To dull the whiteness of paper, in those times when I was more wont to read, I laid a piece of glass upon my book, and found my eyes much relieved by it.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Gitamnan ug mga búlak ang nátad (nataran) sa ílang balay, There are flowers planted in the yard of their house.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

And when Sir Pelleas came to his pavilions he told his knights and his squires how he had sped, and said thus to them, For your true and good service ye have done me I shall give you all my goods, for I will go unto my bed and never arise until I am dead.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Malory, Thomas, Sir

And he gave the animal another cut, and then shouted to the trio, “Gee up, my beauties!” and drew his whip gently across the backs of the skewbald’s comrades—not as a punishment, but as a sign of his approval.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

A very unskilful Cobbler, finding himself unable to make a living at his trade, gave up mending boots and took to doctoring instead.
— from Aesop's Fables; a new translation by Aesop

I having spoke a word or two with my Lord, being not very well settled, partly through last night’s drinking and want of sleep, I lay down in my gown upon my bed and slept till the 4 o’clock gun the next morning waked me, which I took for 8 at night, and rising ...
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

After he was gone I went and lay down in my gown upon my bed again an hour or two.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

At noon Creed and I to a cook’s shop at Charing Cross, and there dined and had much discourse, and his very good upon my business, and upon other things, among the rest upon Will Howe’s dissembling with us, we discovering one to another his carriage to us, present and absent, being a very false fellow.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

They were indeed almost like the Romans who in olden times, before their wars with eastern nations, gave up making bread, and ate their corn simply boiled in water.
— from Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period by P. L. Jacob

And still more positively in the words which Christ, according to our evangelist, spoke to Mary after his resurrection, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, unto my God and your God."
— from Evidences of Christianity by William Paley

And, as I swam for life, Betwixt my thrusting heels, Another spear that clove the crystal waters Glanced underneath my body, And in the stream-bed quivered bolt upright, Caught in a cleft of rock.
— from Akra the Slave by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

They must give up making beer, and they must not hold feasts which lasted more than three days.
— from Under Many Flags by Elsie Singmaster

After which he bestowed a searching glance upon Mr. Blount, and thus delivered himself: “It appears,” he said, “that this warrant was issued, with several others, upon the sworn information of Edward Hamilton Bruce, J.P., of Marondah, Upper Sturt, who had reason to believe that the person named—viz., Valentine Blount—generally known as ‘Jack Blunt,’ was concerned with Phelim O’Hara, Patrick O’Hara, George Dixon (otherwise Lanky), and John Carter, known as ‘Little-River-Jack,’ in stealing and disposing of certain fat cattle branded E.H.B., the property of the said Edward Hamilton Bruce.
— from The Ghost Camp; or, the Avengers by Rolf Boldrewood

Therefore, seeing hard strife before me, I girt up my breeches anew, with each buckle one hole tighter, for the sodden straps were stretching and giving, and mayhap my legs were grown smaller from the coldness of it.
— from Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

Then when it came time to go to sleep, the boy would always get under my blankets and cuddle up close to me.
— from The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway by Henry Inman