Being left alone, Paulina and I kept silence for some time: we both took out some work, and plied a mute and diligent task.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

In the defensive the fire of musketry can be much more effectively used than in the offensive, since when a position is to be carried it can be accomplished only by moving upon it, and marching and firing at the same time can be done only by troops as skirmishers, being an impossibility for the principal masses.
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

'Tis the general humour of the world, commodity steers our affections throughout, we love those that are fortunate and rich, that thrive, or by whom we may receive mutual kindness, hope for like courtesies, get any good, gain, or profit; hate those, and abhor on the other side, which are poor and miserable, or by whom we may sustain loss or inconvenience.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The most aldermanic, with his chin upon a heart-leaf, which serves for a napkin to his drooling chaps, under this northern shore quaffs a deep draught of the once scorned water, and passes round the cup with the ejaculation tr-r-r-oonk, tr-r-r—oonk, tr-r-r-oonk!
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

And so warmly has he painted what he forcibly felt, that, interesting the heart and inflaming the imagination of his readers; in proportion to the strength of their fancy, they imagine that their understanding is convinced, when they only sympathize with a poetic writer, who skilfully exhibits the objects of sense, most voluptuously shadowed, or gracefully veiled; and thus making us feel, whilst dreaming that we reason, erroneous conclusions are left in the mind.
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects by Mary Wollstonecraft

We may ask if this original deposit of tracts of sand was a purpose of nature for the benefit of the possible pine forests?
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

We are very apt to regard the combat in theory as an abstract trial of strength, without any participation on the part of the feelings, and that is one of the thousand errors which theorists deliberately commit, because they do not see its consequences.
— from On War — Volume 1 by Carl von Clausewitz

He was a portly, fine-looking gentleman of the old school, with a polished manner, and a certain air of gravity, dignity, and authority which was very impressive.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

that this condescension of yours is an even coarser disparagement of science than any of that open scorn which a presumptuous priest or artist might allow himself to indulge in towards science?
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"I never seen a clerk before that ye could prize away from the office stove with a pickpole," remarked Lon Camdon, one day, as he and Hurley [213] watched the boy riding toward them balanced upon the top log of a huge load.
— from Connie Morgan in the Lumber Camps by James B. (James Beardsley) Hendryx

They made quite a little procession as they {v.1-200} went home, Marian half dancing as she clasped Papa’s arm, and tantalised him with hints of their wondrous tale; Agnes walking very demurely on the other side, with a pretence of rebuking her giddy sister; Charlie trudging with his burden in the rear.
— from The Athelings; or, the Three Gifts. Complete by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

We left it last week, and had got to the hut on the other shore, when a party of Pottawattamies came in from the lake, and drove us over here for safety.”
— from Oak Openings by James Fenimore Cooper

"Then I was shown into the temple of Serapis, where a priest was instructing some girls in singing, and then sent hither and thither, till at last, finding no trace whatever of the famous Irene, I came to the dwelling-house of the gate-keeper of the temple.
— from The Sisters — Volume 3 by Georg Ebers

VI. A. Kremel has endeavored to utilize titration or saponification with alcoholic potash lye for the examination of volatile oils.
— from A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of Perfumery Comprising directions for making all kinds of perfumes, sachet powders, fumigating materials, dentrifices, cosmetics, etc., etc., with a full account of the volatile oils, balsams, resins, and other natural and artificial perfume-substances, including the manufacture of fruit ethers, and tests of their purity by C. (Carl) Deite

Hast thou come faster on foot than I in my black ship?" Which Pope renders thus:— "O, say, what angry power Elpenor led To glide in shades, and wander with the dead?
— from Modern Painters, Volume 3 (of 5) by John Ruskin

Then off she went, and Pierre at last found himself alone, glad to be able to shake off the strain imposed on him, to free himself from the discomfort which he had felt in that reception-room, among those people who in his mind still mingled and vanished like shadows in the sleepy glow of the lamps.
— from The Three Cities Trilogy: Rome, Complete by Émile Zola

One of the oddest shapes which any plant takes, however, is that of the leaves of the pitcher-plant; and in this case naturalists, who have studied the plant carefully, are able to show us that the strange shape of the leaf really serves a purpose.
— from Chatterbox, 1905. by Various