If I was not morally sure that the reader must be out of all patience for my uncle Toby's character,—I would here previously have convinced him that there is no instrument so fit to draw such a thing with, as that which I have pitch'd upon.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

It cost him no effort to be generous, and he would have given Amy all the trinkets in Nice if she would have taken them, but at the same time he felt that he could not change the opinion she was forming of him, and he rather dreaded the keen blue eyes that seemed to watch him with such half-sorrowful, half-scornful surprise.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

If something more refined is required in farmhouses, they may be constructed on the principles of symmetry which have been given above in the case of town houses, provided that there is nothing in such buildings to interfere with their usefulness on a farm.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as usual, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-colored blossoms of the laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters who, in an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

To is not, in strictness, a part of the infinitive, but it may be so regarded for convenience, since the infinitive, in most of its uses, is preceded by to .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by George Lyman Kittredge

Cake, sandwiches, fruit, and coffee will be all that is necessary, I suppose?" "Oh, dear, no!
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

That path lies along the line of actually attempting as a nation a practical demonstration of the Power of Righteousness, or, in other words, the existence of an Omnipotent Omniscient Benevolent Good (whether you spell it with one o or with two is not important) shaping, guiding, and directing human affairs, such demonstration to be made through the concerted action of a self-governing people under a written Constitution based on equality of opportunity and the Golden Rule.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

There is no indignity so abhorrent to their feelings!"
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

While speaking he wrapped up the little boy in the blanket, who murmured,— "Oh, that is nice, it's so warm!"
— from Les Misérables, v. 4/5: The Idyll and the Epic by Victor Hugo

There is nobody in sight, but the presence of a carload of people is felt.
— from Nine Thousand Miles on a Pullman Train An Account of a Tour of Railroad Conductors from Philadelphia to the Pacific Coast and Return by Milton M. Shaw

But, that there is nothing in Saint Matthew's language which negatives other appearances, or which imports that this his appearance to his disciples in Galilee, in pursuance of his promise, was his first or only appearance, is made pretty evident by Saint Mark's Gospel, which uses the same terms concerning the appearance in Galilee as Saint Matthew uses, yet itself records two other appearances prior to this: "Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him as he said unto you" (xvi. 7).
— from Evidences of Christianity by William Paley

The Spanish judge-advocate-general commented upon the address: “The preceding address to his countrymen which Dr. Rizal proposes to direct to them, is not in substance the patriotic protest against [ 118 ] separatist manifestations and tendencies which ought to come from those who claim to be loyal sons of Spain.
— from The Philippines a Century Hence by José Rizal

When the Europeans chose their slaves from a race differing from their own, which many of them considered as inferior to the other races of mankind, and which they all repelled with horror from any notion of intimate connexion, they must have believed that slavery would last for ever; since there is no intermediate state which can be durable, between the excessive inequality produced by servitude, and the complete equality which originates in independence.
— from American Institutions and Their Influence by Alexis de Tocqueville

I was besides a little suspicious of Catholic testimony; in no ill sense, but merely because Damien’s admirers and disciples were the least likely to be critical.
— from The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 16 by Robert Louis Stevenson

“‘That is not impossible,’ said he, laughing; ‘but it is much more possible that the good lady is in her dotage.’
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

The Sikosuilarmiut visit Trinity Islands (Nannuragassain) in skin boats to hunt walrus and cross by the three islands Tudjaraaq´djung, Akugdlirn, and Tudjaqdjuara´lung to the opposite shore of Hudson Strait.
— from The Central Eskimo Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 399-670 by Franz Boas

All that is necessary is some method to tap the subconscious mind.
— from The Book of Life by Upton Sinclair