"If she would rather not talk to me," Sara thought, "I will keep out of her way.
— from A Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“And I, sir,” I said, “will remain near his bed in this arm-chair, for if I went away the patient would die, and he will live as long as I am near him.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

You will be relieved to hear that there will be no war, that the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope will suffer no setback in his brilliant career, that the indiscreet Sovereign will receive no punishment for his indiscretion, that the Prime Minister will have no European complication to deal with, and that with a little tact and management upon our part nobody will be a penny the worse for what might have been a very ugly incident.”
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

They discovered that even within the limits of a single sitting the distances at which points were felt double might fall at the end to considerably less than half of their magnitude at the beginning; and that some, though not all, of this improved sensibility was retained next day.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

This rather goes against our British ideas, since we rub no oil or unguents on our skin, but only soap which deprives it of its natural oil and too often imparts a dry and hard texture.
— from Afoot in England by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson

And every time she did it, she was rewarded not with tit-bits only, but with what children dearly love, a pleasant sight.
— from Anecdotes of Big Cats and Other Beasts by David Alec Wilson

Douglas passed him, unsuspected, and meanwhile kept his eye on the Chilian, who, although obviously failing in speed, was rapidly nearing the belt of forest.
— from Under the Chilian Flag: A Tale of War between Chili and Peru by Harry Collingwood

In vain did I endeavor to recall my old cheerful courage; it seemed to have died out, like the embers in the ashes before me, which had once glowed as brightly and sparkled as cheerfully: in vain did I try to bring to my memory all the goodness and kindness that life had brought me hitherto, and in which it still was rich; nothing would appear to me in the old light: all was empty, gray, and dead, as though the world were but a scene of devastation and decay, and I were wandering comfortless and alone, among the ruins of splendors long passed away.
— from Hammer and Anvil: A Novel by Friedrich Spielhagen

It is like no other Magazine in the world in its range of subject and interest."— Sir William Robertson Nicoll in 'The British Weekly.'
— from The Life of a Regimental Officer During the Great War, 1793-1815 by A. F. (Augustus Ferryman) Mockler-Ferryman

Pointing to the fleeing boat she explained to Gregory: "He's almost in shoal water right now.
— from El Diablo by Brayton Norton

For as with individuals, so with races, nations, societies, schools of thought—youth is the time of free fancy and poetry; manhood of calm and strong induction; old age of deduction, when men settle down upon their lees, and content themselves with reaffirming and verifying the conclusions of their earlier years, and too often, alas!
— from Alexandria and Her Schools Four Lectures Delivered at the Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh by Charles Kingsley