“Now that I expect nothing, now that I no longer entertain the slightest hopes, the end of this adventure becomes simply a matter of curiosity.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

There is not light enough to see him," with a voice in which Jock, shy and awkward, felt all the old objection to his presence as a burden upon Lucy, which in his precocious toleration he had accepted as reasonable, but did not like much the better for that.
— from Sir Tom by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Huckleberry Oak ( Quercus chrysolepis vaccinifolia ) is a variety of canyon live oak, and is never large enough to supply wood for any purpose, but is valuable as a covering to the ground on exposed mountains.
— from American Forest Trees by Henry H. Gibson

From Poitiers to Montmorillon it is nine leagues, equal to sixteen of Paris, and I assure you that I have seen but four men on the road, and, between Montmorillon and my own house, which is four leagues, but three; and then only at a distance, not having met one on the road.
— from The Ancient Regime by Hippolyte Taine

I am not what is called strictly orthodox, and yet I am liberal enough to vote for a Presbyterian, and if a Presbyterian is not liberal enough to stand by a Republican, no matter what his religious opinions may be, then the Presbyterian is not as liberal as the Republican party, and he is not as liberal as an unbeliever; in other words, he is not a manly man.
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII. Interviews by Robert Green Ingersoll

Had the march of an army of warlike women, from the Thermôdôn or the Tanais into the heart of Attica, been recounted to Arrian as an incident belonging to the time of Alexander the Great, he would have rejected it no less emphatically than Strabô; but cast back as it was into an undefined past, it took rank among the hallowed traditions of divine or heroic antiquity,—gratifying to extol by rhetoric, but repulsive to scrutinize in argument.
— from History of Greece, Volume 01 (of 12) by George Grote

But if anything, there has been an intensification of doctrinal narrowness, and such phases of imaginative vigour as are represented by Gregory the Great, or by the group of Popes associated with Gregory VII and Urban II, or by the group that began with Innocent III, no longer enliven the sober and pedestrian narrative.
— from The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

The effect of luxury, dissipation, and extravagance, (where the fortune is not large enough to support them,) tends to render man selfish upon principle, and extinguishes all genuine public spirit, that is, all real regard to the interests and good order of society; substituting in its place, the vile ambition and rapacity of the demagogue, which, however, assumes the name of patriotism.
— from An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa by Shabeeny, Abd Salam, active 1820

When they are discovered and realize that their concealment is no longer effective, they scatter panic stricken like a flock of little chickens, chirping appealingly to their "mother" who dashes valiantly to their defense, quite beside "herself" with concern, fear, and anger.
— from Life Histories of North American Shore Birds, Part 1 (of 2) by Arthur Cleveland Bent

This is what I can say at this time of our great Queen, who has assuredly given us so worthy a subject to speak in praise of her, that this brief essay is not long enough to sing her praises.
— from Memoirs and Historical Chronicles of the Courts of Europe Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of France, Wife of Henri IV; of Madame de Pompadour of the Court of Louis XV; and of Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, Wife of Henri II by Mme. Du Hausset