With a dozen entries (or even six or eight, the more usual number) a race may thus occupy an entire afternoon, and require many heats before a decision is reached.
— from The Land of Contrasts: A Briton's View of His American Kin by James F. (James Fullarton) Muirhead

A painter ought to study universal Nature, and reason much within himself on all he sees, making use of the most excellent parts that compose the species of every object before him.
— from A Treatise on Painting by da Vinci Leonardo

“I used to set up nights and rest myself hatin’ him.
— from Winning the Wilderness by Margaret Hill McCarter

He had not, like Johnson, a vast fund of acquired facts to draw upon; nor a retentive memory to furnish them forth when wanted.
— from Oliver Goldsmith: A Biography by Washington Irving

I’ll play the traditional uncle now, and revenge myself!”
— from Madame Firmiani by Honoré de Balzac

He has shown us not a retributive mechanical Deity, but a great and wonderful Father who deals with us better than we deserve.
— from The Outcaste by F. E. (Fanny Emily) Penny

"I must go up now and read mamma into the pleasant land of thin girlish figures that is her afternoon siesta.
— from Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers