Thus his Horton poems are joyous, almost Elizabethan in character; his prose is stern, militant, unyielding, like the Puritan in his struggle for liberty; his later poetry, following the apparent failure of Puritanism in the Restoration, has a note of sadness, yet proclaims the eternal principles of liberty and justice for which he had lived.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

He made us laugh till we cried, and, not altogether displeased at the effect, undersized and bearded to the waist like a gnome, he would tiptoe amongst us and say, “It’s all very well for you beggars to laugh, but my immortal soul was shrivelled down to the size of a parched pea after a week of that work.”
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

Right Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burthen: only, if your honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honoured you with some graver labour.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

We will be as we have always been; and neither this foolish talk nor any other thing shall part us or make us less to each other than we are this hour.”
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Charles Dudley Warner

It is quite otherwise with my author; the elegance and perfection of his way of speaking makes us lose the appetite of his plot; his refined grace and elegance of diction everywhere occupy us: he is so pleasant throughout, “Liquidus, puroque simillimus amni,” [“Liquid, and likest the pure river.” —Horace, Ep., ii. s, 120.]
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Although the loss that brought us pain, That loss but made us love the more.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

Kining humáya húmuk mulanut ug lugáwun, This rice develops gelatinous water when you make porridge of it.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

However, the General, hidden by the darkness, and muffled up, like the police agents, in the collar of his mantle, paid little attention to this group.
— from The History of a Crime The Testimony of an Eye-Witness by Victor Hugo

" "Oh, Rilla dear, don't snap me up like that," pleaded Irene.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

They made us learn the whole catechism.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

When the potatoes are done pour off the water, peel them and mash until light, then add to the boiling milk, stir well, season with salt and pepper, and rub all through a sieve.
— from The Golden Rule Cook Book: Six hundred recipes for meatless dishes by M. R. L. (Maud Russell Lorraine) Sharpe

As soon as she had got on the quarter-deck she flew at her husband, and attempted to strike him with such impetuosity, that he thought it most prudent to slip on one side, and let her make the impression of her fingers upon the waves rather than his face: he was not much out in his ideas of the consequence; for meeting no opposition, she went directly overboard, and it was my unfortunate lot to lay the foundation for bringing this happy pair together again.
— from The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe

At a sign from Mrs. Scudder, he kneeled by the bed, and began to pray,—"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations,"—prayer deep, mournful, upheaving like the swell of the ocean, surging upward, under the pressure of mighty sorrows, towards an Almighty heart.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 22, August, 1859 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

The impractical man usually likes to think of himself as an ideal being, living in an ideal world, surrounded by ideal people, associated together under ideal conditions.
— from Analyzing Character The New Science of Judging Men; Misfits in Business, the Home and Social Life by Arthur Newcomb

Of what then, was the will of man made, undulating like the sea, and variable as the wind, that he had the folly to believe his was firm?
— from Conscience — Complete by Hector Malot

Hurrying on to make up lost time, I soon reached Morgan.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

I'm glad you made us listen to you, Miss Pierson."
— from Grace Harlowe's First Year at Overton College by Josephine Chase

Before he had concluded, Marian recovered herself; into the dewy eyes, that had been musing upon Louis, the old light of girlish mischief came arch and sweet.
— from The Athelings; or, the Three Gifts. Complete by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant