Mr. Wickfield said not one word, though the old lady looked to him as if for his commentary on this intelligence; but sat severely silent, with his eyes fixed on the ground.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Others were hopelessly ill, and hence, as I feared that the work assigned to this expedition would not be accomplished, I was obliged to man the vessel anew from Yakutsk.
— from Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait by Peter Lauridsen

But when a man’s religion becomes really frantic; when it is a positive torment to him; and, in fine, makes this earth of ours an uncomfortable inn to lodge in; then I think it high time to take that individual aside and argue the point with him.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

With the knights of these days, for the most part, it is the damask, brocade, and rich stuffs they wear, that rustle as they go, not the chain mail of their armour; no knight now-a-days sleeps in the open field exposed to the inclemency of heaven, and in full panoply from head to foot; no one now takes a nap, as they call it, without drawing his feet out of the stirrups, and leaning upon his lance, as the knights-errant used to do; no one now, issuing from the wood, penetrates yonder mountains, and then treads the barren, lonely shore of the sea—mostly a tempestuous and stormy one—and finding on the beach a little bark without oars, sail, mast, or tackling of any kind, in the intrepidity of his heart flings himself into it and commits himself to the wrathful billows of the deep sea, that one moment lift him up to heaven and the next plunge him into the depths; and opposing his breast to the irresistible gale, finds himself, when he least expects it, three thousand leagues and more away from the place where he embarked; and leaping ashore in a remote and unknown land has adventures that deserve to be written, not on parchment, but on brass.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

I had advanced in fame and fortune, my domestic joy was perfect, I had been married ten happy years.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Suddenly she discovered that she was admiring him, and it frightened her.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

And on the other side there was a theatre with steps leading up to a glittering bow-front, and a dark wall spattered with the white squares of playbills, under which a queue of people watched with happy and indifferent faces a ragged reciter whose burlesque extravagance of gesture showed that one was now in a country more tolerant of nonsense than the North.
— from The Judge by Rebecca West

No one's ever creased him; an' I figgers final by way of a s'lootion of his fits that mighty likely Jerry's attended some killin' between hoomans, inadvertent, an' has the teeth of his apprehensions set on aige.
— from Wolfville Nights by Alfred Henry Lewis

Here, again, I felt a disposition to criticise the conduct of the officers, like that which I had previously experienced while witnessing the labours of the smith.
— from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 270, August 25, 1827 by Various

The Emperor was right; it was the brave Carahue of Mauritania, who, with an army, had arrived in France, resolved to attempt the liberation of Ogier, his brother in arms.
— from Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch

e reign of the Marquis Francesco, and both he and Isabella found their best distraction from their many sorrows in watching their court painter at work.
— from Mantegna by N. D'Anvers

No, I never hear anything improper from young men.
— from London Labour and the London Poor (Vol. 1 of 4) by Henry Mayhew

Then I knew I was face to face with the real householder; and it flashed on me that I had been indiscreet in taking service as his butler, and that I knew the face his ex-butler wore.
— from McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896 by Various

“Since they all fared alike,” said Hircan, “it seems to me that they did well to console one another.” “Nay,” said Geburon, “they should never have acknowledged it for the sake of their own honour.
— from The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre A Linked Index to the Project Gutenberg Edition by Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre

Anon he and I, from all the rest of the company, walked into the Matted Gallery; where after many expressions of love, we fell to talk of business.
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 35: May/June 1665 by Samuel Pepys

Holmes and I followed them down to the lane, and my friend plucked at my sleeve as we came out.
— from The Strand Magazine, Vol. 05, Issue 26, February 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various