He had been a great reader all his life, and a remarkable memory had stored his mind with encyclopaedic information.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Charles Dudley Warner

Shall shame and glory rest, Amid her lakes and glaciers, Like twins upon her breast? Shall the two-headed eagle, Marked with her double blow, Drink of her milk through all those hearts Whose blood he bids to flow?
— from Poems by Victor Hugo

Then are earth's green robe and heavens light vain.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

Still, the broad foundation, in mere human nature, of all religions as they exist for the greatest number, is a universal pagan sentiment, a paganism which existed before the Greek religion, and has lingered far onward into the Christian world, ineradicable, like some persistent vegetable growth, because its seed is an element of the very soil out of which it springs.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater

‘I know nothing about him,’ replied she, yawning—‘except that he went about a month ago—I never asked where’ (I would have asked whether it was to a living or merely another curacy, but thought it better not); ‘and the people made a great rout about his leaving,’ continued she, ‘much to Mr. Hatfield’s displeasure; for Hatfield didn’t like him, because he had too much influence with the common people, and because he was not sufficiently tractable and submissive to him—and for some other unpardonable sins, I don’t know what.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

The frown which had gathered around the handsome, open, and manly brow of Heyward, gradually relaxed, and his lips curled into a slight smile, as he regarded the stranger.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper

Beyond, with burning gold aglow, The eastern steep his peaks will show, Which in unrivalled glory rise A hundred leagues to pierce the skies, And all the neighbouring air is bright With golden trees that clothe the height.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

The grass rustled against his legs as the little wind of morning pushed its way through it gently, and a bird chirped above his head in the olive-trees and was answered by another bird.
— from The Call of the Blood by Robert Hichens

“I am so delighted to see you understand—appreciate him,” said the young fellow boyishly, and Imogen felt herself growing red as he looked at her.
— from Imogen; Or, Only Eighteen by Mrs. Molesworth

"Oh, you'll make out all right," Garton replied, as he laid the butt of his cigar carefully on the ash-tray.
— from The Unknown Wrestler by H. A. (Hiram Alfred) Cody

“The fact is,” said I, “there has been a slow and gradual reaction against household labor in America.
— from Household Papers and Stories by Harriet Beecher Stowe

He was a young man of great refinement, and his large soft blue eyes looked with disdain on the eccentricities of Ignatius; he was not a little vain of his learning, his handsome person, and his skill in running.
— from A Candid History of the Jesuits by Joseph McCabe

She remembered how that night she had cried herself to sleep with misery, and with a growing regret at having left Michael, and a pitiful longing just to be clasped once more in his strong arms and comforted.
— from The Man and the Moment by Elinor Glyn

Thy hills, and dells, and groves, Are full of brighter things than other lands: Glorious remembrances, and happy loves, And hearts sincere, and true and honest hands.
— from Forest Days: A Romance of Old Times by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

Washington thereupon quickly reached a decision; a great rider all his life, the hills and vales of the region were familiar to him; it soon became certain that the federal city would rise one day where it now stands.
— from With Americans of Past and Present Days by J. J. (Jean Jules) Jusserand