In this the poet asks the tree to say whither his mistress has gone; it need not shake its head in the wind, as if to say it did not know; for how [ 343 ] could it be flowering so brilliantly had it not been touched by the foot of his beloved?
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

As to Gania, I need not say that he was miserable; he stood dumb and wretched and took no notice of anybody.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The influence of the seasons on animals, though great, is not nearly so manifest.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo; she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to [104] begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or a furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. With a Proem by Austin Dobson by Lewis Carroll

While Ada was speaking to him in reply, I glanced (I need not say with how much interest) at his face.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Goring is not nearly so pretty a little spot to stop at as Streatley, if you have your choice; but it is passing fair enough in its way, and is nearer the railway in case you want to slip off without paying your hotel bill.
— from Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

By the last accounts, my mother’s health was decidedly better, so that on that ground I need not so much hasten my return.
— from Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 1 (of 2) by George Ticknor Curtis

Even if Durham contributed more to his Report than seems probable, the view there propounded of the scope of Responsible Government is not nearly so cogent as that of the later pamphlet.
— from British Supremacy & Canadian Self-Government, 1839-1854 by J. L. (John Lyle) Morison

The population of Germany is not nearly so dense as that of our own country or that of Belgium, and in both these countries the conditions of life are quite as favourable as those in the Fatherland.
— from The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. A Biographical Sketch by T. E. (Thomas Edward) Thorpe

Now, gentlemen, I need not say to you, who are experienced at least in the common inquiries concerning Governments and their duties, that, as a mere naked and separate consideration for punishing moral guilt, Government leaves, or should leave, vengeance where it belongs—to Him who searches the heart and punishes according to its secret intents—drawing no distinction between the wicked purpose which fully plans, and the final act which executes that purpose.
— from Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York by A. F. (Adolphus Frederick) Warburton

—Grace is not necessarily supernatural.
— from Grace, Actual and Habitual: A Dogmatic Treatise by Joseph Pohle

This person, who was formerly worshipped like a god, is now not sure of his life; it is astonishing how greatly terrified he is.
— from Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency — Complete by Orléans, Charlotte-Elisabeth, duchesse d'

And we, who have still before us the remnants of her temples and statues, and learn from them what man can accomplish under the inspiration of great ideals, need not scan too closely her claim to appropriate the funds which she employed for so noble a purpose.
— from Stories from Thucydides by Thucydides

From the several foregoing considerations we may conclude that the difference between sexual and asexual generation is not nearly so great as at first appears; the chief difference being that an ovule cannot continue to live and to be fully developed unless it unites with the male element; but even this difference is far from invariable, as shown by the many cases of parthenogenesis.
— from The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication by Charles Darwin