X. The prince did not die before his wedding—either by day or night, as he had foretold that he might.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Then there emerged from the house, Mrs. Pott, who would have looked very like Apollo if she hadn’t had a gown on, conducted by Mr. Winkle, who, in his light-red coat could not possibly have been mistaken for anything but a sportsman, if he had not borne an equal resemblance to a general postman.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

He loved to have the cloth laid, because it had been the fashion of his youth, but his conviction of suppers being very unwholesome made him rather sorry to see any thing put on it; and while his hospitality would have welcomed his visitors to every thing, his care for their health made him grieve that they would eat. Such another small basin of thin gruel as his own was all that he could, with thorough self-approbation, recommend; though he might constrain himself, while the ladies were comfortably clearing the nicer things, to say: “Mrs. Bates, let me propose your venturing on one of these eggs.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

It was a comfort to Margaret about this time, to find that her mother drew more tenderly and intimately towards her than she had ever done since the days of her childhood.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Further, he ought to entertain the people with festivals and spectacles at convenient seasons of the year; and as every city is divided into guilds or into societies,(*) he ought to hold such bodies in esteem, and associate with them sometimes, and show himself an example of courtesy and liberality; nevertheless, always maintaining the majesty of his rank, for this he must never consent to abate in anything.
— from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

She had no fear of its spreading farther, through his means.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Revolving all these things, and coupling them with the recently discovered fact, that he made my office his constant abiding place and home, and not forgetful of his morbid moodiness; revolving all these things, a prudential feeling began to steal over me.
— from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville

Fame carries ever with it its bitter savor, and, although she had not alone become the darling of the celebrated geisha-house, but had brought fame and fortune to her master, many of the things she had most cared for she had been obliged to forego in her new position as star of the House of Slender Pines.
— from The Honorable Miss Moonlight by Winnifred Eaton

And then having brought the thing freshly to her mind, he somehow lost control of his wits and told her he loved her.
— from The Lure of the Dim Trails by B. M. Bower

Graves, however, took no umbrage at Burton’s refusal; on the contrary, he seemed to seek the boy’s companionship more than ever, and they soon found they had many interests in common and proved to be congenial associates.
— from The Bail Jumper by Robert J. C. Stead

Now, with Tau's salve soothing the worst of the after affects, the Terran was given time to reflect upon his own stupidity and the fact that he might now prove a drag on the whole party the next morning.
— from Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton

He who had been "manifest in the flesh" that he might be made sin for us, was now "justified in the Spirit" and "received up into glory," that he might be made {46} righteousness to us, and that "we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
— from The Ministry of the Spirit by A. J. (Adoniram Judson) Gordon

It was Isabel who cried out in alarm, but her warning was too late, for the handsome mare which Dana Lydon rode had stretched out its neck and taken the lump of sugar the young lieutenant was holding; and as he turned sharply, it was at the sudden grip, for the greater part of his hand was held between the horse’s teeth.
— from Nurse Elisia by George Manville Fenn

The bookkeeper feared that he might be involved in some dubious enterprise.
— from The Girl from Sunset Ranch; Or, Alone in a Great City by Amy Bell Marlowe

If you hadn't come jes' as you did, I'd had to fout de Injines all alone, single-handed, widout any feller to help me, and, like as not, would've got hurt.
— from Oonomoo the Huron by Edward Sylvester Ellis