And when she spake, Her words did gather thunder as they ran, And as the lightning to the thunder Which follows it, riving the spirit of man, Making earth wonder, So was their meaning to her words.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

God! No matter where I go, the spotlight of my mind Ever keeps turning on Thee; And in the battle din of activity My silent war cry is ever: God!
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

In fact, amazement must have fairly deprived me of my senses, when I could not see the vast difference, in appearance, between the surface below me, and the surface of my mother earth.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe

Few men have grieved more than myself, few have shed so many tears; yet never did poverty, or the fear of falling into it, make me heave a sigh or moisten my eyelids.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Is it absolutely necessary to speak of my marriage engagement?"
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The desired spectacle instantly appeased the tumult; and the son of Marcus might even yet have regained the affection and confidence of his subjects.
— 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

I rattled off some of my most excellent absurdities.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

The sin of miserliness may exclude the sin of luxury; the sin of pride may exclude the sin of sensuality.
— from Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3) by Augustus Hopkins Strong

I keep pretty quiet at present because it pays, but that snarl of mine may end in a roar.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98 January 11, 1890 by Various

So absorbed had St. George become in the undertaking, so convincing had been the events that led up to it, and so ready for anything in any dimension were his companions, that their excitement was simply the ancient excitement of lights to the mariner and nothing more; save indeed that to St. George they spoke a certain language sweeter than the language of any island lying in the heart of mere science or mere magic either.
— from Romance Island by Zona Gale

The astonishment of Sir Osborne may more easily be conceived than described.
— from Darnley; or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

A silence of many months ensued on the part of the sovereign, during which he was going through the laborious process of making up his mind, or rather of having it made up for him by people a thousand miles off.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-84) by John Lothrop Motley

Lake Bourget in Savoy, once much more extensive than it is at present, served, and indeed still serves, a similar purpose in the economy of nature.
— from The Earth as Modified by Human Action by George P. (George Perkins) Marsh

Leaden reason tumbled into the scale of melancholy may even outscale the bowl of dreams.
— from Uther and Igraine by Warwick Deeping