When the tar is now all melted out, and run, they stop up all the vents very close; and afterwards find the knots made into excellent charcoal, preferr’d by the smiths before any other whatsoever, which is made of wood; and nothing so apt to burn out when their blast ceaseth; neither do they sparkle in the fire, as many other sorts of coal do; so as, in defect of sea-coal, they make choice of this, as best for their use, and give greater prices for it.
— from Sylva; Or, A Discourse of Forest Trees. Vol. 1 (of 2) by John Evelyn

"There are key men in every conflict of forces, men who act like catalysts applied at the right instant to start a chemical reaction.
— from Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison

Yet she was a clipper keel, moulded in exquisite con
— from An Ocean Tragedy by William Clark Russell

Oh, they know me in every capital.
— from The Silver Bullet by Fergus Hume

I have known many infidels entirely converted to a new and Christian life by what they have seen with me—Mr. Ruskin, for instance.
— from The Story of My Life, volumes 1-3 by Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert) Hare

"I've no ties, you see, nothing to keep me in England. Come to think of it, Bernard is my nearest male relative, since my father died five years ago."
— from Nightfall by Anthony Pryde