Though of little poetic merit, this piece has a special interest as being by far the earliest literary description of the mental effects, braggadocio in particular, produced by intoxication.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

He would remain silent, preoccupied; and if anyone, astonished at his silence, asked him about his plans he answered simply: “I am learning my trade.”
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

In all the broad lands which the Constitution of the United States overshadows, there is no single spot,—however narrow or desolate,—where a fugitive slave can plant himself and say, "I am safe."
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

They passed, hallooing and shouting in a manner that indicated a recent carousal.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. (Harriet Ann) Jacobs

He walked with a firm step to the wall, thrusting aside Marius and the doctor who tried to help him, detached from the wall a little copper crucifix which was suspended there, and returned to his seat with all the freedom of movement of perfect health, and said in a loud voice, as he laid the crucifix on the table: “Behold the great martyr.” Then his chest sank in, his head wavered, as though the intoxication of the tomb were seizing hold upon him.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The social and political passions have acquired such intensity, and been so widely diffused, that their inevitable results are almost immediately produced.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849 by Various

"Perhaps," he answered, smiling, "I am a little shy."
— from The Golden Web by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

It will please her and she is a good little thing."
— from Our Little Grecian Cousin by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet

Of course, with the poor people at home in our own cottages it's different—they always curtsy and are very respectful—but Mrs. Matthews says the people here are so independent, and think nothing of being rude to you if they don't like you."
— from Sir George Tressady — Volume I by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

'A Little Pilgrim' has apparently solved it, and, indeed, it seems on reading this little book as if there were a great probability about it.
— from Maria Edgeworth by Helen Zimmern

Aurelian recognized in Clement the person who, some weeks before, when a physician was sought to attend one of the human [Footnote 119] victims in the capitol sacrificed to propitiate the god of war, presented himself and said: "I am not a physician by profession.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 05, April 1867 to September 1867 by Various

These dolls marched and danced before the visitors, and then they all waved their paper handkerchiefs and sang in a sweet chorus a song called "The Flag of Our Native Land."
— from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

I have informed him that it is impossible to allow him an interview with the young lady to-night; but that he may count on seeing her (with the proper precautions) at the earliest propitious hour, after she is awake to-morrow morning.
— from Armadale by Wilkie Collins