It is not my business to contradict gentlemen while they are drinking in my house; but I knew neither of them spoke a syllable of truth.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

He said all sorts of nice things about the children's bravery and presence of mind, and when he had done he sat down, and everyone who was there clapped and said, “Hear, hear.”
— from The Railway Children by E. (Edith) Nesbit

“Such a splendid old chap
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

So soon as they’ve settled all our guns and ships, and smashed our railways, and done all the things they are doing over there, they will begin catching us systematic, picking the best and storing us in cages and things.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

But it is impossible to enter here into all these shades and singularities of political organisation.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

The præfect and patrician John, a general of experience and renown, embarked at Constantinople the forces of the Eastern empire; they were joined by the ships and soldiers of Sicily, and a powerful reenforcement of Goths was obtained from the fears and religion of the Spanish monarch.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

A capital toast was drunk to the inventor of the soup, and some one said he ought to be made a relieving officer to the poor.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

Then hear my counsel, and to reason yield, The bravest soon are satiate of the field; Though vast the heaps that strow the crimson plain, The bloody harvest brings but little gain: The scale of conquest ever wavering lies, Great Jove but turns it, and the victor dies!
— from The Iliad by Homer

I got it in Sunday School out in Missouri: "'The sword and spear, of needless worth, Shall prune the tree and plough the earth; And Peace shall smile from shore to shore
— from The Southerner: A Romance of the Real Lincoln by Dixon, Thomas, Jr.

"Cheerio, old thing!" exclaimed Branscombe as Burgoyne made his way aft, his india-rubber sea-boots slithering and squelching on the slush-covered deck.
— from The Third Officer: A Present-day Pirate Story by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

He shortened the babiche by twisting it again and again about his hand, and the club rose and fell with the skill and strength of one long accustomed to its use.
— from Kazan by James Oliver Curwood

In a day or two she had become intimate with Mrs. van der Staal and the two girls; and on the evening when young Van der Staal arrived she opened her heart more than she had ever thought that she could do to strangers whom she had known for barely a few days.
— from The Inevitable by Louis Couperus

When the mission reached Caesarea news came that Holagu was dead, but since reasons of state inspired the proposed marriage, the bridal party continued 274 its journey to the Mongolian court, and there in due time Maria was wedded to Abaga, the son and successor of Holagu, after the bridegroom had received, it is said, Christian baptism.
— from Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture by Alexander Van Millingen

The roar of the heavy guns, pent and echoed between the high banks, was like continuous thunder, lit by lurid flashes as they belched out 13-inch Shrapnel and scattered ounce balls like hail among the steadfast gunners on the bluff.
— from Four Years in Rebel Capitals An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death by T. C. (Thomas Cooper) De Leon

He says all sorts of things—anything you like.
— from A Pessimist in Theory and Practice by Frederic Mayer Bird

He urged Simon to a gallop along the shining sands, and shouted out any poetry that came into his head.
— from The Gates of Dawn by Fergus Hume

Line 345 is composed especially to show how feeble a rhythm results from such a succession of "open vowels."
— from The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems by Alexander Pope