—They should be of leather, said my father, turning him about again.—
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

Lastly, be careful what you say and how you dance after supper, even more so than before it, for if you in the slightest way displease a young lady, she may fancy that you have been too partial to strong fluids, and ladies never forgive that.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in All His Relations Towards Society by Cecil B. Hartley

Most worthy madam, Your honour and your goodness is so evident That your free undertaking cannot miss A thriving issue; there is no lady living So meet for this great errand.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

“I want leather shoes made for these two little girls for spring.”
— from What Men Live By, and Other Tales by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

——They should be of leather, said my father, turning him about again.—
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

The warm room, with its discreet carpet, its gay ornaments, and its calm light, seemed made for the intimacies of passion.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

'This that I bring thee is what the woman, thy wife that was, sent this morning to the church to let say masses for thy soul, and God the Lord willeth that it be made over to thee.'
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

‘So I have understood, beautiful Proserpine, which I confess has a little surprised me; for to tell you the truth, I do not consider that reform is exactly our trade.’
— from The Infernal Marriage by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

“I am afraid that I have not acted very wisely in putting this boy of ours to the law,” said my father to my mother, as they sat together one summer evening in their little garden, beneath the shade of some tall poplars.
— from Lavengro The Scholar - The Gypsy - The Priest, Vol. 1 (of 2) by George Borrow

Of course those letters set my feet twitching and my heart throbbing to go after those nice girls and their nice times, but I'm not sure.
— from Six Girls and Bob: A Story of Patty-Pans and Green Fields by Marion Ames Taggart

“Yes, miss, it’s true enough,” said Maria, beginning to sob; and then, as her arm was loosened, she made for the door, trembling and frightened at what she had said in her bitter dislike to the woman who had almost saved her life.
— from Nurse Elisia by George Manville Fenn

At the beginning of the century there were great poets like Swinburne, Meredith, Francis Thompson, and Yeats.
— from Literary Taste: How to Form It With Detailed Instructions for Collecting a Complete Library of English Literature by Arnold Bennett

So has thy love sheltered me from the world—so utter was my youth's ignorance or my heart's oblivion of the stern laws of man, that when it pleased thee that we should love each other, I could not believe that that love was sin; and that it was sin hitherto I will not think;—now it hath become one."
— from Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 10 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

He looked down, and saw that there was a little skiff made fast to the quay, bounding up and down on the surges.
— from The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann

Mr. BELFORD is the fourth gentleman, and one of whom Mr. Lovelace seems more fond than any of the rest; for he is a man of tried bravery, it seems; and this pair of friends came acquainted upon occasion of a quarrel, (possibly about a woman,) which brought on a challenge, and a meeting at Kensington Gravel-pits; which ended without unhappy consequences, by the mediation of three gentlemen strangers, just as each had made a pass at the other.
— from Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 4 by Samuel Richardson