Amongst other things, he had a custom of expressing a great respect for Guizot, [1] and also of striving to convince every one that he (Koliazin) was not one of "your men of routine, your retired bureaucrats," but, rather, a man who noted "every new and more important phenomenon of our social life."
— from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

These checks upon enterprise must affect the growth of London even now, and make it less rapid than it otherwise would be; but when the untold treasures of our land are unlocked, and when the people now living in London discover how easily vested interests, without being attacked, may be circumvented, then the landowners of London and those who represent other vested interests had better quickly make terms, or London, besides being what Mr. Grant Allen termed “a squalid village,” will also become a deserted one.
— from Garden Cities of To-Morrow Being the Second Edition of "To-Morrow: a Peaceful Path to Real Reform" by Howard, Ebenezer, Sir

But the truth was, that Phutatorius knew not one word or one syllable of what was passing—but his whole thoughts and attention were taken up with a transaction which was going forwards at that very instant within the precincts of his own Galligaskins, and in a part of them, where of all others he stood most interested to watch accidents: So that notwithstanding he looked with all the attention in the world, and had gradually skrewed up every nerve and muscle in his face, to the utmost pitch the instrument would bear, in order, as it was thought, to give a sharp reply to Yorick, who sat over-against him——yet, I say, was Yorick
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

342 Every night about midnight in that city, a jet black bird as large as a crow was wont to come, and no sooner had it thus reached the houses than it began to screech, so that all the dogs began to howl; and that screeching and howling would last for four or five hours, 343 but those people would never tell us the reason of it.
— from The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century by Antonio Pigafetta

And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

The citizens of Dublin have as great and laudable a desire for knowing their neighbours’ concerns as the country people have; and it is impossible for a gentleman, however modest his desires may be (and such mine have notoriously been through life), to enter the capital without having his name printed in every newspaper and mentioned in a number of societies.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

He thus describes the operation of suturing the abdominal parietes: Sutura autem neque summae cutis neque interioris membranae per se satis proficit; sed utriusque: et quidem duobus linis iniicienda est, spissior quam alibi; quia et rumpi facilius motu ventris potest, et non aeque magnis inflammationibus pars ea exposita est.
— from Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times by John Stewart Milne

There are five louis d’or to be earned!” Not a man in the group stirred.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Eat not another morsel, I pray you, until this brave man, who has so truly served you, be taken from his prison and freed from his sentence of death.
— from When Knighthood Was in Flower or, the Love Story of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor the King's Sister, and Happening in the Reign of His August Majesty King Henry the Eighth by Charles Major

Every night and morning I watered and felt and surveyed my watermelon.
— from The Light in the Clearing: A Tale of the North Country in the Time of Silas Wright by Irving Bacheller

Provincial France (where all enjoy the possession of homes, English fashion, plus gaiety), the laborious and thrifty population of our villages (who are the fortune and salvation of France), our family life (narrow, exclusive, nay almost mean, I own it, but made up of love and devotion)—all these are a sealed letter to our neighbours over the Channel, of which a goodly number still hallow the venerable joke, that the French live on frogs and snails.
— from Woman and Artist by Max O'Rell

Before them, the San Bernardinos drew ever nearer and more intimate--silently inviting them; patiently, with a world old patience, bidding them come; in the majestic humbleness of their lofty spirit, offering themselves and the wealth of their teaching.
— from The Eyes of the World by Harold Bell Wright

He was weeping with his eyes, nose and mouth in a heartbreaking yet ridiculous manner, like a sponge which one squeezes.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

1833 Maximilian, Prince of Wied, conducts scientific expedition up Missouri River. 1837 Smallpox epidemic nearly annihilates Mandan Indian tribe.
— from North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State by Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota