They represented qualities that she felt and despised in herself—incipient meanness, conceit, cowardice, and petty dishonesty.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald

The Honeychurches were a worthy family, but he began to realize that Lucy was of another clay; and perhaps—he did not put it very definitely—he ought to introduce her into more congenial circles as soon as possible.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

How this question should be answered when it is raised will be more conveniently considered at a later stage of the discussion.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

middle; midst; centrally &c. adj.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

I found myself in a large, lofty room, with a magnificent carved ceiling, and with a carpet over the floor, so thick and soft that it felt like piles of velvet under my feet.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

My parents had brought me clean clothes and I'd changed in the back seat, but I still felt gross, even after scrubbing myself in the court-house bathrooms.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Human nature has more strange varieties than any one menagerie can contain, and Malcolm was one of the oddest of her odd species.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

The most complicated crimes are characteristically planned by women, and are frequently swelled with a number of absolutely purposeless criminal deeds.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

Agnes has my confidence completely, always; I tell her all about the butcher, and the wrongs he has heaped upon me; she thinks I couldn’t have done otherwise than fight the butcher, while she shrinks and trembles at my having fought him.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

And, although politics, per se , is a difficult art, [152] in its union with morals no art is required; for in the case of a conflict arising between the two sciences, the moralist can cut asunder the knot which politics is unable to untie.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant

Even Chris could not help a smile, despite the anxiety he was in, as he watched the monkeys close in on the sugar drops, quarrelling, pouching, reaching round with all four paws: with the exception of one monkey, a very large male, which, coming lamentably last, only used three; the fourth, meanwhile, clutching convulsively at its stomach.
— from Voices in the Night by Flora Annie Webster Steel

In the second place, there is evidence for Evolution in the fact that marked changes can and do occur in the characters of living races of organisms.
— from Evolution by James A. S. (James Anderson Scott) Watson

Miss Jean was incapable of utterance; she was still too much afraid of a stranger who, though gallantly helping them to the top of the coach at Maryfield, could casually address herself and Miss Amelia as “dears,” thrust cigars on the guard and driver, and call them John and George at the very first encounter.
— from The Daft Days by Neil Munro

But no change of mood could change a feeling towards mother or friends.
— from Miracles of Our Lord by George MacDonald

The report of Filibert Noth , special agent of the Division of Forestry, on Forestry Conditions and Interests of Wisconsin , and the Third Annual Report of the Chief Fire Warden of Minnesota, C. C. Andrews , furnish many facts and suggestions of value to persons interested in the maintenance and protection of our forests.
— from Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899 Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899 by Various

The carriers, even Don Manuel, came crowding about that tempting kettle, but Tia Marta, her thin face twitching, still sat on her three-legged stool at the table, crumbling her share of the loaf for the chickens and doves, and wishing she could give Roxa a shred of the fried fish.
— from In Sunny Spain with Pilarica and Rafael by Katharine Lee Bates

And look—thirty-two names of the most eminent Aldermen, merchants, Common Councilmen, and gentlemen——” “Why—half of them have got F.R.S. to the end of their names!”
— from The Mysteries of London, v. 4/4 by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

Those in front had now stopped also; and Master Carfax came ambling back to see what had occasioned the delay.
— from Robin Hood by Paul Creswick