For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod’s sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing wound was entirely cured.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

He never arrived at what he is by any careless process, or any sudden one; he is a work of art, and “art is long”; he is the product of immemorial ages, and of deep calculation; one can’t make a bird like that in a day.
— from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain

When I lost him I was Chief Justice, and thus he records the office; but where he has been for these three years, and how he comes now to take part in the examination, I know not.”
— from Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Faries by Yuk Yi

O how nice I said whatever I liked he was going to do immediately if not sooner will you be my man will you carry my can he ought to get a leather medal with a putty rim for all the plans he invents then leaving us here all day youd never know what old beggar at the door for a crust with his long story might be a tramp and put his foot in the way to prevent me shutting it like that picture of that hardened criminal he was called in Lloyds Weekly news 20 years in jail then he comes out and murders an old woman for her money imagine his poor wife or mother or whoever she is such a face you
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

No, no; as she says, let him prove it, let him prove it.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve

I had no skill of swimming, Essen Water being small in our neighbourhood; but when I laid hold upon the yard with both arms, and kicked out with both feet, I soon begun to find that I was moving.
— from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

So I left her. . . .
— from Bliss, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

Its language hath it devised for itself in laws and customs.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

If Marius had been Courfeyrac, that is to say, one of those men who laugh on every occasion in life, he would have burst with laughter when his gaze fell on the Jondrette woman.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

"Loved her!—but I forget myself, Lady Studleigh; you might as well try to imagine what the heat and thunder of battle are like, from seeing them painted on canvas, as guess how I loved her from hearing me use the word love."
— from A Fair Mystery: The Story of a Coquette by Charlotte M. Brame

The people who live there are the progeny of people who have lived there for many generations, and it is the very place to nurse, and preserve, and care for old legends and traditions of bygone times, until they grow from bits of gossip and news into local history of considerable size.
— from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main by Howard Pyle

I liked her right off.
— from Mothers to Men by Zona Gale

Suffice it to say, that all of them, {275} as I believe, still retain their ancient systems of arbitrary chiefs and councils of sages and braves, nearly in their primitive state; and that the greater portion of them live in log huts, and cultivate the soil to a considerable extent.
— from Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, 1831-1839, part 2 by Josiah Gregg

"I like his spirit, but he will hardly be expected to earn five dollars a week at present.
— from Little By Little; or, The Cruise of the Flyaway by Oliver Optic

Instructions were then sent to Wolseley-Jenkins to resume his march to Pietermaritzburg, the Imperial Light Horse alone being taken from the column and brought back into Ladysmith.
— from History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902 v. 1 (of 4) Compiled by Direction of His Majesty's Government by Great Britain. War Office

Well, words grew high; I protested that my intentions were strictly honourable, etc., etc., but all to no purpose; the obstinate old parent wouldn't see what was for his daughter's good, and I left him very much disgusted.
— from Tales of the Wonder Club, Volume II by M. Y. Halidom

And if Lucy hadn't been there, Maggie was sure he would have got friends with her sooner.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot