the Mole heard him mutter as he swung round a stump and disappeared down a friendly burrow.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

They never understand a joke, and their souls are dry, dry and flat; they remind me of prison walls when I was first brought here.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

And he who experiences these impressions strongly, and drives directly at the discrimination and analysis of them, has no need to trouble himself with the abstract question what beauty is in itself, or what its exact relation to truth or experience—metaphysical questions, as unprofitable as metaphysical questions elsewhere.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater

But now I am return’d, and that war-thoughts Have left their places vacant, in their rooms Come thronging soft and delicate desires, All prompting me how fair young Hero is, Saying, I lik’d her ere
— from Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare

Many a provocation has been offered, and a system of petty oppression pursued towards men, the force and meaning of which would appear as nothing to strangers, and doubtless do appear so to many "'long-shore" juries and judges.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

The smoke hung sluggishly above the chimney-tops as if it lacked the courage to rise, and the rain came slowly and doggedly down, as if it had not even the spirit to pour.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Lord Shelburne seems to have been of a reserved and somewhat astute disposition: deep and adroit, he was however brave and firm.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

If she loses this a second time, she should appear doubly distressed, and when her lover is off his guard or asleep, she should get hold of his lower lip, and hold it in her teeth, so that it should not slip away, and then she should laugh, make a loud noise, deride him, dance about, and say whatever she likes in a joking way, moving her eyebrows, and rolling her eyes.
— from The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding Remarks by Vatsyayana

Li him say dat de prahus am using de sweeps, and dat dere am many of dem.
— from With the Dyaks of Borneo: A Tale of the Head Hunters by F. S. (Frederick Sadleir) Brereton

And thus the Earl was, at this most important crisis, to depend upon the subtle and dangerous Deventer, and upon two inferior personages, the "fellow Junius" and a non-descript, whom Hohenlo characterized as a "long lean Englishman, with a little black beard.
— from History of the United Netherlands, 1587a by John Lothrop Motley

Lallie looked down; she smiled and dimpled distractingly, as she said softly: "You must promise not to be cross--Mr. Johns wrote too, very seriously.
— from Master and Maid by L. Allen (Lizzie Allen) Harker

Mac sighed as if with regret at the impossibility of such a delightful deal as that.
— from The Crimson Azaleas: A Novel by H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole

So he grew to be a rich man after all, and might be seen any day driving about his native town in a large yellow carriage drawn by two big black Flanders mares.
— from The Strange Story Book by Mrs. Lang

At such a time it is well to seek shelter, for the gale may be wild and strong as day dies, and the snow fall in winding sheets.
— from The English Lakes by William T. Palmer

Long did he hack and hew, the root no less "As long defied him, for its tough strings shoot As deep down as the boughs above aspire: All that he did was—shake to the tree's foot "Leafage and fruitage, things we most require For shadow and refreshment: which good deed Thoroughly done, behold the axe-haft tires "His hand, and he desisting leaves unfreed The vine he hacked and hewed for.
— from The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning Cambridge Edition by Robert Browning