Of course it won't do for him to talk as I do while he's a baby, but later on it won't signify; and a thrashing never did a boy any harm."
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant

“You know me now, a scoundrel, an avowed scoundrel, but let me tell you that I've never done anything before and never shall again, anything that can compare in baseness with the dishonor which I bear now at this very minute on my breast, here, here, which will come to pass, though I'm perfectly free to stop it.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The first part of the trip carried us through a great region which was an endless garden—miles and miles of the beautiful flower from whose juices comes the opium, and at Muzaffurpore we were in the midst of the indigo culture; thence by a branch road to the Ganges at a point near Dinapore, and by a train which would have missed the connection by a week but for the thoughtfulness of some British officers who were along, and who knew the ways of trains that are run by natives without white supervision.
— from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain

The Rules are a certain liberty adjoining the prison, and comprising some dozen streets in which debtors who can raise money to pay large fees, from which their creditors do not derive any benefit, are permitted to reside by the wise provisions of the same enlightened laws which leave the debtor who can raise no money to starve in jail, without the food, clothing, lodging, or warmth, which are provided for felons convicted of the most atrocious crimes that can disgrace humanity.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

At length, the two money-lenders obtained shelter in a house next door, and, being accommodated with a ladder, clambered over the wall of the back-yard—which was not a high one—and descended in safety on the other side.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

We presently took our leave of the mage, promising to call next day, and bring a policeman.
— from He by Walter Herries Pollock

and I hope I shall, and then hone, and there Mr. Moore by appointment dined with me, and after dinner all the afternoon till night drawing a bond and release against to-morrow for T. Trice, and I to come to a conclusion in which I proceed with great fear and jealousy, knowing him to be a rogue and one that I fear has at this time got too great a hank—[hold]—over me by the neglect of my lawyers.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Every day I saw this lady, very plump, rotund, and dignified, not unlike a fat goose, walking about the garden, in the Russian national dress and beads, always carrying a parasol; and the servant was continually calling her in to dinner or to tea.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Brito (Navarrete, iv, p. 309) says that the two ships remained a month in Palawan, “a rich country, where they got new directions about Burneo, and captured two men to guide them there.”
— from The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century by Antonio Pigafetta

If we live in a small way, there are at least new dresses and bonnets and every-day luxuries which we can dispense with.
— from The Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes: An Index of the Project Gutenberg Editions by Oliver Wendell Holmes

He did not deny authority, but appealed to it in its highest form.
— from Beacon Lights of History, Volume 3 part 2: Renaissance and Reformation by John Lord

The author strongly urges the trial of new dishes, and breaking away from the routine of habit.
— from The Century Cook Book by Mary Ronald

He would not do anything bad, and apparently he did not feel inclined to do anything good.
— from A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895) by George Saintsbury

Slowly I undressed the duff , dandling it upon my knee, much as a nurse does a baby about bed-time.
— from White Jacket; Or, The World on a Man-of-War by Herman Melville

The mite was a waif too, alone in the world when his father was at sea, pathetically helpless, with no defence against blows and unkindness.
— from Sisters by Ada Cambridge

If you send anybody to Africa, why, he is only next door; and by and by we shall have air ships that will float up over there in a few hours!
— from The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 12, December, 1889 by Various

Eulogies are not customary at funerals in Episcopal Churches, but on this occasion the tradition was fittingly broken, and Mr. Nelson delivered a brief address from the pulpit in a breaking voice, barely audible at times.
— from Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati by Warren Crocker Herrick

David walked in, master of the position now, directly after breakfast, and took the sisters out for a walk, both of them, declaring he was as much encumbered as if he were going to marry two young ladies at once, but bearing his lot with great equanimity.
— from The Laurel Bush: An Old-Fashioned Love Story by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik