A singular feature, however, in vulgar language, is the retention and the revival of sterling old English words, long since laid up in ancient manuscripts, or the subject of dispute among learned antiquaries.
— from A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James. by John Camden Hotten

All of them, save Cecil Rountree, who was such a snob that he never wore badges, displayed celluloid buttons the size of dollars and lettered “We zoom for Zenith.”
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

Thus not only does a long peace fill an army with old men, but it is frequently imparts the views of old men to those who are still in the prime of life.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

He was mindful, however, if not of his own danger, at least of the fact that Mr. Jackson was under his mother's roof, and consequently his guest.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Lenehan in yachtsman’s cap and white shoes officiously detaches a long hair from Blazes Boylan’s coat shoulder.)
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

But may I regard certain arrangements, which seemed to have been made in conformity with some fixed aim, as the arrangements of design, and look upon them as proceeding from the divine will, with the intervention, however, of certain other particular arrangements disposed to that end?
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

be in Olympus for that one day, at least.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Was not everything, after all, like this bewildering woodland, this dance of dark and light?
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

And now, in concluding this work, so inadequate to the importance of the subjects that have been discussed, one deduction, at least, may be drawn from all that has been said.
— from The Symbolism of Freemasonry Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols by Albert Gallatin Mackey

Next morning we published a printed handbill with a statement of his lying, a copy of the line I had really sent to him, and a statement of our doctrine as Latter-day Saints.
— from The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry, and Travels by Parley P. (Parley Parker) Pratt

There is, however, another kind of culture besides that which comes from reading expensive novels, dressing for church or dinner, and living in a climate somewhat cold, foggy, and changeable.
— from Peru in the Guano Age Being a Short Account of a Recent Visit to the Guano Deposits, with Some Reflections on the Money They Have Produced and the Uses to Which It Has Been Applied by A. J. (Alexander James) Duffield

When children are fed with food that thor [Pg 20] oughly nourishes their whole system, they will seldom desire to eat between meals and thus retard the process of digestion and lay the foundation for dyspepsia and all its kindred evils.
— from Food and Morals 6th Edition by J. F. (John F.) Clymer

The consecrated tapers blazed around the swathed and shrouded corpse, and sent long streams of light through the open door and lattices of the humble dwelling, as though it had been illuminated for a high rejoicing.
— from Wager of Battle: A Tale of Saxon Slavery in Sherwood Forest by Henry William Herbert

I won't rest till I find your Evelyn;" and he rushed from the house, almost knocking down several children in the passageway—the Stimpcett children; for Obadiah, Debby, and little Cordelia had been awakened by the noise, and had come down in their night-gowns.
— from Harper's Young People, February 17, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

He took from his pocket a note-book, and thought out his alphabet of dots and lines.
— from Famous Men of Science by Sarah Knowles Bolton

Let us die,' she repeated, 'or do at least in mercy rid me of life, and then you can seek another lot in the arms of some happier lover.'
— from Manon Lescaut by abbé Prévost

Mr. Schoolcraft, who speaks of the Turtle in very handsome terms, gives him the credit of doing at least as much as any other individual on the continent "to abolish the rites of human sacrifice."
— from Indian Biography; Vol. 2 (of 2) Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable Characters by B. B. (Benjamin Bussey) Thatcher