, more and more palpable in proportion to my ascent.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe

It is legitimate, because based on the social contract, and, equitable, because common to all; useful, because it can have no other object than the general good, and stable, because guaranteed by the public force and the supreme power.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Gloomy news about our side can harm the enemy listener if his government is running a propaganda campaign to raise production, promote thrift, etc., by claiming things are worse on their side.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

Later on in the day, Ben Isaje, more affable and obsequious than he had ever been, came to announce to the jongejuffrouw that her sledge was awaiting her at the top of the street.
— from The Laughing Cavalier: The Story of the Ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

As the arable land in the narrow vales of their country was limited, they increased its extent by constructing terraces along the mountain sides, and to guard against the aridity, numerous dams were built, from which canals carried the water for miles to the various fields.
— from Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography by Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison) Brinton

The latter have imprisoned the Russian Ambassador resident with them, which you know is their manner of declaring war; and though no news of actual hostilities is yet arrived, every body considers them as inevitable.
— from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20) by Thomas Jefferson

Pin these two bunches to your knee about two inches apart, and taking one blade from each bunch, cross them as in [60] Fig.
— from Indoor and Outdoor Recreations for Girls by Lina Beard

You didn't take any of that liquid they insult the Chinese Empire by calling tea, aboard ship, I hope?”
— from Daireen. Complete by Frank Frankfort Moore

These dwellings, each block containing two, are admirably arranged, with two rooms on the ground-floor, two above, a capital cellar and office, and last, but not least, a garden.
— from Holidays in Eastern France by Matilda Betham-Edwards

“I felt so certain, monsieur le secretaire-general, that we should end by coming to an understanding.”
— from The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc

The barn on the Twenty-acre Demonstration Dairy Farm was built this large, as it was thought it might be desired at some future time to increase the size of the farm and herd, and the barn could easily be changed to accommodate a larger herd by simply enlarging the silo, without rebuilding the barn.
— from Economy of the Round Dairy Barn by Wilber J. (Wilber John) Fraser

"All right?" exclaimed Somers; and, in spite of himself, he actually trembled with emotion, being conscious that a very trying scene was before him—one which would require all his skill and all his energy.
— from Brave Old Salt; or, Life on the Quarter Deck: A Story of the Great Rebellion by Oliver Optic