And no more ‘madame,’ no more ‘Monsieur Jean,’ we are living under a Republic, everybody says thou , don’t they, Marius?
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Yet what can we deduce but that the will Divine Bids them rise and bids them shine, To lure the seasons on, to ripen every seed, To shed soft influence on men; What has an ordered universe to do indeed, With chance, that is beyond our ken.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

RUBETAS ET SUB TERRA VIVENTES, UT NOXIAS REJICIO!
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius

Dickens, as we have seen, was disappointed in America and vented his displeasure in outrageous criticism; but Thackeray, with his usual good breeding, saw only the best side of his generous entertainers, and in both his public and private utterances emphasized the virtues of the new land, whose restless energy seemed to fascinate him.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

"Well, with seven roubles each," said Trudolyubov, "twenty-one roubles between the three of us, we ought to be able to get a good dinner.
— from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The red eastern sky, the northward blackness, the salt Dead Sea, the stony beach crawling with these foul, slow-stirring monsters, the uniform poisonous-looking green of the lichenous plants, the thin air that hurts one’s lungs: all contributed to an appalling effect.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Wit, hilarity, and deep observation were mingled in his talk, rendering every sentence that he uttered as a flash of light.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

But when they arrived at the place where the river expands, so that where it was widest it extended 200 stades, a strong wind blew from the outer sea, and the oars could hardly be raised in the swell; they therefore took refuge again in a canal into which his pilots conducted them.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander or, The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great by Arrian

It seemed to me that while I had been addressing him, he carefully revolved every statement that I made; fully comprehended the meaning; could not gainsay the irresistible conclusions; but, at the same time, some paramount consideration prevailed with him to reply as he did.
— from Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville

In Italy, the objects of thought, even of the common people, have the tendency to assume concrete and æsthetic forms—a fact of great significance in the history of a people destined to render essential service to art.
— from Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs (1886) by Martinengo-Cesaresco, Evelyn Lilian Hazeldine Carrington, contessa

Rambure, equally surprised that the squadron which bore the King of England had not appeared, and by the publicity of his forthcoming arrival, went up towards Edinburgh more and more surrounded by barques, which addressed to him the same language.
— from Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete by Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de

If we in America cannot weaken its power, even in the most Christian communities; if we cannot prevent the tyranny of money in our very churches, where we are reminded every Sunday that it is the root of all evil, yea, when we have Bibles in our hands,—what could a corrupted Christianity do with it when material pleasures were more prized than they are with us, and when philanthropic institutions were unborn?
— from The Old Roman World : the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization. by John Lord

No doubt when matches and fireplaces, about equally causative of conflagration, have vanished, and when we have invented methods of warming the air in houses without the horrible drying of it caused by the American pipe-stove system, houses will be much more lightly built: and it is certainly not going to be impossible to use thin, light walls without being able to hear in each room every sound that occurs in the next.
— from A Hundred Years Hence: The Expectations of an Optimist by T. Baron Russell

Diogenes of Apollonia, who devoted his life to the effort to reconcile every system to every other, declared that Homer used the myths to propagate scientific truth.
— from The Unpopular Review Vol. I January-June 1914 by Various

At last they came with the sick girl, and one look at the poor, half- fainting child, and her mother's "Nobody in the world but you would have let us come," made them welcome; and I have rejoiced ever since that God let them come.
— from The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss by George Lewis Prentiss

The troops had recently enjoyed special treatment.
— from The Flying Spy by Camillo De Carlo

“But after his rough experience,” said the captain dryly, “I cannot wonder at Mr Jack here feeling anxious to be homeward bound.”
— from Jack at Sea: All Work and No Play Made Him a Dull Boy by George Manville Fenn