As shines the moon in clouded skies, She in her poor attire was seen: One praised her ancles, one her eyes, One her dark hair and lovesome mien: So sweet a face, such angel grace, In all that land had never been: Cophetua sware a royal oath: "This beggar maid shall be my queen!"
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

and I not seen her), but did find none of them within, which I was glad of, and so back to my brother’s to speak with him, and so home, and in my way did take two turns forwards and backwards through the Fleete Ally to see a couple of pretty [strumpets] that stood off the doors there, and God forgive me I could scarce stay myself from going into their houses with them, so apt is my nature to evil after once, as I have these two days, set upon pleasure again.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

I could not follow Alisande’s further explanation of who our captured knights were, now—I mean in case she should ever get to explaining who they were.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

He looked—well, he merely looked dubious, it’s the most I can say; so did the others.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

II Shake hands, my friend, across the brink Of that deep grave to which I go: Shake hands once more: I cannot sink So far ­ far down, but I shall know Thy voice, and answer from below.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

I never knew before what made Indian cattle so scared of Englishmen.
— from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

If I strive to speak to the persons I meet, I certainly say some stupid thing to them; if I remain silent, I am a misanthrope, an unsociable animal, a bear.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Non timeo mortem in catre sed super espaldonem Bagumbayanis .
— from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal

First came the Germans of Count Sultz, the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, with the company standards waving over each.
— from PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete by John Lothrop Motley

Child, what I felt at that moment I can scarcely say, but it was a sufficient punishment for all the sins I ever committed; and there we two were, I looking page
— from Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest by George Borrow

In the distant meadow I can see stacked rifles and sodden knapsacks; but not a man is afoot.
— from 'Neath Verdun, August-October, 1914 by Maurice Genevoix

that frightened me, it came so sudden; but it will not be long before we shall have this ugly business finished."
— from The Cleverdale Mystery; or, The Machine and Its Wheels: A Story of American Life by W. A. Wilkins

"For myself, I cannot sleep," said he.
— from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Strive how I may, I cannot slumber so: Still burns that sleepless beauty on the mind; Still insupportable those visions glow; And hark!
— from Primavera: Poems by Four Authors by Stephen Phillips

"The mind in creation," says Shelley, "is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness; this power rises from within, like the colour of a flower which fades and changes as it is developed, and the conscious portions of our natures are unprophetic either of its approach or its departure."
— from The Gate of Appreciation: Studies in the Relation of Art to Life by Carleton Eldredge Noyes

"And, Monsieur, I can see," she answered, "is an [219] apt flatterer.
— from A Maker of History by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim