Yet this selfish and unmanly delicacy occasionally yields to the more imperious passion of avarice.
— from The Satyricon — Complete by Petronius Arbiter

And now I began to think sedately; and, upon debate with myself, I concluded that this island (which was so exceedingly pleasant, fruitful, and no farther from the mainland than as I had seen) was not so entirely abandoned as I might imagine; that although there were no stated inhabitants who lived on the spot, yet that there might sometimes come boats off from the shore, who, either with design, or perhaps never but when they were driven by cross winds, might come to this place; that I had lived there fifteen years now and had not met with the least shadow or figure of any people yet; and that, if at any time they should be driven here, it was probable they went away again as soon as ever they could, seeing they had never thought fit to fix here upon any occasion; that the most I could suggest any danger from was from any casual accidental landing of straggling people from the main, who, as it was likely, if they were driven hither, were here against their wills, so they made no stay here, but went off again with all possible speed; seldom staying one night on shore, lest they should not have the help of the tides and daylight back again; and that, therefore, I had nothing to do but to consider of some safe retreat, in case I should see any savages land upon the spot.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

The tree-tops were not gilded by the rays of the rising sun, as usually described, the sunbeams did not creep over the earth and there was no sign of joy in the flight of the sleepy birds.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Such an unstable 'drift-mould of Accident' is the substance of this lower world, for them that dwell in houses of clay; so, especially in hot regions and times, do the proudest palaces we build of it take wings, and become Sahara sand-palaces, spinning many pillared in the whirlwind, and bury us under their sand!—
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

The young Count, surprised at this address, rejected his offer with disdain, and desired to know the meaning of such an unexpected declaration.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. (Tobias) Smollett

‘I thought it very natural,’ replied Job, ‘that the old lady wouldn’t like such an unpleasant discovery to be made before more persons than can possibly be helped.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Has any one ever tried to put upon paper all the little happenings connected with a dear one—happenings of the twenty-four hours preceding the sudden and unexpected death of that dear one?
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain

In his domestic chapel he placed the statues of Abraham, of Orpheus, of Apollonius, and of Christ, as an honor justly due to those respectable sages who had instructed mankind in the various modes of addressing their homage to the supreme and universal Deity.
— 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

The two beautiful hawthorn trees, the hedge, the turf, and all those buttercups and daisies, had given place to the stoniest of jolting roads; while, beyond the station, an ugly dark monster of a tunnel kept its jaws open, as if it had swallowed them and were ravenous for more destruction.
— from Dickens-Land by J. A. (John Arnold) Nicklin

My father, the Rev. Alexander Reid, was trained first at the University of St. Andrews, under Dr. Chalmers, and afterwards at Highbury College, London, under Dr. Pye-Smith, for the Congregational ministry.
— from Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 by T. Wemyss (Thomas Wemyss) Reid

right, but her ideas as to the cause of the evening's discomfort did not go beyond her lover, and his sudden and uncivil departure.
— from The Warden by Anthony Trollope

Just at this One of the strangers started from his seat, And stood, and upward, downward, with a beat His head went, and he groaned, and all his arm Trembled.
— from The Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides by Euripides

“Don't start an ugly drunk,” Thomas Meredith begged.
— from The Lay Anthony: A Romance by Joseph Hergesheimer

We have still our poverty and degradation, our lewdness and our cruel toil; but we have, too, a vast group of women of Negro blood who for strength of character, cleanness of soul, and unselfish devotion of purpose, is today easily the peer of any group of women in the civilized world.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

And Lear showed how preposterous that would sound, if he were to go down on his knees, and beg of his own daughter for food and raiment, and he argued against such an unnatural dependence, declaring his resolution never to return with her, but to stay where he was with Regan, he and his hundred knights; for he said that she had not forgot the half of the kingdom which he had endowed her with, and that her eyes were not fierce like Goneril's, but mild and kind.
— from Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb

The young stock cost but a trifle, the rearing but another trifle, and so Hawkins was easily persuaded to embark his slender means in the enterprise and turn over the keep and care of the animals to Sellers and Uncle Dan'l.
— from The Gilded Age, Part 1. by Charles Dudley Warner

In this form, which is smaller than the type, the fore wings are grey brown, more or less tinged with reddish, and sometimes inclining to purplish; the whitish edged dark cross lines, especially the basal first and second, are usually distinct, and the veins are often marked with black and white.
— from The Moths of the British Isles, Second Series Comprising the Families Noctuidæ to Hepialidæ by Richard South