I though the best plan was to acknowledge that from our early intimacy, and the kindness she had always shown me, I did take a great interest in her, and that it was perhaps only my being sensible that she could neither look up to nor respect one so much younger than herself that prevented this feeling from ripening into a warmer attachment, but that I was old enough to be able to wish to promote her happiness even if I could not
— from Laura Middleton; Her Brother and her Lover by Anonymous

If she replied to it in a serious spirit it would still leave in his mind the impression that she had in a susceptible moment yielded to his influence.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin

The assailant was effectually silenced, but so angry was he at having been outwitted in public by one so much younger than himself that whenever he chanced to see the missionary approaching he would quickly cross to the other side of the street.
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

The elder of the two didn't like having a lover who looked so much younger than herself; so, whenever he came to see her, she used to pull the dark hairs out of his head to make him look old.
— from Aesop's Fables; a new translation by Aesop

Thou hast been that to me, Rachael, through so many year: thou hast done me so much good, and heartened of me in that cheering way, that thy word is a law to me.
— from Hard Times by Charles Dickens

He had known Summer Street for so many years that he could not imagine it being spoilt.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

I am not saying, mind you, that had the opportunity presented itself of dropping a wet sponge on Tuppy from some high spot or of putting an eel in his bed or finding some other form of self-expression of a like nature, I would not have embraced it eagerly; but that let me out.
— from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

That anybody, a little girl so much younger than himself, could "reckon" figures at such lightning speed was away beyond his dreams.
— from Dorothy by Evelyn Raymond

She had held him in subjection for so many years, that he hesitated to do anything without her approval.
— from The Silver Bullet by Fergus Hume

if you understand the nature of a woman, you would know that my love for him, my happiness, the content and safety I feel about him, and our boy, makes me realize the sufferin's of Dorlesky in havin' her husband and boy lost to her, makes me realize the depth of a wive's, of a mother's, agony, when she sees the one she loves goin' down, goin' down so low that she can't reach him; makes me feel how she must yearn to help him in some safe, sure way.
— from Sweet Cicely — or Josiah Allen as a Politician by Marietta Holley

She was so much younger than her husband that Joseph involuntarily wondered how they should have come together.
— from Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania by Bayard Taylor

To these, on the Christian New Year's day of 1867, he addressed this kindly greeting:— "S.P.P.M. MONGKUT: "Called in Siamese 'P'hra-Chomklau chao-yuhua' in Magadhi or language of Pali 'Siamikanam Maha Rajah,' In Latin 'Rex Siamensium,' In French 'Le Roi de Siam,' In English 'The King of Siam' and in Malayan 'Rajah Maha Pasah' &c. "Begs to present his respectful and regardful compliments and congratulations in happy lives during immediately last year, and wishes the continuing thereof during the commencing New Year, and ensuing and succeeding many years, to his foreign friends, both now in Siam namely, the functionary and acting Consuls and consular officers of various distinguished nations in Treaty Power with Siam and certain foreign persons under our salary, in service in any manner here, and several Gentlemen and Ladies who are resident in Siam in various stations: namely, the Priests, Preachers of religion, Masters and Mistresses of Schools, Workmen and Merchants, &c, and now abroad in various foreign countries and ports, who are our noble and common friends, acquainted either by ever having had correspondences mutually with us some time, at any where and remaining in our friendly remembrance or mutual remembrance, and whosoever are in service to us as our Consuls, vice consuls and consular assistants, in various foreign ports.
— from The English Governess at the Siamese Court Being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok by Anna Harriette Leonowens

I am sure you will excuse my taking the liberty of introducing Mr Rollestone, a very old friend of mine, to you; he has only just returned to England, after an absence of so many years that he is quite a stranger in London.
— from Fashionable Philosophy, and Other Sketches by Laurence Oliphant

Those whom it has created, its children who have become such by a supernatural power, have imitated, in their {25} own acts, the dispensation which made them what they were; and, though they have not carried out works simply miraculous, yet they have done exploits sufficient to bespeak their own unearthly origin, and the new powers which had {30} [Pg 182] come into the world.
— from Selections from the Prose Writings of John Henry Cardinal Newman For the Use of Schools by John Henry Newman

Mr. W. Montague, then surveyor to the City, was a very sensible, practical man, and of great experience in the valuation of property, and possessed considerable influence with the Corporation; but whether it was jealousy at my being so much younger than himself, or whether he thought the post of honour should have been given to him, I cannot say, but he did not act cordially with me.
— from Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., Past President of the Institute of Civil Engineers Comprising the history of his professional life, together with reminiscences dating from the commencement of the century to the present time. by Rennie, John, Sir

The uncle could hardly realize the present state of affairs, so unexpected was it to him, Was it to this end he had played the hypocrite so many years, that he had given away to all the caprices of a wayward girl, and humored her most annoying fancies?
— from The Duke's Prize; a Story of Art and Heart in Florence by Maturin Murray Ballou