To be in company, nicely dressed herself and seeing others nicely dressed, to sit and smile and look pretty, and say nothing, was enough for the happiness of the present hour.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

Is it then very improbable that the natural selection of individual swifts, which secreted more and more saliva, should at last produce a species with instincts leading it to neglect other materials and to make its nest exclusively of inspissated saliva?
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

The cords gave way—the terror burst in his veins, and with one great, gasping cry he sprang desperately forward and ran,—ran as only the frightened run, shrieking and fighting the air until with one last wail of pain he sank on the grass of Madison Square and lay prone and still.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

I scanned a leaf particularly and saw that it was a palimpsest.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

They included a couple of young merchants, a man in a great-coat, a medical student, a little Pole, a small fat man who laughed continuously, and an enormously tall stout one who apparently put great faith in the strength of his fists.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

"I had no idea that anybody was going to intrude into such a lonely place and see us!" Jude returned.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

The root is somewhat long, with small fibres thereat, of a dark reddish colour, which abides the Winter, although the stalks and leaves perish and spring every year.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

And so he was sitting almost conscious himself of his delirium and, as I have said already, looking persistently at some object on the sofa against the opposite wall.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Many of them are so close, you can hardly discern it, or take any just exceptions at them; they are not factious, oppressors as most are, no bribers, no simoniacal contractors, no such ambitious, lascivious persons as some others are, no drunkards, sobrii solem vident orientem, sobrii vident occidentem , they rise sober, and go sober to bed, plain dealing, upright, honest men, they do wrong to no man, and are so reputed in the world's esteem at least, very zealous in religion, very charitable, meek, humble, peace-makers, keep all duties, very devout, honest, well spoken of, beloved of all men: but he that knows better how to judge, he that examines the heart, saith they are hypocrites, Cor dolo plenum; sonant vitium percussa maligne , they are not sound within.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

She had a kindly face which seemed to Stephen a little pinched as she turned to them with a gesture of restraint.
— from Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Winston Churchill by Winston Churchill

The doggerel verses to which I have alluded as appearing in connection with the struggle were, as far as I have seen them, poor stuff as literary productions, and some were highly improper.
— from Cambridge Papers by W. W. Rouse (Walter William Rouse) Ball

It was a secure and landlocked place, and some way up it Zappa discerned the tall masts of the brig he was looking for.
— from The Pirate of the Mediterranean: A Tale of the Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

When his collection seemed at last perfect, a stuffed whale arrived from Greenland and an Aztec inscription from the Cundurango regions of Central America that made all former specimens insignificant.
— from Alonzo Fitz, and Other Stories by Mark Twain

It would be a saving to expunge them and no change would be necessary, except the introduction of such a litanical petition and suffrage with the Services for Deacons and Priests, as already exists in the Service for Bishops.
— from A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer by William Reed Huntington

When she appeared, looking pale and sad in her black frock, her eyes heavy and red with weeping, even Phyllis was touched, and the school-room tea was partaken of in peace and almost in silence.
— from Hetty Gray Nobody's Bairn by Rosa M. (Rosa Mulholland) Gilbert

( All discard their papillotes, while the junior apprentice seizes a large placard, and suspends it over the door.
— from Bentley's Miscellany, Volume I by Various

"I have talked to you, my friend," said he, "on all the ordinary subjects—literature, farming, merchandise, gaming, game-laws, horse-races, suits at law, politics, and swindling, and blasphemy, and philosophy: is there any one subject that you will favour me by opening upon?"
— from Character by Samuel Smiles