[204] But suddenly there appeared something quite different—something which could never have appeared, for example, in Ophelia—a love not only full of romance but showing a strange freedom and energy of spirit, and leading to a most unusual boldness of action; and this action was carried through with a confidence and decision worthy of Juliet or Cordelia.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. (Andrew Cecil) Bradley

What we say of him is not dream, nor flourish of rhetoric; but scientific historic fact; as many men, now at this distance, see or begin to see.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

As I write, the flames of Russian Bolshevism seem, for the moment at least, to have burnt themselves out, and the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe are held in a dreadful torpor.
— from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes

It was a time when ignorance was much more comfortable than at present, and was received with all the honors in very good society, without being obliged to dress itself in an elaborate costume of knowledge; a time when cheap periodicals were not, and when country surgeons never thought of asking their female patients if they were fond of reading, but simply took it for granted that they preferred gossip; a time when ladies in rich silk gowns wore large pockets, in which they carried a mutton-bone to secure them against cramp.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Nearly all other earthly benefits are needed by one person, not needed by another; and many of them can, if necessary, be cheerfully foregone, or replaced by something else; but security no human being can possibly do without; on it we depend for all our immunity from evil, and for the whole value of all and every good, beyond the passing moment; since nothing but the gratification of the instant could be of any worth to us, if we could be deprived of everything the next instant by whoever was momentarily stronger than ourselves.
— from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill

Perhaps, too, her goodness of heart and politeness told her what a trial it was to look at her face, and she wished to indemnify the man who disguised his feelings of repugnance by shewing him what gifts nature had given her.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

This form of religious belief soon acquired a large following, causing much controversy and great excitement.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper

The empty space on the street left by the demolished house is half-filled by a fence of rotten boards, shored up by five stone posts.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

When the feeling of revolt became sometimes so urgent in him that it threatened to become unmanageable, he would go out into solitude, calling it to heel; but this attempt to restore order, while easing his nature, was never radical; the accumulation merely increased on the rebound; the yearnings grew and multiplied, and the point of saturation was often dangerously near.
— from The Centaur by Algernon Blackwood

He is full of enthusiasm as the leader of his interesting Expedition, and his chief reasons for selecting the Congo route are that he may be able to convey the men your Highness has so kindly assisted him in procuring without fatigue or risk by sea to the Congo, and up the river in boats in comparative comfort, and they will arrive within 350 miles of their destination fresh and vigorous instead of being worn out and jaded by the fatigue of a long march inland.
— from In Darkest Africa, Vol. 1; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria by Henry M. (Henry Morton) Stanley

East Friesland remained a federation of rude but self-governed maritime provinces, until the brief and bloody dominion of the Saxon dukes led to the establishment of Charles the Fifth's authority.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-66) by John Lothrop Motley

His character was perfect; his face of rare beauty shone with kind and helpful thought for everyone.
— from Memories and Anecdotes by Kate Sanborn

He ran toward the house, and was reassured only on seeing in a neighboring field a fire of roots burning slowly.
— from Doctor Pascal by Émile Zola

A scattering fire of revolver bullets spattered on the rocks about them, but, by lively sprinting, they soon succeeded in placing substantial barriers of rock between them and their pursuers.
— from Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders on the Old Apache Trail by Josephine Chase

What this implies as regards the neighbouring German colony cannot, for obvious reasons, be stated in detail at this stage.
— from How the Nations Waged War A companion volume to "How the War Began" by J. M. (John McFarland) Kennedy

"Success to the firm of Rushton & Black!" said Miss Manning, smiling.
— from Rufus and Rose; Or, The Fortunes of Rough and Ready by Alger, Horatio, Jr.