—But 'tis my father's fault; and whenever my brains come to be dissected, you will perceive, without spectacles, that he has left a large uneven thread, as you sometimes see in an unsaleable piece of cambrick, running along the whole length of the web, and so untowardly, you cannot so much as cut out a..., (here I hang up a couple of lights again)—or a fillet, or a thumb-stall, but it is seen or felt.—
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

And when Ashputtel begged very hard to go, she said, ‘If you can in one hour’s time pick two of those dishes of peas out of the ashes, you shall go too.’
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Wilhelm Grimm

"You have decided, then, you feel conscious, that your true métier is to apply yourselves seriously to nothing?"
— from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

"We wanted to ask your son some routine questions about his movements, but he declined to answer them.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Certainly Julian looks both downward and upward, sees Love in the lowest depth, far below sin, below even Mercy; sees Love as the highest that can be, rising higher and higher far above sight, in skies that as yet she is not called to enter: "abysses" there are, below and above, like Angela di Foligno's "double abyss"; but here is no desert region like that where Angela seems as "an eagle descending" [3] from heights of unbreathable air, baffled and blinded in its assault on the Sun, proclaiming the Light Unspeakable in anguished, hoarse, inarticulate cries; here is a mountain-path between the abysses and the sound as of a chorus from pilgrims singing: "Praise to the Holiest in the height
— from Revelations of Divine Love by of Norwich Julian

Party is Nature too, and you shall see By force of Logic how they both agree:
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

“There are other consequences, not indeed so dreadful or replete with horror as this; and yet such, as, if attentively considered, must, one would think, deter all of your sex at least from the commission of this crime.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

"To-morrow we shall go together, and you shall apologize to the superintendent, and promise him to work conscientiously," he said in conclusion.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

" "But you know, Winny, report does not always spake thrue, as you say yourself.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 01, April to September, 1865 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by Various

But it is likely that you might wander about the world for the rest of your lives, and never meet so many bears together as you see in the engraving.
— from Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy by Frank Richard Stockton

'Had a look at you then, and you seemed to be sleeping as soundly as a condemned criminal.
— from The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition by Rudyard Kipling

I'll think about your secretaryship, Senator Langdon.
— from A Gentleman from Mississippi by Frederick R. Toombs

"It is not in my power to answer you, St. Eval," and though her tone was sportive, her words startled him.
— from The Mother's Recompense, Volume 1 A Sequel to Home Influence by Grace Aguilar

Oscar did repeat word for word all that had passed between him and the woman and then added: "You see, Cad, how for once you have reached a too hasty conclusion.
— from Cad Metti, The Female Detective Strategist; Or, Dudie Dunne Again in the Field by Old Sleuth

"To-morrow father," she said, "I will talk to you more about this, and you shall not at any rate say that I keep anything from you.
— from Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope

“We are compelled, of course, to accept your statement.”
— from Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling

During those weeks the army must be paid and fed; and your private fortune, my dear de Marmont, would—even if the Emperor were to accept your sacrifice, which is not likely—be but as a drop in the mighty ocean of the cost of a campaign.
— from The Bronze Eagle: A Story of the Hundred Days by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

We will take that table under the elm trees, and you shall tell us all about Vienna."
— from The Double Traitor by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim