Only a few of these young men, among them Borís, entered more deeply into Julie’s melancholy, and with these she had prolonged conversations in private on the vanity of all worldly things, and to them she showed her albums filled with mournful sketches, maxims, and verses.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

A remembrance of some of his lines made a sudden flush rise to his painted cheeks.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

She feared that the mere statement of Werther's visit would trouble him, and his distress would be heightened by her perfect candour.
— from The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This was so greatly increased whenever she was in company with Tom, that had he not been very young and thoughtless, he must have observed it: or had not Mr Western's thoughts been generally either in the field, the stable, or the dog-kennel, it might have perhaps created some jealousy in him: but so far was the good gentleman from entertaining any such suspicions, that he gave Tom every opportunity with his daughter which any lover could have wished; and
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Nevertheless, mathematical science, so highly vaunted for its apodeictic certainty, must at last fall under this empiricism for the same reason for which Hume put custom in the place of objective necessity in the notion of cause and, in spite of all its pride, must consent to lower its bold pretension of claiming assent a priori and depend for assent to the universality of its propositions on the kindness of observers, who, when called as witnesses, would surely not hesitate to admit that what the geometer propounds as a theorem they have always perceived to be the fact, and, consequently, although it be not necessarily true, yet they would permit us to expect it to be true in the future.
— from The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant

Crookes and Wallace ranged up on the opposing side, while Sir Oliver Lodge attempted to formulate a compromise that would jibe with his particular cosmic theories.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London

The Cat, quite forgetting her present condition, started up from the couch and pursued the mouse, wishing to eat it.
— from Aesop's Fables Translated by George Fyler Townsend by Aesop

"Hear me," said my father, "for the heavenly phenomenon compels us so to speak.
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

“May I ask what that was?” said the Englishman with an expression of curiosity, which a close observer would have been astonished at discovering in his phlegmatic countenance.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

" No fairer temptation can be offered to a reader who does not know Conrad than to quote a passage from the end of "Youth," and no more honest praise can be offered to Conrad than to say that it is a selected, but by no means unique, specimen of his genius.
— from The Critical Game by John Albert Macy

Amongst the changes he included Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, who would be relieved of his post as second in command of the Grand Fleet and commander of the 1st Battle Squadron, as he had practically completed his term of two years in command.
— from The Crisis of the Naval War by John Rushworth Jellicoe

A Living Image As she lay helpless, with her pretty colour gone and the great braids of golden hair hanging down on either side, Barbara looked more like her dead mother than ever.
— from Flower of the Dusk by Myrtle Reed

It becomes known throughout the length and breadth of the land that Dr. Taylor, a man who has devoted his life to science, a man of the highest personal character, and who stands well with his medical friends, has declared—not as a conjectural opinion, mark you, nor as a reserved opinion delivered in a private room to a few men whose discretion might be relied on—but, that in the public room of a public inn, in a little village, where everything that occurs is known, he has declared upon his solemn oath that it is his belief that Cook died because pills containing strychnine were administered to him on the nights of Monday and Tuesday.
— from The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer, for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted Twelve Days by Anonymous

George had given the proposition his polite consideration, but had little inclination for the time being to stay in the foreign town for any length of time with such vague prospects, and had decided to look out for a permanent appointment as soon as he arrived at Vienna.
— from The Road to the Open by Arthur Schnitzler

QUA SI FA ELMI Here helms and swords are made of chalices: The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart: His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and short Must be the time ere even his patience cease.
— from Renaissance in Italy, Volume 3 (of 7) The Fine Arts by John Addington Symonds

She had perfect confidence in him.
— from The Seventh Noon by Frederick Orin Bartlett

Westray had done his best to convince himself that his own suspicions were groundless; he had continually pointed out to himself, and insisted to himself, that the mere fact of Lord Blandamer contributing such sums to the restoration as he either had contributed, or had promised to contribute, showed that the church was indeed his primary concern.
— from The Nebuly Coat by John Meade Falkner

"All right, Terry, but suppose the panther," broke in Hal Purvis, "could sling shootin' irons as well as you could—maybe that'd make you partic'ler pleased."
— from The Untamed by Max Brand