I just got down on my knees and begged for work, anything and anywhere.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

‘We are in excellent time,’ said Mr. Snodgrass, as they climbed the fence of the first field; ‘the sun is just going down.’
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

that nite in my little room over the stable i sat a long time thinking over my past life & of what had just happened & i just got down on my nees
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

"What I want to know is this," put in Jay Gilman: "Did it liven 'em up any?"
— from Fore! by Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan

"The sun is just going down, and sends its last rays in to me.
— from Pelle the Conqueror — Volume 04 by Martin Andersen Nexø

I just git down on my hands and knees in de sand and say: 'Doodle, doodle, doodle, doodle, come up your house is afire!'
— from Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves South Carolina Narratives, Part 2 by United States. Work Projects Administration

I do believe God gave that wise angel charge concerning me lest I get dashed, but I just got dashed anyway, and its my own fault, not the angel's.
— from The Melting of Molly by Maria Thompson Daviess

These two boys and a daughter still in the making have cost their father and mother twenty years, which Mr. Shaw sums up by saying: "'So, you see, the final result of making up your mind to do a thing, including the great trouble of bringing up a family, is just getting down to the ground and grinding.'
— from Analyzing Character The New Science of Judging Men; Misfits in Business, the Home and Social Life by Arthur Newcomb

Rupture between Mary and Anne Fuller's Plot Close of the Session; Bill for ascertaining the Salaries of the Judges rejected Misterial Changes in England Ministerial Changes in Scotland State of the Highlands Breadalbane employed to negotiate with the Rebel Clans Glencoe William goes to the Continent; Death of Louvois The French Government determines to send an Expedition against England James believes that the English Fleet is friendly to him Conduct of Russell A Daughter born to James Preparations made in England to repel Invasion James goes down to his Army at La Hogue James's Declaration Effect produced by James's Declaration The English and Dutch Fleets join;
— from The History of England, from the Accession of James II. Complete Contents of the Five Volumes by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

5.481 and 8.596 [3] 177-8, 173 [4] All three passages are from epigrams by Gaspar Conrad in Janus Gruter, Delitiae poetarum germanorum , 6 v., Frankfort, 1612: II, 1065-6, lines 1-6 of a twelve line epigram, "In symbolum Iacobi Monavi"; II, 1077, the concluding lines of an eight line epigram, "Ad Valentinum Maternum"; and II, 1079, the concluding couplet of a six line epigram, "Ad Georgum Menhadum Philophilum."
— from An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams by Pierre Nicole

I joined Gil de Mesa, discarded my feminine disguise, mounted and set out with him upon that ninety-mile journey into Aragon.
— from The Historical Nights' Entertainment: First Series by Rafael Sabatini