And as she always returned safe and sound, he marvelled at the strength, at the suppleness of the human body, which was able continually to hold in check, to outwit all the perils that environed it (which to Swann seemed innumerable, since his own secret desire had strewn them in her path), and so allowed its occupant, the soul, to abandon itself, day after day, and almost with impunity, to its career of mendacity, to the pursuit of pleasure.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

So they have been in no hesitancy about drawing out the bad things he did as well as the good in their efforts to get a "Mark Twain" story, all incidents being viewed in the light of his present fame, until the volume of "Twainiana" is already considerable and growing in proportion as the "old timers" drop away and the stories are retold second and third hand by their descendants.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain

chancaca , f. ( Sp. A. ), raw sugar; a sweet dish with corn or wheat.
— from Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader by Ernesto Nelson

As the accumulation of each formation has often been interrupted, and as long blank intervals have intervened between successive formations, we ought not to expect to find, as I attempted to show in the last chapter, in any one or in any two formations, all the intermediate varieties between the species which appeared at the commencement and close of these periods: but we ought to find after intervals, very long as measured by years, but only moderately long as measured geologically, closely allied forms, or, as they have been called by some authors, representative species; and these assuredly we do find.
— 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

Teach ’s Quarter-Master, and eight of his Crew, took Possession of Wyar ’s Ship, and Richards secured all the Sloops, one of which they burnt out of spight to the Owner; the Protestant Cæsar they also burnt, after they had plundered her, because she belonged to Boston , where some Men had been hanged for Pyracy; and the three Sloops belonging to Bernard they let go.
— from A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present time by Daniel Defoe

414 The Nile begins to increase at the next new moon after the summer solstice, and rises slowly and gradually as the sun passes through the sign of Cancer; it is at its greatest height while the sun is passing through Leo, and it falls as slowly and gradually as it arose while he is passing through the sign of Virgo.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny

Then all flung themselves upon their knees about him and sent up a chorus of ironical wailings, and mocking supplications, whilst they swabbed their eyes with their soiled and ragged sleeves and aprons— “Be gracious to us, O sweet King!”
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

[ 83 ] In a similar strain another Rishi sings:— Again and again newly born though ancient, Decking her beauty with the self-same colours, The goddess wastes away the life of mortals, Like wealth diminished by the skilful player (i. 92, 10).
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell

No evening ever passed during which I did not succeed in shaking off the depression caused by my vain endeavours, and by the many worries I had gone through during the day, and in regaining my natural cheerfulness, and Kietz was anxious to represent me to the world as a man who, in spite of the hard times he had to face, had confidence in his success, and rose smiling above the troubles of life.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

Sombreros and red shirts and plumed Indians were rarely to be seen; but there were silk hats and black coats everywhere worn by a multitude of nervously active, gentlemanly-looking men.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

"It is now dreary and desolate, with scarce any ruins save a confused mass of stones, which form a sort of cairn on the top."— Tristram.
— from Bible Atlas: A Manual of Biblical Geography and History by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

Even where the mature trees remain in greatest numbers the saplings are relatively scarce as compared with those of elm, ash, hackberry, and hickory.
— from The Forest Habitat of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation by Ronald L. McGregor

His teaching was not favourably viewed by some of the parents, who started a rival school, and resolved to import a second master, with the result that Carlyle was selected.
— from Thomas Carlyle by Hector Macpherson

Under the livid sky the sandbags are taking the same hue, and their vaguely shining and rounded shapes are like the bowels and viscera of giants, nakedly exposed upon the earth.
— from Under Fire: The Story of a Squad by Henri Barbusse

The two openings made by one ball may hold such a relative situation as to lead to the mistake of their being supposed to be caused by two distinct balls.
— from A Treatise on Gunshot Wounds by Longmore, T. (Thomas), Sir

once in a while of a Sunday mornin' and set in the meetin' house starin' at Rebecca same as he used to do, only it's reskier now both of em are older.
— from New Chronicles of Rebecca by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

as I saw it blaze in the cell the night of the storm,” and Ryan shuddered, although we were then in the full light of the evening, and the bustling camp below us.
— from By the Barrow River, and Other Stories by Edmund Leamy

On the morrow we started again through Aix-la-Chapelle to Bonn, the town which lies on the borders of the exquisite scenery of which the Siebengebirge and Rolandseck serve as the magic portal.
— from Autobiographical Sketches by Annie Besant

Proper breeding-places are also greatly wanted—close shrubberies and rockeries such as we find at Battersea and Finsbury Parks.
— from Birds in London by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson