I should have chosen to be born in spring, of course.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

Its existence obviously dates from the time when people used their fists more than their heads, when priestcraft had enchained the human intellect, the much bepraised Middle Age, with its system of chivalry.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer: the Wisdom of Life by Arthur Schopenhauer

The ladies did their part with kindliness, patience, and often unconscious condescension, showing in their turn how little they knew of the real trials of the women whom they longed to serve, how very narrow a sphere of usefulness they were fitted for in spite of culture and intelligence, and how rich they were in generous theories, how poor in practical methods of relief.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

At intervals we passed a wretched cabin, with a thatched roof, and about it small fields and garden patches in an indifferent state of cultivation.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

"I shall of course see you here to-night.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Then why go into subjects, old chap, which as betwixt two sech must be for ever onnecessary?
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

He is dressed in some outlandish costume, and holds in his left hand a grotesque image in ivory, most elaborately carved.
— from Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey by Ingersoll Lockwood

But admit that they might be willing to help the invaded State or confederacy.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

When the two women had left the room in search of cloaks, Captain Protheroe turned abruptly to his companion.
— from Barbara Winslow, Rebel by Beth Ellis

The shorter the story, the more economic must be its methods, and hence the more rigid must its selection of characteristics be; and this, of course, is apt to give an air of artificiality to a short story from which a long novel may be free.”
— from Theodore Watts-Dunton: Poet, Novelist, Critic by James Douglas

In her extreme need she felt that if she only could decide to give in the next day, he would not have the power to catch her, but she could not.—She came last, and she was swung so violently that she was more dragged and jerked forward than running herself, and it was hard for her to keep from falling.
— from Invisible Links by Selma Lagerlöf

Is not the proposition quite absurd on its face—that I should openly call attention to a method of arsenic extraction with the object of murder, when I already had the means at my command?
— from Mrs. Maybrick's Own Story: My Fifteen Lost Years by Florence Elizabeth Maybrick

However, I shall of course go straight to the cardinal and acquaint him with what has happened.
— from Won By the Sword : a tale of the Thirty Years' War by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

And so I was; I can’t say they were the subject of much regret, but I was really sorry to leave our big neighbour, the British Museum, where there were good friends who always made me welcome, and encouraged me in studies of coins and heraldry, which were great resources to me, so that I used to spend hours there, and was by no means willing to resign my ambition of obtaining an appointment there, when I heard my father say that he was especially thankful for his good fortune because it enabled him to provide for me.
— from Chantry House by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

Makupi, who in spite of curses and blows was quite one of the domestic staff, though he never did any work, was turning over the soiled linen with his foot when I came up.
— from The Claw by Cynthia Stockley

Herschel's Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy , published in Lardner's Cyclopædia , p. 64., where he says: "That sawdust itself is susceptible of conversion into a substance bearing no remote analogy to bread; and though certainly less palatable than that of flour, yet no way disagreeable, and both wholesome and digestible, as well as highly nutritive."
— from Notes and Queries, Number 229, March 18, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

In November the regiment was posted on the banks of the river Lahn, and it subsequently occupied cantonments near Osnaburg.
— from Historical Record of the Third, or Prince of Wales' Regiment of Dragoon Guards Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1838 by Richard Cannon

I shall, of course, make my way to Queen Anne’s, where I should expect to find you still busy with your Proof-sheets, which I am very glad to hear of as going on.
— from Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883) by Edward FitzGerald