They describe in dramatic language the cruelty of his character and the impiety of his actions; and crown all with the sudden and terrible nature of the circumstances attending his fall.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

It is insight enough to fasten on the key of a situation; and this Nelson rightly saw was the fleet, not the station.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

Race-prejudices, which keep brown and black men in their "places," we are coming to regard as useful allies with such a theory, no matter how much they may dull the ambition and sicken the hearts of struggling human beings.
— from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

The bell that rings at nine o'clock has ceased its doleful clangour about nothing; the gates are shut; and the night-porter, a solemn warder with a mighty power of sleep, keeps guard in his lodge.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

ready I am to do anything for you; but I have not spoken, because I knew I could be of no use to you and to Anna Arkadyevna,” she said, articulating the name “Anna Arkadyevna” with particular care.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

As soon as I got to Memphis, having seen the effect in the interior, I ordered (only as to my own command) that gold, silver, and Treasury notes, were contraband of war, and should not go into the interior, where all were hostile.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

“I believe it will be a difficult matter,” continued he, “to procure a warrant, there being already such a swarm of Scotch surgeons at the Navy Office, in expectation of the next vacancy, that the commissioners are afraid of being torn to pieces, and have actually applied for a guard to protect them.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker than darkness, then her spars and hull began to take shape, and the next moment, as it seemed (for, the farther I went, the brisker grew the current of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser and had laid hold.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

The lass drew up her pony beside us, and, man, they were a picture, these two—her hair, blown all loose, rippling like a wave, and the flush of youth glowing in her face and neck, and her eyes shining, and the noble Hieland pony, with his great curved neck and round dark barrel, and the flowing silver mane and tail.
— from The McBrides A Romance of Arran by John Sillars

Progress was slow along the narrow tracks, and they went singly for the most part, careful of their horses' steps.
— from Princess Maritza by Percy James Brebner

In the bodies which form this class, such as the neutral salts, for instance, we had to consider, 1st, The acidifying principle, which is common to them all; 2d, The acidifiable principle which constitutes their peculiar acid; 3d, The saline, [Pg xxx] earthy, or metallic basis, which determines the particular species of salt.
— from Elements of Chemistry, In a New Systematic Order, Containing all the Modern Discoveries by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

That story of the “Betrothed” puts in presence winningly, the threefold elements of English population in that day—the Britons, the Saxons, and the Normans.
— from English Lands, Letters and Kings, vol. 1: From Celt to Tudor by Donald Grant Mitchell

Picking a passage-way out of the crowd, she and Timmins now began to make their way up one of the comparatively quiet streets.
— from The Wide, Wide World by Susan Warner

Of course we have friends who walk round the garden, look at those beds with dull eyes of disapproval, and walk on after imparting information on some contentious point, such as the necessity to remove the shoots from the briers of standard roses, or the assurance that the slugs are fond of the leaves of hollyhock.
— from A Garden of Peace: A Medley in Quietude by Frank Frankfort Moore

One of this lot’s the flying man connected with that crate–you can see he’s still wearing his greasy dungarees and has his helmet on his head, like he expected to be hopping-off any minute now; a second chap is short and thick, not at all like the one we’ve come so far to buck up against, while the third, while tall, looks like a roughneck skipper of a speedboat.”
— from Eagles of the Sky; Or, With Jack Ralston Along the Air Lanes by Ambrose Newcomb

I started at the name, and then a sudden idea flashed across me: it was Flavio who had been here, and with that devilish spirit of revenge to which Rachel alluded, he had killed his own child.
— from The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 by Various