Every acquaintance whom I ever possessed has either left me or is dead.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

There Proreus, Nautes, Eratreus, appear And famed Amphialus, Polyneus' heir; Euryalus, like Mars terrific, rose, When clad in wrath he withers hosts of foes; Naubolides with grace unequall'd shone, Or equall'd by Laodamas alone.
— from The Odyssey by Homer

159 The enormous gains of the Indian trade might perhaps have excited little murmuring if they had been distributed among numerous proprietors.
— from The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Mr. Hinchford and Mr. Wesden smoked their pipes together that evening, and talked about it in short disjointed sentences, amidst which Mr. Hinchford learned that Mr. Wesden would retire from business before the year's probation had expired, leaving Mattie, possibly, in charge.
— from Mattie:—A Stray (Vol 1 of 3) by F. W. (Frederick William) Robinson

Presently, that is to say, after two or three minutes, the pain had entirely left me, and I felt what is commonly called, all in a glow.
— from Wanderings in India, and Other Sketches of Life in Hindostan by John Lang

A gentle smile passed over the stern, furrowed face of the old peasant; his eyes looked milder than they had done for many a day, as he gazed down upon the young girl's strong, yet slender form.
— from For Sceptre and Crown: A Romance of the Present Time. Vol. 2 (of 2) by Gregor Samarow

For, I know right well, that no man can say with reason, except some such as my selfe, who love and honour you, that we do any otherwise then as nature hath commanded us; and to resist her lawes, requires a greater and more powerfull strength then ours: and the contenders against her supreame priviledges, have either laboured meerely in vaine, or else incurred their owne bane.
— from The Decameron (Day 1 to Day 5) Containing an hundred pleasant Novels by Giovanni Boccaccio

The floor of the room in which he had left us was sunk a little below the level of the road outside; and the ceiling being low and the window of greater width than height, and the mantel-shelf having for ornament a row of clean delft and pewter, I thought that no place had ever looked more snug and cosy.
— from Shrewsbury: A Romance by Stanley John Weyman

As we talked, from A. came the theory that she was only afraid it would prevent her ever loving motors again; and she had always adored motors as the chief pleasure of life, before they became the chief business.
— from The Sword of Deborah: First-hand impressions of the British Women's Army in France by F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson) Jesse

She lay on her couch and watched him with shining eyes, telling herself that no prince had ever looked more royal.
— from Greatheart by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell

Supper over, the farmer conferred on me every possible honor, even letting me hold his youngest girl, a child of ten months.
— from On a Donkey's Hurricane Deck A Tempestous Voyage of Four Thousand and Ninety-Six Miles Across the American Continent on a Burro, in 340 Days and 2 Hours, Starting Without a Dollar and Earning My Way by R. Pitcher (Robert Pitcher) Woodward