The first thing I did was to get a bath, borrow some fresh underclothing from one of the naval officers and get a good meal on the flag-ship.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

We just got this up for our own amusement.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

I have my own ideas about shooting stars, as the common people in many parts call them, and my idea is this: How often are silent thanksgivings offered up for one who has done a good and noble action!
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

The Philippine Assembly, representing the whole Filipino people, and desiring to express the unanimous feeling of those people with regard to the Worcester speech, unanimously passed, soon after the speech was delivered, a set of resolutions whereof the following is a translation: Resolved that the regret of the Assembly be recorded for the language attributed to the Honorable Dean C. Worcester, Secretary of the Interior of the Philippine Government in a discourse before the Young Men’s Christian Association, October 10, 1910.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

It must, however, be confessed that we cannot understand, excepting on vague hypotheses, several facts with respect to the sterility of hybrids; for instance, the unequal fertility of hybrids produced from reciprocal crosses; or the increased sterility in those hybrids which occasionally and exceptionally resemble closely either pure parent.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

The interpretation did not strike me; and I fancied, perhaps luckily for my nerves, that the arrangement was prescribed simply to secure a companion, who would prevent my taking too much exercise, or eating unripe fruit, or doing any of the fifty foolish things to which young people are supposed to be prone.
— from Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

“There is an uncommon frozerama outside,” said Vautrin.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

The voice is Jacob’s voice, nor should this voice of the easily persuaded, the sentimentalist, the interested organization to which the relatives of the defective alien belong, or any other pressure move us from our obvious duty of refusing to fasten upon this country an incubus of degeneracy for which we as a nation are in no way responsible.
— from Being Well-Born: An Introduction to Eugenics by Michael F. (Michael Frederic) Guyer

Had it not have been for his jealousy, Mr. C. might have been to this hour one of the doctor's warmest and most confidential friends, instead of being removed—and in a great measure through his influence—from a useful field of labor.
— from The Young Man's Guide by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

It had no use for our conduct, nor for our refinements; it published the vices, sculped them on its cathedral portals and spread them in the verses of its poets.
— from The Book of Masks by Remy de Gourmont

But, surs, lookin’ up to de umbragus folds ob dat spar-strangled banner, I is impressed with anoder conclushun, and it is in dese wurds follerin, to wit: We is occupyin’ de ticklish edge ob a dillemmer, in de lite ob which de man who crossed de Rubimcom am but a faint epistle.
— from K. K. K. Sketches, Humorous and Didactic Treating the More Important Events of the Ku-Klux-Klan Movement in the South. With a Discussion of the Causes which gave Rise to it, and the Social and Political Issues Emanating from it. by James Melville Beard

"On Sunday mornin' us fix our dress and hair and go up to the missy's looking-glass to see if us pretty enough go to church.
— from Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves. Texas Narratives, Part 2 by United States. Work Projects Administration

And if they may unite for other purposes, much more may they unite for the purposes of religion, and the service of their common Lord and Master.”— Harmer’s Misc.
— from Brief Records of the Independent Church at Beccles, Suffolk Including biographical notices of its ministers,and some account of the rise of nonconformity in the East Anglian counties by S. Wilton (Samuel Wilton) Rix

That would at least have given him a sense of superiority, and helped him to be magnanimous; while this readiness to pay put him in the wrong, and drove him to exact the uttermost farthing of his rights.
— from The Wild Olive: A Novel by Basil King

(The face over the tambour-frame looked up for one instant.)
— from The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray

"Man has one right only, to be free from obstacles that prevent the unimpeded fulfilment of his duties."
— from The Life of Mazzini by Bolton King