Not a period in Socrates's oration, which closed with a shorter word than transmigration, or annihilation,—or a worse thought in the middle of it than to be—or not to be,—the entering upon a new and untried state of things,—or, upon a long, a profound and peaceful sleep, without dreams, without disturbance?—That we and our children were born to die,—but neither of us born to be slaves.—No—there I mistake; that was part of Eleazer's oration, as recorded by Josephus (de Bell.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

I see, madam, said I, you are resolved not to be pleased with any answer I shall return: If I should say, I am not, then your ladyship will call me hard names, and, perhaps, I should tell a fib.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

As a person who is struck through the heart with a thunderbolt looks extremely surprised, nay, and perhaps is so too—thus the poor Joseph received the false accusation of his mistress; he blushed and looked confounded, which she misinterpreted to be symptoms of his guilt, and thus went on:— "Come hither, Joseph: another mistress might discard you for these offences; but I have a compassion for your youth, and if I could be certain you would be no more guilty—Consider, child," laying her hand carelessly upon his, "you are a handsome young fellow, and might do better; you might make your fortune.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

The whole operation, we have been told, was conducted as nearly as possible in silence, the architect himself regulating by signs the action of the groups at the gin-poles, being himself governed by the plumb-line suspended in a high frame before him.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

Somebody has stolen four rubies, and then reset as small a number as possible in such a way that there shall always be eight stones in any of the directions you have mentioned."
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker with no Past at my back.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Officers' Names are printed in Small Capital Letters, and the Names of their Members are printed beneath.
— from Little Folks (September 1884) A Magazine for the Young by Various

By gar, if I have not Anne Page, I shall turn your head out of my door.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

There, at least, if I do nothing, I shall see a great deal; and if I ‘m not a producer, I shall at any rate be an observer.”
— from Roderick Hudson by Henry James

The King observed, moreover, in his letter, that there was not a person in Spain who doubted that Montigny had died of a fever.
— from PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete by John Lothrop Motley

Now a poet is something different to a recluse, and in order to be able to describe life in all its aspects and dangers he must first have lived it.
— from Zones of the Spirit: A Book of Thoughts by August Strindberg

The sombre pines showed up, a wall all round, and in the open space, turreted with fantastic fires, the Indians swayed in and out with weird chanting, their bodies mostly naked, and painted in strange colours.
— from A Romany of the Snows, Complete Being a Continuation of the Personal Histories of "Pierre and His People" and the Last Existing Records of Pretty Pierre by Gilbert Parker

I remember turning my pinafore wrong side forwards in order to represent a surplice, and preaching to my mother's maids in the kitchen as nearly as possible in Sir Herbert's manner one Sunday morning when the rest of the family were at church.
— from Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1 by Thomas Henry Huxley

Now these stories commonly reflected three things besides the main narrative: a problem, its solution, and the consequent moral or lesson.
— from Outlines of English and American Literature An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived by William J. (William Joseph) Long

When he recovered he found himself lying upon the sand, not a pony in sight, and Prince licking his face with affectionate anxiety.
— from The Wreckers of Sable Island by J. Macdonald (James Macdonald) Oxley