“Well, he's got a bad ear for music, Joshua.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

Hee, after Eve seduc’t, unminded slunk Into the Wood fast by, and changing shape To observe the sequel, saw his guileful act By Eve , though all unweeting, seconded Upon her Husband, saw thir shame that sought Vain covertures; but when he saw descend The Son of God to judge them, terrifi’d Hee fled, not hoping to escape, but
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

The Parthenon, originally, was two hundred and twenty-six feet long, one hundred wide, and seventy high, and had two rows of great columns, eight in each, at either end, and single rows of seventeen each down the sides, and was one of the most graceful and beautiful edifices ever erected.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

The feeling of owing a debt to the deity has grown continuously for several centuries, always in the same proportion in which the idea of God and the consciousness of God have grown and become exalted among mankind.
— from The Genealogy of Morals The Complete Works, Volume Thirteen, edited by Dr. Oscar Levy. by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Jews attended in large numbers, attracted by the fame of the preacher, and the glowing and burning eloquence which flowed from his lips as he pointed them to the Messiah.
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

The sick man through fear of death eats what he naturally shrinks from, but the healthy man takes pleasure in his food, and thus gets a better enjoyment out of life, than if he were in fear of death, and desired directly to avoid it.
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza

When two young dogs in play are growling and biting each other's faces and legs, it is obvious that they mutually understand each other's gestures and manners.
— from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin

He gave a ball every year, at which he appeared for a quarter of an hour only,—that is to say, five-and-forty minutes less than the king is visible at his balls.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

M. de Pambour objects against the methods of calculating the practical effects of steam engines generally adopted by engineers in this country.
— from The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated (Seventh Edition) With an Account of Its Invention and Progressive Improvement, and Its Application to Navigation and Railways; Including Also a Memoir of Watt by Dionysius Lardner

And not, forsooth, our grandees alone, but even the middle classes and the very plebeians aspire to such distinctions, taking affront if they receive them not, and noting as blunderers all who do not offer them the like.
— from Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, Volume 3 (of 3) Illustrating the Arms, Arts, and Literature of Italy, from 1440 To 1630 by James Dennistoun

Great armlike bays, expanding at their upper ends, often branch from the main valleys and penetrate the sandstone platform; on the other hand, the platform often sends promontories into the valleys, and even leaves in them great, almost insulated, masses.
— from Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage Round the World of H.M.S. Beagle Under the Command of Captain Fitz Roy, R.N. by Charles Darwin

This aspect of the case was forcibly argued by Mr. J. Ward, the Labour member for Stoke, in a speech greatly admired by enthusiasts for "democratic" principles.
— from Ulster's Stand For Union by Ronald McNeill

It is a grand and beneficent exercise of existing powers, for a long time invoked, but now at last grasped.
— from Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 14 (of 20) by Charles Sumner

Many of them, of all ranks, some poor and illiterate, did in no wise shrink from the abuse heaped on them by Gardiner and Bonner especially.
— from The Golden Grasshopper: A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham by William Henry Giles Kingston

So the porter opened the gate and Bedwyr entered.
— from The Lilac Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

He saved both mother and child, and when the nurse laid in my arms a little babe, who looked up at me with grave, accusing blue eyes,—the eyes of her mother,—I wondered whether society had a right to put any woman to this cruel test—whether the race was worth maintaining at such a price.
— from A Daughter of the Middle Border by Hamlin Garland

The heart of the world will not accept the strange and singular belief that so bad a man could confer so great a boon, especially when he seemed bent on bestowing it during his whole life, amid the most harassing duties.
— from Beacon Lights of History, Volume 3 part 2: Renaissance and Reformation by John Lord