It was dark in the hall, and of the person who entered could be distinguished only his middle height, a white scarf and a big, extraordinarily pale face, so pale that it seemed as though its appearance made the hall brighter....
— from The Bet, and other stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

According to the legend, it was carved from memory by Nicodemus, and after being a long time lost was found again in the eighth century by an Italian bishop travelling in Palestine.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

It is only by combining the German Nibelungen-Lied with the mythical materials found in Norseland that our national Teutonic epic can be restored to us.
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson

THE SUBTLE SERPENT I VARVARA PETROVNA rang the bell and threw herself into an easy chair by the window.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

But it is the wide choice of what he can think up, not the narrow choice dictated by fixed terrain, by specific enemy capabilities, by concrete physical necessities.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

“Am I to accompany you, your excellency?” cried Bertuccio.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

— N. substantiality, hypostasis; person, being, thing, object, article, item; something, a being, an existence; creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum; matter &c. 316; corporeity[obs3], element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality, substantialness, vital part.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

"Can I have a look at those books?" asked K., not because he was especially curious but so that he would not have come for nothing.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka

Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, [Tu Mu's note is: "[knowledge of the enemy] cannot be gained by reasoning from other analogous cases."
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

At the same time the men now employed in laboriously learning the trade of war, which they are seldom or never called upon to exercise, could be given something useful to do.
— from Impressions and Comments by Havelock Ellis

Its former existence cannot be inferred from such customs as the niyoga and the levirate; for these are capable of simpler explanation.
— from A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3 by George Elliott Howard

A and A' are the armatures of the two machines, the fields of which are partly separately excited, the amount of excitation current being controlled by the series compounding rheostats B and B', which form a stationary shunt.
— from Hawkins Electrical Guide v. 08 (of 10) Questions, Answers, & Illustrations, A progressive course of study for engineers, electricians, students and those desiring to acquire a working knowledge of electricity and its applications by N. (Nehemiah) Hawkins

Again, in 1785, the expedition commanded by the ill-fated La Perouse sailed from France on a discovery voyage.*
— from Terre Napoleón; a History of French Explorations and Projects in Australia by Scott, Ernest, Sir

And any one with half an eye cannot but see that it would require less effort to move a table, or other inanimate object, than living, intelligent beings, capable of exerting their will in opposition to the effort.
— from The Spirit Land by Samuel B. (Samuel Bulfinch) Emmons

Thanks to the babbling of the very men, whose chief instructions had been to hold their tongues, and to listen with all their ears, the secret negotiations between Parma and the English counsellors became the town-talk at Antwerp, the Hague, Amsterdam, Brussels, London.
— from PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete by John Lothrop Motley

And in a few days little Eva came; but, unfortunately without the family jewels.
— from Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family by Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Before any skiff could be launched, before any effort could be made to reach the trading-boat, she suddenly disappeared.
— from The Raid of The Guerilla, and Other Stories by Mary Noailles Murfree

Marx tells [Pg 327] them, on the contrary, that it will take fifty years "not only to change existing conditions but to change yourselves and make yourselves worthy of political power."
— from Socialism: A Summary and Interpretation of Socialist Principles by John Spargo