I put it down myself to her making a violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

In order to keep me strictly under his calming and friendly influence, he had at the same time given me a sonata to write which, as a proof of my friendship for him, I had to build up on strictly harmonic and thematic lines, for which he recommended me a very early and childlike sonata by Pleyel as a model.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

The arrogance of wealth and the dejection of wretchedness, capital cities of unwonted extent, a lax morality, a vulgar egotism, and a great confusion of interests, are the dangers which almost invariably arise from the magnitude of States.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville

Meantime, Starkad, who was now worn out with extreme age, and who seemed to be past military service and the calling of a champion, was loth to lose his ancient glory through the fault of eld, and thought it would be a noble thing if he could make a voluntary end, and hasten his death by his own free will.
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo

First came the trumpets, at whose clang So late the forest echoes rang; On prancing steeds they forward pressed, With scarlet mantle, azure vest; Each at his trump a banner wore, Which Scotland’s royal scutcheon bore: Heralds and pursuivants, by name Bute, Islay, Marchmount, Rothsay, came, In painted tabards, proudly showing Gules, argent, or, and azure glowing, Attendant on a king-at-arms, Whose hand the armorial truncheon held, That feudal strife had often quelled, When wildest its alarms.
— from Marmion: A Tale Of Flodden Field by Walter Scott

Furthermore, we approach in the symbolic representation of the male a very extended and much discussed province, which we shall avoid for economic reasons.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

Men are very extraordinary at times.”
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

A complete collapse of objects is indeed inconvenient, because it would leave no starting-point for reasoning and no faith in the significance of reason itself; but partial collapses, now in the region of physics, now in that of logic and morals, are very easy and exciting feats for criticism to perform.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

Which I have been the more curious to express and report; not to upbraid any miserable man, or by way of derision, (I rather pity them,) but the better to discern, to apply remedies unto them; and to show that the best and soundest of us all is in great danger; how much we ought to fear our own fickle estates, remember our miseries and vanities, examine and humiliate ourselves, seek to God, and call to Him for mercy, that needs not look for any rods to scourge ourselves, since we carry them in our bowels, and that our souls are in a miserable captivity, if the light of grace and heavenly truth doth not shine continually upon us: and by our discretion to moderate ourselves, to be more circumspect and wary in the midst of these dangers.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The bowsprit is a simple matter, and the stays, or ropes which support and strengthen the masts, are very easily attached, as they are stationary affairs.
— from Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy by Frank Richard Stockton

There was no question [53] of travellers of our means and vehicle engaging a servant to fiddle and make splatter-dashes for us, even if another La Fleur could be produced.
— from Our sentimental journey through France and Italy A new edition with Appendix by Joseph Pennell

It is, however, worthy of remark that many and vast expeditions appear to have been undertaken in the early ages of Egypt; though, while mention is made of such conquests, nothing is said of the permanent possession of the conquered countries.
— from The Philosophy of History, Vol. 1 of 2 by Friedrich von Schlegel

Now, the said Political was a staff corps man who had seen some service, and, moreover a very energetic and zealous official; consequently, he allowed the fugitive no more start than he could help, with the result that the latter had no time to collect any following so as to afford him the satisfaction of selling his life dearly.
— from The Ruby Sword: A Romance of Baluchistan by Bertram Mitford

" Shorty made a violent effort, and summoned enough strength to reach over and touch the Englishman's foot.
— from Si Klegg, Book 4 Experiences of Si and Shorty on the Great Tullahoma Campaign by John McElroy

The French army, weakened by the establishment of garrisons in the various towns and fortresses they had won in Italy, were scarcely eight thousand strong, while the combined forces of Milan and Venice exceeded a total of thirty-five thousand.
— from The Borgias Celebrated Crimes by Alexandre Dumas

These motifs are very expensive and not really necessary.
— from The Library of Work and Play: Needlecraft by Effie Archer Archer

The Hand: Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design.
— from Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's. Vol. 1 (of 2) by John Pendleton Kennedy

This style of painting reached its culmination, in which it included (as it did not include in its representation in the Italian pictures) many and varied excellencies, among them the establishment of painting in oil in the pictures of the Flemish family of painters—the Van Eycks.
— from The Old Masters and Their Pictures, For the Use of Schools and Learners in Art by Sarah Tytler