Many were the doubtful looks cast upon the heap of miscellaneous material that now cluttered the roof, and finally the Scarecrow shook his head and remarked: "Well, if friend Nick can manufacture, from this mess of rubbish, a Thing that will fly through the air and carry us to safety, then I will acknowledge him to be a better mechanic than I suspected."
— from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

Beethoven is the intermediate event between an old mellow soul that is constantly breaking down, and a future over-young soul that is always COMING; there is spread over his music the twilight of eternal loss and eternal extravagant hope,—the same light in which Europe was bathed when it dreamed with Rousseau, when it danced round the Tree of Liberty of the Revolution, and finally almost fell down in adoration before Napoleon.
— from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

He, being in the vaward plac'd behind With purpose to relieve and follow them- Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke; Hence grew the general wreck and massacre.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

It is not uncommon for a bride-elect to receive a few engagement presents.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

A threadbare patch of Brussels carpet covered the center of the room, and formed an oasis of roses and lilies upon a desert of shabby green drugget.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

Hemptown —Properly Gatûñlti′yĭ, “Hemp place,” existed until the Removal, on Hemptown creek, a branch of Toccoa river, a few miles north of the present Morganton, in Fannin county, Georgia.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

Three hundred and forty-eight years, six months, and nineteen days ago to-day, the Parisians awoke to the sound of all the bells in the triple circuit of the city, the university, and the town ringing a full peal.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

I had directed Sherman to send a force to the right, and to reconnoitre as far as to the Pearl River.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

Anstis , in the Brigantine, escap’d, by having a light Pair of Heels, but it put his Company into such a Disorder, that their Government could never be set to rights again; for some of the New-Comers, and those who had been tir’d with the Trade, put an End to the Reign, by shooting Tho.
— from A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present time by Daniel Defoe

The thing resembled a flashlight more closely than ever on close inspection.
— from Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942 by Various

I am still unwilling to leave you in anger, and shall not set forward till after noon, as I rejoin the Master of Ravenswood upon the road a few miles from hence.
— from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott

Both the earl and his lieutenant, however, united in censuring severely Greathouse's deed.[35] Conolly, throughout May, held a series of councils with the Delawares and Iroquois, in which he disclaimed and regretted the outrages, and sought for peace.[36] To one of these councils the Delaware chief, Killbuck, with other warriors, sent a "talk" or "speech in writing"[37] disavowing the deeds of one of their own parties of young braves, who had gone on the warpath; and another Delaware chief made a very sensible speech, saying that it was unfortunately inevitable that bad men on both sides should commit wrongs, and that the cooler heads should not be led away by acts due to the rashness and folly of a few.
— from The Winning of the West, Volume 1 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776 by Theodore Roosevelt

" This book was entitled "The Right and False Steps of the Prince de Conde and of the Cardinal de Retz."
— from Court Memoirs of France Series — Complete by Various

Then, far and near, as the twilight drew, Hissed up to the scornful dark Great serpents, blazing, of red and blue, That rose and faded, and rose anew.
— from The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition by Rudyard Kipling

You must, however, make the requisite allowance for the circumstances under which each part was examined, and these circumstances I have made the charts themselves explain, I hope to your satisfaction, as you will see on publication.
— from The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Scott, Ernest, Sir

Just let him act hippicanarious, and—" When the Gold and Green eleven, half of which, to judge by size, was Thor, had gone with Coach Corridan into the room across from that of the blithesome Hicks, the sunny-souled Senior tried to resume his perusal of "Treasure Island," but somehow the spell had been broken by the invasion of his cozy quarters.
— from T. Haviland Hicks Senior by J. Raymond Elderdice

The efficiency of the Territorial Army as seen from the inside is illustrated in the cri de coeur ascribed to one of the rank and file during the course of the manoeuvres: "Thank 'Evin we've got a Nivy!"
— from Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 4 (of 4).—1892-1914 by Charles L. (Charles Larcom) Graves