The huge vase swayed backwards and forwards; it seemed to be uncertain whether or no to topple over on to the head of one of the old men, but eventually determined to go the other way, and came crashing over towards the German poet, who darted out of the way in terror.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Be that as it may, the inordinate report of Prester John's magnificence became especially diffused from about the year 1165, when a letter full of the most extravagant details was circulated, which purported to have been addressed by this potentate to the Greek Emperor Manuel, the Roman Emperor Frederick, the Pope, and other Christian sovereigns.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

The three circles represent three buns, and it is simply required to show how these may be equally divided among four boys.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

The method is this: You take a hundred leaders of each party; you dispose them into couples of such whose heads are nearest of a size; then let two nice operators saw off the occiput of each couple at the same time, in such a manner that the brain may be equally divided.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

We have found that the common antithesis between Intuitionists and Utilitarians must be entirely discarded: since such abstract moral principles as we can admit to be really self-evident are not only not incompatible with a Utilitarian system, but even seem required to furnish a rational basis for such a system.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

They did not appear rich, but they were contented and happy; their feelings were serene and peaceful, while mine became every day more tumultuous.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

She has a carriage and a pony and a maid, and I've paid for all of them since the last cheque came." Mr. Barrow evidently did not intend to remain to listen to the story of Miss Minchin's grievances after he had made the position of his firm clear and related the mere dry facts.
— from A Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Though within us the hereditary habit of erroneous judgment, love, hate, may be ever dominant, yet under the influence of awaking knowledge it will ever become weaker: a new habit, that of understanding, not-loving, not-hating, looking from above, grows up within us gradually and in the same soil, and may, perhaps, in thousands of years be powerful enough to endow mankind with capacity to develop the wise, guiltless man (conscious of guiltlessness) as unfailingly as it now developes the unwise, irrational, guilt-conscious man—that is to say, the necessary higher step, not the opposite of it.
— from Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

She clung round my neck, calling me by every dear name she could think of and saying what should she do without me!
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Now this, as we have proved, may be effectually done, and the sorely tried patient may be saved a world of pain, and perhaps cured.
— from Papers on Health by John Kirk

My mother is living to this day in these parts; she’s an old woman, and grows more and more bent every day.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

This odor may be entirely different from that normally emanating from the woman, of an acid or hircine character, and sufficiently strong to remain in a room for a considerable period.
— from Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 Sexual Selection In Man by Havelock Ellis

I must be extremely delicate, and calculate upon what they would accept from me.
— from Sandra Belloni (originally Emilia in England) — Complete by George Meredith

All these species have, however, some general traits in common, by which they may be easily distinguished from all other insects.
— from The Insect World Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects; Together with a Description of the Habits and Economy of Some of the Most Interesting Species by Louis Figuier

This layer is frequently so consistent that it can almost be raised out of the vessel, by taking hold of one edge, and may be easily drawn out by passing the finger under it.
— from The Matron's Manual of Midwifery, and the Diseases of Women During Pregnancy and in Childbed Being a Familiar and Practical Treatise, More Especially Intended for the Instruction of Females Themselves, but Adapted Also for Popular Use among Students and Practitioners of Medicine by Frederick Hollick

The bows bearing his name were made by Edward Dodd and W. Tubbs.
— from The Bow, Its History, Manufacture and Use 'The Strad' Library, No. III. by Henry Saint-George

"It must be even darker in there than out here," said Nata, who had his ear close to the ship's side.
— from The Usurper: An Episode in Japanese History by Judith Gautier

The company, which numbered some five or six persons, men and women, sat upon the deck around the bowl, and, having learned from their new acquaintances, the savages, to do without spoons and separate dishes, helped themselves to the delicious mixture by each dipping two fingers into the common bowl until it was empty.
— from Reminiscences of Travel in Australia, America, and Egypt by Tangye, Richard, Sir