‘What do you want?’ said my father to some people who were holding a paper inscribed with characters of gold.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

The rights of property ownership are involved in state rights, and slaves held as property in slave-holding states were not recognized as such in states that were free.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook The First Edition, 1911 by Boy Scouts of America

On the other hand, love is induced by its secret craving to discover as many beautiful qualities as possible in the loved object, or to raise this loved object as high as possible: it is a joy and an advantage to love to be deceived in this way—and this is why it does it.
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Chicanery, subterfuge, had hardly a place in the streets of this honest borough to all appearance; and it was said that the lawyers in the Court House hard by occasionally threw in strong arguments for the other side out of pure generosity (though apparently by mischance) when advancing their own.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

He also, upon God's command, took some of the water that was near him, and poured it upon the ground, and saw the color was that of blood.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

But the sympathy of the girl seemed necessary to his very existence; and on her account pride itself wore the garments of humility.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

Some people have the gift of hospitality; others whose intentions are just as kind and whose houses are perfection in luxury of appointments, seem to petrify every approach.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

Thinking that presents would be the best way to banish the old man's anger, she took off her own head a band of marvellous handiwork, and put it in his lap as he supped: desiring to buy his favour since she could not blunt his courage.
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo

He was qualified for it not merely by a solid knowledge of the law, and by great natural abilities, but by his thorough kindness of heart; and, perhaps, it may also be added, by his long years of queer experience on (as Mr Carlyle would have said) the "burning marl" of the London Bohemia.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

Then I ran away, and when I was out of sight I hid; and presently I came creeping back along the ditch and took a peep at them through the hedge.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

It is composed of ferruginous matter, and seems almost as heavy as pure iron.
— from Nature and Culture by Harvey Rice

Since our national legislature have established a national painter—a wise measure, for which I thank them, my imagination runs upon the art, and has already painted, I know not how many, historical pictures.
— from Novanglus, and Massachusettensis or, Political Essays, Published in the Years 1774 and 1775, on the Principal Points of Controversy, between Great Britain and Her Colonies by Daniel Leonard

Without waiting for inquiry or explanation, Montague, closely followed by the servant, hurried to the chamber-door, turned the handle, and pushed it open.
— from In a Glass Darkly, v. 1/3 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

There was a moment’s hush and pause in the convulsion of nature, but Alvar dared not hope for its continuance.
— from Home Scenes and Heart Studies by Grace Aguilar

Amongst other unfortunate specimens of humanity were the shop-lifters, who fancied they were shop-walkers; the burglars, who habitually mistook their home address; the quarterly tenants, who, on the other hand, forgot to remain at home at periodical intervals; and our old friend 'Arry , who forgot his manners and his h's.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 109, October 26, 1895 by Various

He paused a moment, took M. Lannefranque's hand, and pressed it, saying to him with a sad smile, "Au revoir; you will soon see us again, perhaps.
— from Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon — Complete by Louis Constant Wairy

The electoral princes of the holy empire have discovered that he has a project in his mind of doing just the same with the imperial cities of Metz, Strasbourg, Toul, Verdun, and such other towns on the Rhine as he shall be able to get hold of.
— from A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 4 by François Guizot

The Knight was greatly troubled by these words, for indeed there were many things of which his conscience accused him, so that he trembled and grew faint, which, when the Fiend perceived, he showed him a picture in which was set forth the sufferings of lost souls; and, after this, perceiving him to be yet more confounded, he brought to him a sword, and poison, and a rope, bidding him choose the death by which he would rather die.
— from The Faery Queen and Her Knights: Stories Retold from Edmund Spenser by Alfred John Church

Hast any philosophy in thee, Shepherd?—AS YOU LIKE IT.
— from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott