And then it seemed a mist: It moved and moved, and took at last A certain shape, I wist.
— from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Weeks passed by in this way, two whole months, and then at length a fair wind blew from the south-west.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

“Mademoiselle Gillenormand senior,” said her father to her, “I told you that this is what would happen to you.” He remained silent for a moment, and then added: “Look at the happiness of others.”
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

To which we may add, that as long as we take our perceptions and objects to be the same, we can never infer the existence of the one from that of the other, nor form any argument from the relation of cause and effect; which is the only one that earl assure us of matter of fact.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

He was quite aware that Vasili Andreevich was cheating him, but at the same time he felt that it was useless to try to clear up his accounts with him or explain his side of the matter, and that as long as he had nowhere to go he must accept what he could get.
— from Master and Man by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

XX I am assaulted and dangerously wounded-suspect O'Donnell, and am confirmed in my opinion—concert a scheme of revenge, and put it into execution—O'Donnell robs his own servant and disappears—make my addresses to a lady, and am miraculously delivered from her snare One night, at about twelve o'clock, as I returned from visiting a patient at Chelsea, I received a blow on my head from an unseen hand, that stretched me senseless on the ground; and was left for dead with three stabs of a sword in my body.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

He was very soft-hearted many years ago, and his wife was mortally jealous of Mrs. Amelia, then and long afterwards.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

"Miss Amelia," she said in a low voice, "Miss Minchin says I may try to make her stop—may I?" Miss Amelia turned and looked at her hopelessly.
— from A Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time by Frances Hodgson Burnett

How welcome this was to Ruggieri, none need ask, and it was beyond measure pleasing to his mis 241 tress, who together with her lover and the precious maid, who had proposed to give him the slashes with the knife, many a time after laughed and made merry of the matter, still continuing their loves and their disport from good to better; the which I would well might so betide myself, save always the being put in the chest."
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

They did not appear to be moving on, so much as talking, and listening, and buzzing with excitement, without much stirring from the spot where they might happen to be.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

To the left stood Signa, piled on her hill like some fortress of the Middle Age; then Arno, like a road of silver, led past the Villa delle Selve to the great mountain Monte Morello, and there under her last spurs lay Florence herself, clear and splendid like some dream city, her towers and pinnacles, her domes and churches shining in the pure evening light like some delectable city seen in a vision far away, but a reality, and seen at last.
— from Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa With Sixteen Illustrations in Colour by William Parkinson and Sixteen Other Illustrations, Second Edition by Edward Hutton

If you can also supply me with good cream and fresh eggs I will take them, and I will go this morning and take a look at your establishment.”
— from The Brotherhood of Consolation by Honoré de Balzac

The argument is that man and these animals lived at the same time.
— from Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity by Robert Patterson

A child should always say what's true And speak when he is spoken to, And behave mannerly at table; At least as far as he is able.
— from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

When a suit is instituted, it will probably result in a recognition of the marriage, and thereupon a large alimony will be granted to your mother, who will at once apply for a divorce.
— from Infelice by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

He seems to have defeated Mutilus after this, and, leaving Aesernia behind as he had left Nola, finally, before going home to sue for the consulship of 88 B.C., stormed Bovianum.
— from The Gracchi Marius and Sulla Epochs of Ancient History by A. H. (Augustus Henry) Beesly

"You must admit that as long as this gentleman refuses to talk, I cannot be said to have interviewed him."
— from Dearest by H. Beam Piper

Under the shadow of impending defeat the Democrats of the Cotton States made the final months of the canvass quite as much a threat against Lincoln as a plea for Breckinridge.
— from Abraham Lincoln, a History — Volume 02 by John G. (John George) Nicolay

“ I shall keep my Speller by me and take a look at it every day, for that is what I'm most backward in.
— from Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott