"Who said that?" asked K., he felt her body against his chest and looked down on her rich, dark, tightly-bound hair.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka

And if he gain a conviction, let him receive double the value which the court fixes as the price of the slave; and if he lose his suit, let him make amends for the injury, and give up the slave.
— from Laws by Plato

I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

—Bahadur, sultan of Gujarat, determined to take advantage of the Rajput divisions, to revenge the disgrace of the defeat and captivity of his predecessor Muzaffar.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

With a last look around and at the box which contained the vile body, I ran from the place and gained the Count’s room, determined to rush out at the moment the door should be opened.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

Snatch from the ashes of your sires / The 45 embers of their former fires; / And he who in the strife expires / Will add to theirs a name of fear / That tyranny shall quake to hear, / And leave his sons a hope, a fame, / They too would rather die than shame.
— 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.

It is rather difficult to define under the microscope, particularly after roasting, even though the chief characteristics of the cellular tissue are more or less retained.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

On my first visit to this part of the country in 1843, I rode down to these lakes along with Miss Newcome, another maiden lady, whom Miss Drysdale had some time before taken into partnership with herself—partly, I presume, that she might have some kindred spirit—which, I am happy to say, Miss Newcome unquestionably is—to whom she might be able to whisper that "solitude was sweet."
— from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 308 New Series, Saturday, November 24, 1849 by Various

Suddenly recovering himself, he told his father that the laws of the land required delinquency to be proved before guilt is imputed, and that he had done no more than suggest a probable case.
— from Tales of My Time, Vol. 2 (of 3) Who Is She? [concluded]; The Young Reformers by William Pitt Scargill

Mary Howitt quotes as a motto to her poem on Holy Flowers the following example of religious devotion timed by flowers:-- "Mindful of the pious festivals which our church prescribes," (says a Franciscan Friar)
— from Flowers and Flower-Gardens With an Appendix of Practical Instructions and Useful Information Respecting the Anglo-Indian Flower-Garden by David Lester Richardson

The way was through woods: on the right, woods running uphill; on the left, woods running down to the Lake.
— from Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Now, Mr. Kent, does it not strike you as odd that apparently the only man in Washington who really disliked Turnbull was Colonel McIntyre, and it is his daughter who intimates that Turnbull's death was not due to natural causes?”
— from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln

The brother and sister related what a thunderbolt had fallen on the wretched shop in the Rue du Trou on the previous evening, when David had telegraphed the frightful tidings.
— from Truth [Vérité] by Émile Zola

“Richard Darke, then.”
— from The Death Shot: A Story Retold by Mayne Reid