John Winslow, then a very young man, wore the expression of warlike enterprise which long afterward made him a distinguished general.
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

It is true that my inscriptions were set up for the most part, in insignificant towns and villages; yet, even without these memorials, it was possible that the person, who like me should find himself alone in a depopulate land, should, like me, come to Rome.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

It is true that a very young man may think the wig of an actress is her hair.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

And of all that range of sentiment he is the poet, a poet still alive, and in possession of our inmost thoughts—dumb inquiry over the relapse after death into the formlessness which preceded life, the change, the revolt from that change, then the correcting, hallowing, consoling rush of pity; at last, far off, thin and vague, yet not more vague than the most definite thoughts men have had through three centuries on a matter that has been so near their hearts, the new body—a passing light, a mere intangible, external effect, over those too rigid, or too formless faces; a dream that lingers a moment, retreating in the dawn, incomplete, aimless, helpless; a thing with faint hearing, faint memory, faint power of touch; a breath, a flame in the doorway, a feather in the wind.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater

In the place where she heard Heathcliff termed a ‘vulgar young ruffian,’ and ‘worse than a brute,’ she took care not to act like him; but at home she had small inclination to practise politeness that would only be laughed at, and restrain an unruly nature when it would bring her neither credit nor praise.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

For it is the same with men as with animals, to train them with perfect success one must begin when they are very young.
— from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer

In every town and village you [ Pg 253] will encounter children, on and about New Year’s Day, going from door to door of shops and houses, bearing an apple or an orange curiously tricked out.
— from British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes

at times a voice yelled in Spanish, deepening its tone. “Cowards!” repeated the mountain echoes.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal

"Deacon," said the liquor-dealer, "you hadn't ought to talk about vat you don't understand.
— from All He Knew: A Story by John Habberton

I was thus a very young man when, in the course of a holiday ramble, I arrived, quite alone, at night-time, at the mansion of one of our most enlightened
— from Tales From Jókai by Mór Jókai

In that event, what can we expect but to see our own eternal disgrace, and the wide-spread ruin of our country; when our bravest and best citizens shall be hung up like dogs, and their property confiscated to enrich those villains who deserted their country, and joined her enemies; when Cornwallis, Rawdon and Tarleton, after so long plundering and murdering your friends, shall, in reward of such services, be set over you as your governors and lord lieutenants, with princely salaries out of your labors; when foreign bishops and hireling clergy shall be poured upon you like hosts of consecrated locusts, consuming the tithes and fat of the land; when British princes, and nobles, and judges, shall swarm over your devoted country, thick as eagles over a new-fallen carcass; when an insatiate king, looking on your country as his plantation, and on your children as his slaves, shall take away your substance, every year, for his pomps and pleasures; and to keep you under for ever, shall fill your land with armies; and when those armies, viewing you with malignant eyes, shall constantly be insulting you as conquered rebels; and under pretence of discovering among you the seeds of another rebellion, shall be perpetually harassing and giving up to military execution the best and worthiest of your fellow-citizens?
— from The Life of General Francis Marion by M. L. (Mason Locke) Weems

Before you attend to the following additional remarks on the Auxiliary Verbs, you will do well to read again what is said respecting them in Lecture XI.
— from English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Accompanied by a compendium, embracing a new systematic order of parsing, a new system of punctuation, exercises in false syntax, and a system of philosophical grammar, in notes, to which are added an appendix and a key to the exercises : designed for the use of schools and private learners by Samuel Kirkham

You were told in effect that the people were expecting a conviction, and the only inference is that you ought not to disappoint the public, and that it is your duty to piece and patch the testimony and violate your oath, rather than to disappoint the general expectation.
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Complete Contents Dresden Edition—Twelve Volumes by Robert Green Ingersoll

"So, Rory ," ses he, "'tis a vote ye've got now?"
— from Punch, Or the London Charivari, Volume 107, October 27th, 1894 by Various

She loved and protected M. Fiévée, then a very young writer; she drew him into this correspondence, and it was in this way that between himself and Bonaparte were established those relations of which Fiévée subsequently boasted so much.
— from Memoirs of the Empress Josephine, Vol. 2 of 2 by Madame de (Claire Elisabeth Jeanne Gravier de Vergennes) Rémusat

He entered the army very young, and soon distinguished himself by skill, judgment, and bravery.
— from The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2) or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence by Benson John Lossing

Only a face of sorrow Turned to a vanished year— Only a fern leaf, darling, Glued to the pages here.
— from Katydid's Poems by Kate Slaughter McKinney