When we got up to go, Peter looked about in perplexity for something that would entertain us.
— from My Antonia by Willa Cather

“I am that unhappy being, senora,” replied Cardenio, “whom, as you have said, Luscinda declared to be her husband; I am the unfortunate Cardenio, whom the wrong-doing of him who has brought you to your present condition has reduced to the state you see me in, bare, ragged, bereft of all human comfort, and what is worse, of reason, for I only possess it when Heaven is pleased for some short space to restore it to me.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

And since we saw a while ago that our maximum distinct intuition of duration hardly covers more than a dozen seconds (while our maximum vague intuition is probably not more than that of a minute or so), we must suppose that this amount of duration is pictured fairly steadily in each passing instant of consciousness by virtue of some fairly constant feature in the brain-process to which the consciousness is tied.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

Manfred, accompanied by the Friar, passed to his own apartment, where shutting the door, “I perceive, Father,” said he, “that Isabella has acquainted you with my purpose.
— from The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Why should not Man, Retaining still Divine similitude In part, from such deformities be free,
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

There was also a postscript to this effect: “I have written to Colonel Forster to desire him to find out, if possible, from some of the young man's intimates in the regiment, whether Wickham has any relations or connections who would be likely to know in what part of town he has now concealed himself.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Therefore let me simply say that with reference to every single sexual impulse, I consider it possible for several of its components to be held back in the earlier stages of development while other components have worked themselves out to completion.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

The creature's life by sparing-- A kindness well repaid; For, little as you would have thought His majesty would ever need his aid, It proved full soon A precious boon.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine

Outwardly in ointments, it is profitable for scabs, morphew, tetters, &c. and all things that need cleansing.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

They were not intellectually prepared for such leniency.
— from Equatorial America Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of South America by Maturin Murray Ballou

They are derived in part from Swedenborg, and in part from that picturesque French dreamer who signs himself "Sar Péladan"; but mostly they have sprung out of Strindberg's own experiences in moments of abnormal tension.
— from Plays by August Strindberg, Second series by August Strindberg

He had been her companion in their youthful recreations, had espoused her little quarrels, and participated in her innocent pleasures, for so many years, and with such an evident preference for each other in the youthful pair, that, on leaving college to enter on the studies of his sacred calling with his father, Francis rightly judged that none other would make his future life as happy, as the mild, the tender, the unassuming Clara.
— from Precaution: A Novel by James Fenimore Cooper

Two things, however, seem plain, that every one is prepared for such an event, next, that every one expects it of me.
— from Apologia pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman

One thing, my lord, I am very confident of; that if God Almighty, for our sins, would most justly send us a pestilence, whoever should dare to discover his grief in public for such a visitation, would certainly be censured for disaffection to the government; for I solemnly profess that I do not know one calamity we have undergone these many years, which any man, whose opinions were not in fashion, dared to lament, without being openly charged with that imputation.
— from Ireland in the Days of Dean Swift (Irish Tracts, 1720 to 1734) by Jonathan Swift

She wanted her gay cavalier always within call, and he responded to her demands nobly, becoming more domestic than one would imagine possible for such a restless, light-hearted sprite.
— from Little Brothers of the Air by Olive Thorne Miller

"On Being Good", by Newton A. Thatcher, contains sound sense and real humour, whilst its pleasingly familiar style augurs well for Mr. Thatcher's progress in this species of composition.
— from Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 by H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft