She began to make a low, whistling sound—so low and coaxing that it could only have been heard in entire stillness.
— from A Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The subject has been treated in various ways; Leonardo alone cuts to its centre; he alone realises it as the head of a corpse, exercising its powers through all the circumstances of death.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater

Before his going he did give me some jewells to keep for him, viz., that that the King of Sweden did give him, with the King’s own picture in it, most excellently done; and a brave George, all of diamonds, and this with the greatest expressions of love and confidence that I could imagine or hope for, which is a very great joy to me.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Is it that I am so weak as to believe, like a child, that I come here in that dress to rec-eive that boy only to decide a little bet, a wager?
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

If I'm no longer a Christian, then I can't renounce Christ, for I've nothing then to renounce.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Light a candle that I can see where you are,” she cries.
— from The Miracles of Antichrist: A Novel by Selma Lagerlöf

I claim, and shall prove, that Lady Byron’s reputation has been the victim of a concerted attack, begun by her husband during her lifetime, and coming to its climax over her grave.
— from Lady Byron Vindicated A history of the Byron controversy from its beginning in 1816 to the present time by Harriet Beecher Stowe

[158] Among the various illustrated works which usually grace the beginning of the year, has appeared one which, though of graver and less attractive character than its companions, is likely to occupy a more permanent place on the library shelves.
— from Arrows of the Chace, vol. 2/2 being a collection of scattered letters published chiefly in the daily newspapers 1840-1880 by John Ruskin

Though in some of the orators and men of letters, e.g. Memmius, as we learn from Cicero, their Greek tastes fostered an affected indifference to their own nationality, yet on the best minds, such as those of Cicero himself, Lucretius, and Catullus, this intimate contact with Greek genius acted with a vivifying power by calling forth the native genius of Italy.
— from The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age: Virgil by W. Y. (William Young) Sellar

"To love a child that is continually paining you is impossible.
— from Unlucky: A Fragment of a Girl's Life by Caroline Austin

Weak, wavering Pilate— "Making his high place the lawless perch Of winged ambitions;" overridden by his fears; governor, but governed by his subjects; sitting on the judgment-seat, and then abdicating his position of judge; the personification of law, and condemning the Innocent contrary to the law; giving up to the extremest penalty and punishment One whom he has thrice proclaimed as guiltless, without fault, and that, too, in the face of a Heaven-sent warning dream!
— from Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St Luke by Henry Burton

I claim, and shall prove, that Lady Byron's reputation has been the victim of a concerted attack, begun by her husband during her lifetime, and coming to its climax over her grave.
— from Lady Byron Vindicated: A History of the Byron Controversy by Harriet Beecher Stowe

"I bring to Luud a creature that I captured in the fields above.
— from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Truth is the cornerstone of all virtues: never let a child think it can deceive you; they are cunning little creatures, and reason before they can speak; secure this, and the chief part of your work is done, and so ends my sermon."
— from The Story of My Life, volumes 1-3 by Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert) Hare

How it happened I don't know, but one morning, as I was trudging along the road to give my lessons at Canosa, the idea came to me like a stroke of lightning, and I had found my chords.
— from A Second Book of Operas by Henry Edward Krehbiel