Like a man terrified by a house on fire or a mad dog, he could hardly restrain his rapid breathing and spoke quickly in a shaking voice, and there was a note of unaffected sincerity and childish alarm in his voice.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

The position of legal representative before the Halifax tribunal of 1877, which met to discuss fishery questions at issue between the United States and Canada, was given him no doubt in part because of his eminent fitness, in part as balm for the wound of the preceding year.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

MONSIEUR,—It is one of the most conspicuous follies committed by men, to employ the strength of their understanding in overturning and destroying those opinions which are commonly received among us, and which afford us satisfaction and content; for while everything beneath heaven employs the ways and means placed at its disposal by nature for the advancement and commodity of its being, these, in order to appear of a more sprightly and enlightened wit, not accepting anything which has not been tried and balanced a thousand times with the most subtle reasoning, sacrifice their peace of mind to doubt, uneasiness, and feverish excitement.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

He could not make up his mind whether it was judicious to keep up such a conversation at such a moment or not, and resolved “to be guided by circumstances.”
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Our enemy, we may be sure, did not open war upon us till he felt he had everything amply ready; yet none of us shows a corresponding anxiety to enter the lists of battle in the bravest style.
— from Anabasis by Xenophon

it is about the size of the yellow leged plover common to the U States, and called the jack curlooe by some.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

And whereas the Secretary of Agriculture has now certified to me that the countries of Norway, Sweden, Holland, Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the countries of North, Central, and South America, including Mexico, are so far free from contagious or infectious diseases of domestic animals that neat cattle may be imported from those countries into the United States, under the sanitary regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture, without danger to the domestic animals of the United States, and that so far as the countries above named, as well as all other countries from which hides are imported into the United States, are concerned, they are so far free from contagious or infectious diseases of domestic animals that hides of neat cattle can be imported from all parts of the world, under proper regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, without danger to the domestic animals of the United States:
— from A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 8, part 2: Grover Cleveland by Grover Cleveland

“Young Seamen will find it HANDY and USEFUL, SIMPLE and CLEAR .”— The Engineer .
— from Getting Gold: A Gold-Mining Handbook for Practical Men by J. C. F. (Joseph Colin Francis) Johnson

The United States and Canada are at present the producing nations of the world.
— from Men and Things by Henry A. Atkinson

"Quarreling as usual," says a clear, sweetly modulated voice, and both turn with a start.
— from Guy Kenmore's Wife, and The Rose and the Lily by Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.

They followed them for a short distance, but without overtaking them; and finally coming back to the river, built two row-boats, in which they came down the stream with the utmost safety and comfort.
— from Trails of the Pathfinders by George Bird Grinnell

The future of Tajikistan's economy and the potential for attracting foreign investment depend upon stability and continued progress in the peace process.
— from The 2000 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

The thing began to seem to Archie a rather unusually sound and conservative investment.
— from Indiscretions of Archie by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse

Hedgehogs are small, stoutly-built animals, with very short tails, and the greater part of the hairs on the upper surface are converted into spines.
— from Wild Life in New Zealand. Part I. Mammalia. New Zealand Board of Science and Art. Manual No. 2. by G. M. (George Malcolm) Thomson