Indeed, place this reversed skull (scaled down to the human magnitude) among a plate of men’s skulls, and you would involuntarily confound it with them; and remarking the depressions on one part of its summit, in phrenological phrase you would say—This man had no self-esteem, and no veneration.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

"With whom, pray?" "With one who bade me tell you that he should, if possible, pay you a visit before Christmas."
— from A Night on the Borders of the Black Forest by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards

Polwiejska street in Poznan, Poland; young Gypsy girl accordion-player.
— from The Three Sisters by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

The agitations of your mind, the inquietudes of your body, and the attacks [Pg 26] of an exacting and ceremonious devotion, with which your soul is perplexed, prevent you, for the moment, from seeing things coolly, and hinder you from making use of your own understanding; but I have no doubt that soon your intellect, strengthened by reason against vain chimeras, will regain its natural vigor and the superiority which belongs to it.
— from Letters to Eugenia; Or, A Preservative Against Religious Prejudices by Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'

Daughter, said she, I plainly perceive you are not come hither to visit me; you come only to inquire after the king your son; and I can only tell you such news of him as will augment both your grief and mine.
— from The Arabian Nights, Volume 3 (of 4) by Anonymous

'Daughter,' said she, 'I plainly perceive you are not come hither to visit me; you come to inquire after the king your son; and the only news I can tell you will augment both your grief and mine.
— from Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights by E. Dixon

One single, strong, intense, profound passion you may entertain; one single, high, distant, unattainable ideal you may cherish; and your soul must be completely devoted to this sole passion, from which nothing must make you swerve, and your soul must be wholly bent upon that one ideal if you want to reach it.
— from The conquest of Rome by Matilde Serao