One's sympathies instinctively close up like a sea-anemone touched by a child's finger.
— from The Pleasures of Ignorance by Robert Lynd

Then, as to the causes of suspicion, I came upon Ludovic and him talking in the gallery of the castle last night, and I heard the count say, 'Put him out of the way any how; he is a viper in my path, and must be removed.
— from Leonora D'Orco: A Historical Romance by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

With respect to the use of freemen in agriculture, my own opinion is that it is more profitable to use hired hands than one's own slaves in cultivating unhealthy lands, and, even where the country is salubrious, they are to be preferred for the heaviest kind of farm work, such as harvesting and storing grapes and corn.
— from Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro by Marcus Porcius Cato

And mooned white memory Of a tropic sea… How softly it comes up Like an ungathered lily.
— from The Ghetto, and Other Poems by Lola Ridge

And a toad had just begun to eat the top of one of the flowers when the sun said, 'Pop, I'm coming,' and before the bad fairy could get under shelter it had shone on her, so that she instantly curled up like a burnt feather, and died with a pain so awful that stomach-ache was nothing to it.
— from The Relentless City by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

Yet we need caution here, and must distinguish between the things that are stated in clear unmistakable language and those that are set forth in words symbolic and figurative.
— from The Great Doctrines of the Bible by William Evans

Their utility is disappearing, but in simpler industrial conditions usury laws are fruits of the social conscience, a recognition of the duty to protect the weaker citizen in the period of his direst need.
— from The Principles of Economics, with Applications to Practical Problems by Frank A. (Frank Albert) Fetter