Love and ambition are unmistakable blossomings of material forces, and the more intense and poetical a man's sense is of his spiritual condition the more loudly will he proclaim his utter dependence on nature and the identity of the moving principle in him and in her.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

Most of my days were spent on the opposite side of the Seine; and, as I crossed that river, by the Pont Royal, at about five o'clock, every evening, on my way to the Laiterie, at which I usually took what I called my dinner, I always stopped to buy a bunch of flowers, of violets in their season, of a charming little flower-girl, who had her stand, on the Quai Voltaire, and who, by the time my turn to be served came, had usually disposed of nearly her whole stock.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 27, January, 1860 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Six hours is his usual daily or nocturnal dose; and as the grey dawn begins to glimmer over the tops of the shin oaks, he springs to his feet, shakes the dew from his shoulders like a startled stag, and then stoops down to examine the condition of his wounded comrade.
— from The Lone Ranche by Mayne Reid

From these it became clear that official circles in London were favourably disposed towards the opening of discussions in accordance with the terms laid down in Ballin’s report, and Ballin approached the Chancellor with the request to let him know whether he should continue to work on the same lines as before, or whether the Chancellor would prefer a different method, by which he understood direct official negotiations.
— from Albert Ballin by Bernhard Huldermann

Her detractors pronounced her utterly destitute of natural affection; and even her eulogists, when they spoke of the way in which she had discharged the duties of the filial relation, were forced to speak in a subdued and apologetic tone.
— from The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

I have also several tins of soup that I can heat up day or night without a trace of fire.”
— from Jack Winters' Campmates by Mark Overton

The worthy spinster told him the marvellous story of how Fanny and her aunt had unexpectedly disappeared one night without telling her whither they had gone, which was not very nice of them; but she suspected that they had flitted to Mr. Boltay's house, and Teresa had kept it quiet, no doubt, because there had been certain relations between her and Boltay in their younger days, or perhaps she went to see him because Boltay's adopted son wanted to marry Fanny.
— from A Hungarian Nabob by Mór Jókai

The nurse led the way—tall, lithe, graceful—attired in her uniform dress of neat black stuff, with plain linen collar and cuffs, and with the scarlet cross of the Geneva Convention embroidered on her left shoulder.
— from The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins