SYN: Understanding, mind, reason, instinct, consciousness, sense, brains, ability, talent, genius.
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows

On my right I could see across the cornfields the two crocketed, rustic spires of Saint-André-des-Champs, themselves as tapering, scaly, plated, honeycombed, yellowed, and roughened as two ears of wheat.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

“Suddenly the monster reappeared; it crawled slowly across the room and made for the door, as though with some fixed intention, and with a slow movement that was more horrible than ever.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

As to our means of subsistence, till I get my rents, I can sell my diamonds, and they will realize an ample sum.’
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

But in aristocracies, as those who are desirous of arriving at the head of affairs are possessed of considerable wealth, and as the number of persons by whose assistance they may rise is comparatively small, the government is, if I may use the expression, put up to a sort of auction.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville

Any bright day, if you will put one of those rosebuds in your hair, and come to my rooms in Central Street, I will seize the purest ray of sunshine, and make a picture of the flower and its wearer."
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Of my fault and my remorse I cannot speak, because....” She stopped again, finding no connection in her ideas.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

'Yes, let me read it, child, since I must.'
— from The Parent's Assistant; Or, Stories for Children by Maria Edgeworth

"Such a dreadful night I never saw, my reins I can scarcely hold." Young Charlottie then feebly said, "I am exceedingly cold."
— from Cowboy Songs, and Other Frontier Ballads by Various

To my regret, I cannot state the exact period that elapsed between each successive moult, but I am confident that the trio were cast in the course of a very few months.
— from Glimpses of Ocean Life; Or, Rock-Pools and the Lessons they Teach by John Harper

I still had my hand on the trap when a touch on the shoulder caused me to turn, and in a moment apprised me of the imminence of a new peril; a peril of such a kind that, summoning all my resolution, I could scarcely hope to cope with it.
— from Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France by Stanley John Weyman

Elder David H. Redfield arrived in Jefferson City, and on Monday, 17th, presented the petition of the brethren to General David R. Atchison and others, who were very anxious to hear from Caldwell, as there were many reports in circulation, such as "the Mormons kept up the Danite system," "were going to build the Lord's house," and "more blood would be spilled before they left the state," which created a hardness in the minds of the people.
— from History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume 3 by Smith, Joseph, Jr.