I’d give half my life to bathe now in some little stream in the province of Moscow or Tula; to feel chilly, you know, and then to stroll for three hours even with the feeblest student, and to talk and talk endlessly. . . .
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Know also, that transiency singeth its short song for ever afresh and that at the sound of the first verse thou wilt almost die of longing when thou thinkest that it might be for the last time.
— from The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist Complete Works, Volume Sixteen by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

No one, as far as I am aware, disputes Michelet's assertion that the enquiry before the Papal Commission in Paris, at which a number of Knights adhered to the statements they had made to the Pope, was conducted without pressure of any kind.
— from Secret Societies And Subversive Movements by Nesta Helen Webster

He fumbled in his pocket, drew out a large knife and tried to strike me with it.
— from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc

After these things they said this king went down alive to that place which by the Hellenes is called Hades, and there played at dice with Demeter, and in some throws he overcame her and in others he was overcome by her; and he came back again having as a gift from her a handkerchief of gold: and they told me that because of the going down of Rhampsinitos the Egyptians after he came back celebrated a feast, which I know of my own knowledge also that they still observe even to my time; but whether it is for this cause that they keep the feast or for some other, I am not able to say.
— from The History of Herodotus — Volume 1 by Herodotus

To wind the spring the fusee is turned backward by means of a key applied to the square end A of the fusee arbor, and this draws the string from off the drum on to the fusee.
— from How it Works Dealing in simple language with steam, electricity, light, heat, sound, hydraulics, optics, etc., and with their applications to apparatus in common use by Archibald Williams

But as he was fallen to a fatal choice of great miseries, he was in trouble, and sorely confounded; and when the prophet had said that he must of necessity make his choice, and had ordered him to answer quickly, that he might declare what he had chosen to God, the king reasoned with himself, that in case he should ask for famine, he would appear to do it for others, and without danger to himself, since he had a great deal of corn hoarded up, but to the harm of others; that in case he should choose to be overcome [by his enemies] for three months, he would appear to have chosen war, because he had valiant men about him, and strong holds, and that therefore he feared nothing therefrom: so he chose that affliction which is common to kings and to their subjects, and in which the fear was equal on all sides; and said this beforehand, that it was much better to fall into the hands of God, than into those of his enemies.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

Other favourites of Mrs Nasmyth’s were Mr Snow and the schoolmaster, and the secret of her interest in them was their interest in the bairns, and their visits were made as often to the kitchen as to the study.
— from Janet's Love and Service by Margaret M. (Margaret Murray) Robertson

He had evidently quite forgiven her, but that could not restore her self-respect or render her less keenly alive to the silent reproach of his presence.
— from A Crooked Path: A Novel by Mrs. Alexander

When water has evaporated add soup; if you are making fresh soup, keep adding the "top soup," strained, to the barley and let boil until tender, one-half cup of celery root boiled with the barley improves the flavor.
— from The International Jewish Cook Book 1600 Recipes According to the Jewish Dietary Laws with the Rules for Kashering; the Favorite Recipes of America, Austria, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Roumania, Etc., Etc. by Florence Kreisler Greenbaum

And do you know, all that time she never left me a minute.
— from East of Suez: A Play in Seven Scenes by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

As to praters, gowned gentlemen, that walk in their silks, glitter in their jewels, and are pointed at by the people, all their bravery and pomp, their show of knowledge, and their thundering speeches, last only with their lungs, and then vanish into thin smoke; for the acquisition of wealth, and the desires of ambition, are no witnesses of true desert.
— from Solitude With the Life of the Author. In Two Parts by Johann Georg Zimmermann

Joey was no authority on architecture, however, and did not come to know all this till she had been some days at Redlands.
— from Head of the Lower School by Dorothea Moore

The south knew also that the sixth article in the ordinance prohibiting slavery was first proposed by the largest slaveholding state in the confederacy—that the chairman of the committee that reported the ordinance was a slaveholder—that the ordinance was enacted by Congress during the session of the convention that formed the United States Constitution—that the provisions of the ordinance were, both while in prospect, and when under discussion, matters of universal notoriety and approval with all parties, and when finally passed, received the vote of every member of Congress from each of the slaveholding states .
— from The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4 by American Anti-Slavery Society

"Mourn, Spring, thou darling of the year; Ilk cowslip-cup shall kep a tear; Thou Summer, while each corny spear Shoots up its head, Thy gay, green, flowery tresses shear For him that's dead."
— from The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies by Walter Besant