Often she started up at night, thinking Beth called her, and when the sight of the little empty bed made her cry with the bitter cry of unsubmissive sorrow, "Oh, Beth, come back!
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

She had wonderful brown hair, shaded with threads of gold, a brow that seemed made of marble, cheeks that seemed made of rose-leaf, a pale flush, an agitated whiteness, an exquisite mouth, whence smiles darted like sunbeams, and words like music, a head such as Raphael would have given to Mary, set upon a neck that Jean Goujon would have attributed to a Venus.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

I chide society, I embrace solitude, and yet I am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise, the lovely, and the noble-minded, as from time to time they pass my gate.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The boys gave them seven grains of corn, which they told them to plant the next night on their way home, sitting up all night to watch the corn, which would have seven ripe ears in the morning.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

In former days,” said Golenishtchev, not observing, or not willing to observe, that both Anna and Vronsky wanted to speak, “in former days the free-thinker was a man who had been brought up in ideas of religion, law, and morality, and only through conflict and struggle came to free-thought; but now there has sprung up a new type of born free-thinkers who grow up without even having heard of principles of morality or of religion, of the existence of authorities, who grow up directly in ideas of negation in everything, that is to say, savages.
— from Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

It appeared to me to be a thing impossible and contrary to all precedent that so good a knight should have been without some sage to undertake the task of writing his marvellous achievements; a thing that was never wanting to any of those knights-errant who, they say, went after adventures; for every one of them had one or two sages as if made on purpose, who not only recorded their deeds but described their most trifling thoughts and follies, however secret they might be; and such a good knight could not have been so unfortunate as not to have what Platir and others like him had in abundance.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

When I had afforded sufficient amusement, it was thought proper to remove my body from the gallows;—this the more especially as the real culprit had in the meantime been retaken and recognized, a fact which I was so unlucky as not to know.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

She had little Laura Martin home for the holidays; and my belief is, she made a confidante of her, and promised that Laura should come and live with her when she was married, and gave Laura a great deal of information regarding the passion of love, which must have been singularly useful and novel to that little person.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Often she started up at night, thinking Beth called her; and when the sight of the little empty bed made her cry with the bitter cry of an unsubmissive sorrow, "O Beth, come back!
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

I asked her if she was so unfortunate as not to care for good food.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

who is so fortunate, or so unfortunate, as not to have composed his in his head or in his heart?—Even headsmen may have composed poems, all moist with tears of the tenderest sensibility; poets perhaps have composed some that would be suited to headsmen, so bloody and monstrous they are.
— from Mademoiselle de Maupin, Volume 1 (of 2) by Théophile Gautier

As they dare not kill the enemy, every one of them will try to drive him from their fields; when the day has been spent in cultivating the ground, they will be compelled to sit up at night to watch it; they will have watch-dogs, drums, horns, and bells; my sleep will be disturbed by their racket.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The female alone broods, while her mate sits upon a neighbouring tree or branch, and cheers her labours with a constant flow of song.
— from Cassell's Book of Birds, Volume 2 (of 4) by Alfred Edmund Brehm

The tops will sometimes die down, in which case the root will generally send up a new top in a few days.
— from Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants A Book of Valuable Information for Growers as Well as Collectors of Medicinal Roots, Barks, Leaves, Etc. by A. R. (Arthur Robert) Harding

I have had many conversations with my lady; but, really, they have been of so unpleasant a nature, that I must beg to take French leave, as Miss Clara did.
— from The Manoeuvring Mother (vol. 2 of 3) by Bury, Charlotte Campbell, Lady

And with that she hurried her companion forward to a tall, graceful lady, who stood under a neighboring tree, and to whom she introduced him with as much [42] ceremony as if he had been the son of a millionaire.
— from The Golden Key; Or, A Heart's Silent Worship by Sheldon, Georgie, Mrs.

So Montague sent up a note to Mrs. Billy, and the reply came, “Come up to dinner.
— from The Moneychangers by Upton Sinclair

All this occurred in less than ten seconds of time, and so unexpectedly and naturally, that not a soul beyond those who were in the secret, had the least suspicion it was anything but an accident.
— from Jack Tier; Or, The Florida Reef by James Fenimore Cooper

Conceiving a desire to become a nun, she sat up at night to learn to read and write, which, her biographer says, for want of an instructor, was a great fatigue to her.
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 2 (of 3) or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone

then you ought to have seen us; and now that you do see us, say, 'Monsieur le Comte,' and not merely 'Monsieur,' if you please."
— from Marguerite de Valois by Alexandre Dumas