for gouty legs and chalk-stones in my fingers; but ‘tis the way of mortality), but I had arrived at near my present growth of six feet, and with my hair in buckle, a handsome lace jabot and wristbands to my shirt, and a red plush waistcoat, barred with gold, looked the gentleman I was born.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

[188] This widely supported claim to supremacy seems an adequate reason for giving to Benevolence the first place after Wisdom, in our examination of the commonly received maxims of Duty and Virtue.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

Though I think I'd rather sit in the railway station," she answered, a remnant of vexation still in her voice.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

I speak as a friend of your family, as an old man who loves you sincerely and a relation, at whose words you cannot take offence.…
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

When we got up-stairs to his room he got me a coarse shirt and a roundabout and pants of his, and I put them on.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

What wrong have you to squeal about, And raise this dev'lish, deaf'ning shout?
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine

But so long as people remain on what such an invaluable optimist might call the low level of sensuous thought, and so long as we imagine that we exist and suffer, an aristocratic regimen can only be justified by radiating benefit and by proving that were less given to those above less would be attained by those beneath them.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

After a little while I missed first Mr. Skimpole and afterwards Richard, and while I was thinking how could Richard stay away so long and lose so much, the maid who had given me the keys looked in at the door, saying, "If you please, miss, could you spare a minute?"
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Many excellent principles were 14 laid down for the distribution of this large sum; and after reserving what was required for immediate relief, the balance, amounting to 87,667 ℓ. , was granted to various societies which had been established for the future and permanent benefit of the Irish peasantry 6 .
— from The Irish Crisis by Charles E. (Charles Edward) Trevelyan

Let your movements be easy, and from the shoulder, as a rule, rather than from the elbow.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

"'It was a curious thing,' observed Brock when relating his story, 'that I had been without a knife for some time, and only purchased this two days before it became so useful to me; and having had to make some boat's tholes, it was as sharp as a razor.
— from The World of Waters Or, A Peaceful Progress o'er the Unpathed Sea by Osborne, David, Mrs. (Fanny)

If they believed in the right of peaceable secession from the Government of the United States, as a right clearly admitted and secured by the Constitution, it is strange that they should have made such far-sighted preparations to maintain this right by forcible resistance to its authority.
— from The American Union Speaker by John D. (John Dudley) Philbrick

We found them drawn up in the neighbourhood of Tungasuca, in an extensive flat, with a hill on one side, and a river in their rear, prepared to receive the enemy, who were advancing along a valley in their front.
— from Manco, the Peruvian Chief Or, An Englishman's Adventures in the Country of the Incas by William Henry Giles Kingston

Just believe that, and you will trust me, and I may be able to help you with my sympathy at any rate.
— from A Girl of the North: A Story of London and Canada by Susan Morrow Jones

All that Warren did with his infantry on this day, the 18th, was to creep cautiously forward about two miles towards the Boer position, which with its left resting on Spion Kop stretched along the edge and crest of a lofty plateau, from which long gently sloping spurs and arêtes ran down to the river.
— from London to Ladysmith via Pretoria by Winston Churchill

Without missing his smooth swing at a rising crab, he called back, "Don't mind.
— from The Flying Stingaree: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin

"Perhaps it is only an old one with its face washed," Uncle Mark would say; and Adeline, raising her right shoulder, would put her head on it and laugh, screwing up her eyes.
— from A Man from the North by Arnold Bennett