Feeling very unwell, exhausted, and at the same time excited from want of sleep, I reached my destination and put up at the Hotel Valois, where I remained a week, struggling to gain my self-control and to face my strange position.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

2. O Lord, how often shall I resign myself, and in what things shall I lose myself?
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas

The pike, like other celebrities, did not show when he was watched for, but Tom caught sight of something in rapid movement in the water, which attracted him to another spot on the brink of the pond.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

After having taken even superfluous precautions against a discovery, our success in repeated meetings emboldened me to omit the barely necessary ones.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

There are, among the Irish, men of as much worth and honour as any among the English: nay, to speak the truth, generosity of spirit is rather more common among them.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Empty dialectic is, as it were, the ballet of science: it runs most neatly after nothing at all.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

The gentleman left many other things of value, which my friend had converted into cash before I met with him; so that, over and above these particulars, our stock in ready money amounted to something more than two hundred pounds.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

In the forenoon he gave a lesson on the violin to the youngest son, Carl, and I chanced to come in at the time, I never gave him credit for much talent, but I saw that he took great pains in giving his lesson; and when we entered into conversation about violin, concert, and orchestral playing, he reasoned very well, and was always of my opinion, so I retracted my former sentiments with regard to him, and was persuaded that I should find him play well in time, and a correct violinist in the orchestra.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

To this end, I had sat well back on the form, and while seeming to be busy with my sum, had held my slate in such a manner as to conceal my face: I might have escaped notice, had not my treacherous slate somehow happened to slip from my hand, and falling with an obtrusive crash, directly drawn every eye upon me; I knew it was all over now, and, as I stooped to pick up the two fragments of slate, I rallied my forces for the worst.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

On the 4th of September I removed my headquarters to Cairo and found Colonel Richard Oglesby in command of the post.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

Houghton announced that he had "lately improv'd on his new Theodolite, by which the Art of Surveying is rendered more plain & easy than heretofore."
— from Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers by Silvio A. Bedini

Large numbers of copper-hued natives, dressed in their gayest colors, were waiting to receive us, and, stepping on shore, I resigned myself with great docility to the guidance of a stout person, who, tapping an embroidered crown on the sleeve of his coat, with a short baton, informed me, with an expressive nod, that he was kaiko —king's man—in other words, a guardian of the peace.
— from Los Gringos Or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia by H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise

[Pg 469] But at Rosanna and at Woodstock, my hope of obtaining some information regarding Mrs. Tighe—of seeing some painting or other object connected with her, was, with one exception, thoroughly frustrated.
— from Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2) by William Howitt

Said one of their rude, but energetic petitions for statehood: "Some of our fellow-citizens may think we are not able to conduct our affairs and consult our interests; but if our society is rude, much wisdom is not necessary to supply our wants, and a fool can sometimes put on his clothes better than a wise man can do it for him."
— from The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner

I crossed Seventh street and walked about half way to Eighth, when, thinking that the young lady had had time to get out of sight, I retraced my steps.
— from John Smith's Funny Adventures on a Crutch Or The Remarkable Peregrinations of a One-legged Soldier after the War by A. F. (Ashbel Fairchild) Hill

“In my youth,” said he, “I was very fond of sleep; it robbed me of a great deal of my time; but my poor Joseph (his domestic) was of great service in enabling me to overcome it.
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 3 (of 3) Everlasting Calerdar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone

During our stay I read Mrs. Jameson's book on the "Legends of the Monastic Orders," corrected the first volume of "Adam Bede" for [229] the new edition, and began Marchese's "Storia di San Marco."
— from George Eliot's Life, as Related in Her Letters and Journals. Vol. 2 (of 3) by George Eliot

"I seed his big mouth right clus to my face, an' his jaws wide open; so I rammed my left arm right in a 'tween 'em, so that he couldn't git no purchase onto me to chaw, and he hadn't really he
— from The Young Trail Hunters Or, the Wild Riders of the Plains. The Veritable Adventures of Hal Hyde and Ned Brown, on Their Journey Across the Great Plains of the South-West by Samuel Woodworth Cozzens

But although piquing himself, as a former diplomatist, on skill in reading men's thoughts through their faces, he was unable to decipher the expression of Fatello's countenance on receiving this plausible explanation of the error into which he had been led by the sisters' identity of costume.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, No. 398, December 1848 by Various