There are people who seem to have no notion of sketching a character, or observing and describing salient points, either in persons or things: the good lady evidently belonged to this class; my queries puzzled, but did not draw her out.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

SYN: Flashing, radiant, shining, lustrous, glorious, luminous, effulgent, beaming, sparkling.
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows

From the need of getting law enough by which to try the heathen Dante is led into some inconsistency.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

I believe her thoughts are better than our guesses, let 'em be what they may.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

And Blaise was passing glad to see him, for there was a great love ever between them; and Merlin told him how King Arthur had sped in the battle, and how it had ended; and told him the names of every king and knight of worship who was there.
— from The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Knowles, James, Sir

Babbitt read aloud at breakfast-table: 'Twixt the original and Oriental decorations, the strange and delicious food, and the personalities both of the distinguished guests, the charming hostess and the noted host, never has Zenith seen a more recherche affair than the Ceylon dinner-dance given last evening by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McKelvey to Sir Gerald Doak.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

It was evident he did not know of what had happened; but Mick, who was at dinner too, and Ulick, and almost all the girls, looked exceedingly black, and the Captain foolish; and Miss Nora, who was again by his side, ready to cry.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

Every green leaf, every blade of grass and blade of grain, was as shrivelled and poor as the miserable people.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

"Thou art a good lance enough, but who gave thee the ill wisdom to speak of the lash to the free archers of Arden?"
— from With the Black Prince by William O. Stoddard

Consequently the prudent man will agree with Willy Smith of Mexico, who declared that it was unwise to “tease the bunkers”; he will not attempt to avoid these greedy, lurking enemies by inches or even feet, but he will give them a good wide berth and avoid them by yards.
— from The Golf Courses of the British Isles by Bernard Darwin

Take 2 or three good large eels, being cleans’d, mince them & season them with cloves, mace, pepper, nutmeg, 359 Bb4 png388 salt, and a good big onion in the bottom of your pye, some sweet herbs chopped, and onions, put some goosberries and butter to it, and fill your pie, close it up and bake it, being baked, liquor it with butter and verjuyce, or strong fish broth, butter, and saffron.
— from The accomplisht cook or, The art & mystery of cookery by Robert May

When Elizabeth’s attention was turned to Nathan, however, the glad little enumeration became a more sober one.
— from The Wind Before the Dawn by Dell H. Munger

She’s a lame Jewess, and awfully plain, except she’s got lovely eyes, but she’s got a mind like a tack.
— from The Job: An American Novel by Sinclair Lewis

But, sitting as a judicial officer, and bound to compare every law enacted by congress with the greater law enacted by the people, and being unable to reconcile the measure in question with that fundamental law, I cannot hesitate to pronounce it as being, in my judgment, unconstitutional and void.
— from Monopolies and the People by D. C. Cloud

BY AMY E. BLANCHARD Author of "A Journey of Joy," "Wits' End," "The Glad Lady," etc. BOSTON DANA ESTES & COMPANY PUBLISHERS
— from Talbot's Angles by Amy Ella Blanchard

Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited, Edinburgh BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
— from How to Master the English Bible An Experience, a Method, a Result, an Illustration by James M. (James Martin) Gray