The city was in a great measure depopulated—and in those horrible regions, in the vicinity of the Thames, where amid the dark, narrow, and filthy lanes and alleys, the Demon of Disease was supposed to have had his nativity, Awe, Terror, and Superstition were alone to be found stalking abroad.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Perhaps, to effect this change, another pitched battle must be fought with fortune; if so, I had a mind to the encounter: too poor to lose, God might destine me to gain.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

“Very good, my dear, just as you please.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

There is no central idea underlying “Erewhon,” whereas the attempt to realise the effect of a single supposed great miracle dominates the whole of its successor.
— from Erewhon; Or, Over the Range by Samuel Butler

I have not yet settled on a hotel, so write or wire to me there and give me detailed news.
— from Howards End by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

Unsay giyamyam mu didtu sa átung agálun báhin kanákù?
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

In its glow Mrs. Dorset and the Stepneys were also visibly included, and the whole scene had touches of intimacy worth their weight in gold to the watchful pen of Mr. Dabham.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Début 1996, j'ai reçu un message qui disait à peu près ceci: "Mon fils, dans le début de la vingtaine, était gravement malade depuis des mois.
— from Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas by Marie Lebert

"Do you understand the language of the Gillikins, my dear?"
— from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

These Mysteries existed in every country of heathendom, in each under a different name, and to some extent under a different form, but always and everywhere with the same design of inculcating, by allegorical and symbolic teachings, the great Masonic doctrines of the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.
— from The Symbolism of Freemasonry Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols by Albert Gallatin Mackey

Rumour paid to the young author an unintentional compliment by insisting that the brochure came from the great Mr. Dryden, but that genius denied the soft impeachment while gracefully praising the unknown writer.
— from The Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield by Edward Robins

“Good morning, doctor,” said Mr. Ellet.
— from Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time by Fanny Fern

Mr. Gladstone may defend the Bible with passionate devotion and lofty ignorance, but better informed Christians see that the Old Testament is doomed.
— from Flowers of Freethought (Second Series) by G. W. (George William) Foote

But our virtues and our vices depend too much on our circumstances; unexpectedly beset as I was, betrayed by a mind weakened by a long severe affliction, and stunned with the terrors of a goal, my defeat will appear the more excusable, since I certainly was not present at, or a party in any sense to it.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

The restriction of rights to particular peoples was by degrees abolished: under Caracalla the whole Roman world was converted into a single Rome, since great monarchs desire the whole world to become one city, according to the thought of Alexander the Great, when he said that for him all the world was a single city of which his phalanx was the citadel.
— from The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico by Benedetto Croce

The various scenes, and the dangers and difficulties which she had lately encountered, had given Marie de Clairvaut a far greater knowledge of the world, and of how the important events of the world take place, than was possessed by any of her companions; and she assuredly did not believe a thousandth part of all the different rumours that reached her.
— from Henry of Guise; or, The States of Blois (Vol. 3 of 3) by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

“Good morning, D’Artagnan; good morning, Porthos; good-morning, my dear friends,” said Aramis.
— from The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas