" "Croak, croak, croak," was all her son could say for himself; so the toad took up the elegant little bed, and swam away with it, leaving Tiny all alone on the green leaf, where she sat and wept.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

Since, who can you think better than that man who has holy opinions respecting the Gods, and who is utterly fearless with respect to death, and who has properly contemplated the end of nature, and who comprehends that the chief good is easily perfected and easily provided; and the greatest evil lasts but a short period, and causes but brief pain.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

Central positions, salient toward the enemy, like Bohemia and Switzerland, are the most advantageous, because they naturally lead to the adoption of interior lines and facilitate the project of taking the enemy in reverse.
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

And should some great court-lady say, the Prince Hath picked a ragged-robin from the hedge, And like a madman brought her to the court, Then were ye shamed, and, worse, might shame the Prince To whom we are beholden; but I know, That when my dear child is set forth at her best, That neither court nor country, though they sought Through all the provinces like those of old That lighted on Queen Esther, has her match.' Here ceased the kindly mother out of breath; And Enid listened brightening as she lay; Then, as the white and glittering star of morn Parts from a bank of snow, and by and by Slips into golden cloud, the maiden rose, And left her maiden couch, and robed herself, Helped by the mother's careful hand and eye, Without a mirror, in the gorgeous gown; Who, after, turned her daughter round, and said, She never yet had seen her half so fair; And called her like that maiden in the tale, Whom Gwydion made by glamour out of flowers
— from Idylls of the King by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

In looking at Nature, it is most necessary to keep the foregoing considerations always in mind—never to forget that every single organic being may be said to be striving to the utmost to increase in numbers; that each lives by a struggle at some period of its life; that heavy destruction inevitably falls either on the young or old during each generation or at recurrent intervals.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

“At the end of some minutes I thought I heard a vague murmur, which ere long became a sort of humming, and it seemed to me that all the interior of my body had become light, light as air, that it was dissolving into vapor.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

His body was finely formed, and of a most vigorous make, square shouldered, and broad chested: his face was not remarkable any way, but for a nose inclining to the Roman, eyes large, black, and sparkling, and a ruddiness in his cheeks that was the more a grace; for his complexion was of the brownest, not of that dusky dun colour which excludes, the idea of freshness, but of that clear, olive gloss, which glowing with life, dazzles perhaps less than fairness, and yet pleases more, when it pleases at all.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

No one else followed the eccentric lady; but as she descended the steps she did not even look behind her, as though it were absolutely the same to her whether anyone were following or not.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Whatever it was that she had been doing, it had interested her and waked her out of herself, for her eyes looked brighter and she had spots of colour on her cheeks.
— from The Powers and Maxine by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson

Mr. Whittier's personal appearance is thus described by George W. Bungay in his "Crayon Sketches:"— "His temperament is nervous bilious; he is tall, slender, and straight as an Indian; has a superb head; his brow looks like a white cloud under his raven hair; eyes large, black as sloes, and glowing with expression, . . .
— from Home Life of Great Authors by Hattie Tyng Griswold

Their books are taken home at night, and every lodge becomes a school-room.
— from A Century of Dishonor A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes by Helen Hunt Jackson

After a battle we can easily look back and see where mistakes have been made; but it is more difficult, if not impossible, to look forward and avoid them.
— from The Citizen-Soldier or, Memoirs of a Volunteer by John Beatty

She thinks she loves as no woman ever loved before, and sometimes she succeeds in making the man think so too.
— from What Dreams May Come by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

[335] The remodeling of the system, as recently completed, provided for: 1.—Increasing the capacity of Elk Lake by a system of levees.
— from Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910 A Concrete Water Tower, Paper No. 1173 by A. Kempkey

The sun was gone; a purple dusk wrapped either low bank; a steamboat that had passed up stream was now, at the turning of the bend, only a cluster of soft red lights; Venus began to make a faint silvery pathway across the waters.
— from Bonaventure: A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana by George Washington Cable

When this was done Judkins closed his eyes, lay back, and slipped off into unconsciousness.
— from The Boy Inventors' Flying Ship by Richard Bonner