He taught me, in the presence of my new mother, how to fix it with some tragacanth gum, and I found myself exactly like my friend.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

“Is there, then, no one who wishes to earn twenty louis and save the life of this poor old man?” No one stirred.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Whom Heaven has made a slave, no parliament of men, nor power that exists on earth, can render free.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

All that can be hoped for is that the advance of science and commerce, by fostering peace and a rational development of character, may bring some part of mankind nearer to that goal; but the goal lies, as every ultimate ideal should, at the limit of what is possible, and must serve rather to measure achievements than to prophesy them.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

I then was innocent; the evil passions of my nature slept.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

I conclude, looking to the future, that for terrestrial productions a large continental area, which will probably undergo many oscillations of level, and which consequently will exist for long periods in a broken condition, will be the most favourable for the production of many new forms of life, likely to endure long and to spread widely.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

“Yes, sir,” answered Caderousse; “and remorse preys on me night and day.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

That there is always among decently conducted people a practical compromise, though one of them at least is under no physical or moral necessity of making it, shows that the natural motives which lead to a voluntary adjustment of the united life of two persons in a manner acceptable to both, do on the whole, except in unfavourable cases, prevail.
— from The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill

"Never have I given him a promise of mine—never, never!
— from The Garden of Memories by Henry St. John Cooper

Let me run over this portion of my narrative with as much haste as the nature of the events to be spoken of will permit.
— from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827. by Edgar Allan Poe

But this personification is merely poetical or metaphorical, not real.
— from The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 3: Media The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

Then, at low tide, we could always fill a couple of cornsacks with excellent oysters, and get bucketfuls of large prawns by means of a scoop net improvised from a piece of mosquito netting; game, too, was very plentiful on the lagoons.
— from By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories by Louis Becke

And herewith there merged from behind the desk the source of all the voices that had been holding forth, in the person of Mrs. Newton.
— from The Disturbing Charm by Berta Ruck

The ghost of Lord Clarenceux had more power over me now—I felt that acutely; and I explained it by the fact that I was in the near neighborhood of Rosa.
— from The Ghost: A Modern Fantasy by Arnold Bennett

Public opinion must not compel the professor to hide a fact, and, "like the base Indian, throw the pearl away."
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Complete Contents Dresden Edition—Twelve Volumes by Robert Green Ingersoll

Were the reasons of state which prescribed our marriage not in accord with your sentiment?
— from The Mystery of the Lost Dauphin (Louis XVII) by Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de

Gay crowds promenade, and cavalcades linger; people of many nations congregate to unbend the brow laden with the cares of the day.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 61, No. 376, February, 1847 by Various

I entered into the town to learn where I was, and addressed myself to a tailor that was at work in his shop; who, perceiving by my air that I was a person of more note than my outward appearance bespoke me to be, made me sit down by him, and asked me who I was, from whence I came, and what had brought me thither?
— from Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights by E. Dixon