How are matches made, except by bringing men and women together?
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

"And the Lord," he saith, "will seek Him a man," meaning either David or the Mediator of the New Testament, [393] who was figured in the chrism with which David also and his offspring was anointed.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes—" I began, but the words had a most magical effect, for the window instantly slammed down, and within a minute the door was unbarred and open.
— from The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

1. hath a most memorable example of a countryman of his, that by chance, falling into a pit where frogs and frogs' spawn was, and a little of that water swallowed, began to suspect that he had likewise swallowed frogs' spawn, and with that conceit and fear, his phantasy wrought so far, that he verily thought he had young live frogs in his belly, qui vivebant ex alimento suo , that lived by his nourishment, and was so certainly persuaded of it, that for many years afterwards he could not be rectified in his conceit: He studied physic seven years together to cure himself, travelled into Italy, France and Germany to confer with the best physicians about it, and A.D. 1609, asked his counsel amongst the rest; he told him it was wind, his conceit, &c., but mordicus contradicere, et ore, et scriptis probare nitebatur : no saying would serve, it was no wind, but real frogs: and do you not hear them croak?
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

It is reasonable to suppose that the words first made use of by mankind had a much more extensive signification than those used in languages already formed, and that ignorant as they were of the division of discourse into its constituent parts, they at first gave every single word the sense of a whole proposition.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

No base speculation on the future relations of Laura and myself, and on the private and personal concessions which I might force from Sir Percival if I once had him at my mercy, ever entered my mind.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

how cheap nobility! Abstinence, no falsehood, no gluttony, lust; The open air I sing, freedom, toleration, (Take here the mainest lesson—less from books—less from the schools,) The common day and night—the common earth and waters, Your farm—your work, trade, occupation, The democratic wisdom underneath, like solid ground for all. H2 anchor "The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete" The devilish and the dark, the dying and diseas'd, The countless (nineteen-twentieths) low and evil, crude and savage, The crazed, prisoners in jail, the horrible, rank, malignant, Venom and filth, serpents, the ravenous sharks, liars, the dissolute; (What is the part the wicked and the loathesome bear within earth's orbic scheme?) Newts, crawling things in slime and mud, poisons, The barren soil, the evil men, the slag and hideous rot. H2 anchor Mirages More experiences and sights, stranger, than you'd think for; Times again, now mostly just after sunrise or before sunset, Sometimes in spring, oftener in autumn, perfectly clear weather, in plain sight, Camps far or near, the crowded streets of cities and the shopfronts, (Account for it or not—credit or not—it is all true, And my mate there could tell you the like—we have often confab'd about it,) People and scenes, animals, trees, colors and lines, plain as could be, Farms and dooryards of home, paths border'd with box, lilacs in corners, Weddings in churches, thanksgiving dinners, returns of long-absent sons, Glum funerals, the crape-veil'd mother and the daughters, Trials in courts, jury and judge, the accused in the box, Contestants, battles, crowds, bridges, wharves, Now and then mark'd faces of sorrow or joy, (I could pick them out this moment if I saw them again,) Show'd to me—just to the right in the sky-edge, Or plainly there to the left on the hill-tops.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

b) The second section shows how a man may escape want and misery by industry and care both in agriculture and in trading by sea.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod

The word, agora , which is translated “the market,” has a much more extensive signification than the English word.
— from A Bible History of Baptism by Samuel J. (Samuel John) Baird

As a general thing the Ionic temples were not different in purpose from the Doric temples; they have therefore the same plan and the same simple structure; but they have a much more elaborate decorative treatment.
— from How to judge architecture: a popular guide to the appreciation of buildings by Russell Sturgis

I should advise the latter course, as small hotbeds are much more easily managed by inexperienced gardeners than large ones.
— from The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally by Mrs. (Jane) Loudon

Browne only shared this belief with his pious friend, the venerable Bishop Hall, and many men equally devout according to their lights; he makes no secret of the fact and acts in accordance with his convictions and the plain authority of Scripture.
— from Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk More Especially on the Birds and Fishes by Browne, Thomas, Sir

It had a might mine eyes had never seen, A mien, a stature, As if the centuries that rolled between Had greatened Nature.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Mr. Crosbie spent the day with the Duke of Leinster, and is very angry at his name being mentioned in the wrong, particularly as he is bound over to keep the peace towards all members of the bar for three years.” “Captain Heavyside and Mr. Malone exchanged four shots each on the Bull this morning.
— from The O'Donoghue: Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago by Charles James Lever

“Was he a methodical man?” “Eminently so,” replied Nasmyth, wondering where the question led.
— from The Long Portage by Harold Bindloss

Think of some soldier coming in here and making me enlist!
— from The Blot on the Kaiser's 'Scutcheon by Newell Dwight Hillis

The lady recovered her assurance much more easily than the gentleman.
— from The Coquette, or, The History of Eliza Wharton A Novel: Founded on Fact by Hannah Webster Foster