I shall return shortly to the consideration of what discomfort and pleasure are in themselves; for the present, it is their connection with action and desire that concerns us.
— from The Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell

There was nothing unknown or unfamiliar in the path he was presumably to tread; but when he had trodden it before it was as a free man, who was accountable to no one for his actions, and could lend himself with an amused detachment to the game of precautions and prevarications, concealments and compliances, that the part required.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

It was at a distance towards the east, but it was long and loud.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

There the king ordered a rampart to be built right across the ness, of stone, turf, and wood, and a ditch to be dug in front of it; so that it was a large earthen fort or burgh, which he made a merchant town of.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

He wandered again aimlessly down the street, idly wondering what had become of the cloud-sea of crimson and scarlet.
— from Life in the Iron-Mills; Or, The Korl Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis

A powerful fleet was equipped in the harbors of Greece and Epirus, with an apparent design, that, as soon as the passage had been opened by a naval victory, Valentinian and his mother should land in Italy, proceed, without delay, to Rome, and occupy the majestic seat of religion and empire.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

The green herb with the root taken fresh, being bruised and applied to the head, takes away the pains and prickings there, stays rheum and thin distillation, and being boiled in white wine, and a drop thereof put into the eyes, takes away the dimness of the sight, or any pin or web therein.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

Each member also brings original questions, which are answered during the meetings.
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, June 1883 by Chautauqua Institution

e those conspirators whose actions are directed to the same end, as soon as the watchword has been given them.
— from The Physiology of Marriage, Part 2 by Honoré de Balzac

The soil upon the plain was an alluvial deposit; that in the brushes was sandy.
— from Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Complete by Charles Sturt

The Swift had been almost deserted, as the larger decks of the Irene offered an irresistible attraction, and when the work was abandoned at dusk the crew took possession of the forecastle, while Miss Anstrade, with Hume and Webster, lingered on the poop, after surrendering the main-deck amidships to the Captain, who preferred his own company.
— from The Golden Rock by Ernest Glanville

And so it was that the heart of Elizabeth the Queen warmed again and dearly towards two Huguenot exiles, and showed that in doing justice she also had not so sour a heart towards her sex as was set down to her credit.
— from Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords] — Volume 3 by Gilbert Parker

"Yes, you must know, Corinne, that in the west, where our uncle goes with the word of life and truth, the Indians are already wavering, and are disposed to return to their past friendship with the English.
— from French and English: A Story of the Struggle in America by Evelyn Everett-Green

With our materials, factories, railroads and skill, all should have enough and to spare of every necessity, but so far is this from being the case that millions are insufficiently fed, clothed, housed and warmed, and are doomed to a perpetual and exhaustive drudgery which leaves neither leisure nor energy for the cultivation of their soul life.
— from Communism and Christianism Analyzed and Contrasted from the Marxian and Darwinian Points of View by William Montgomery Brown

Some of the Roman senators whose advances he had received coldly enough at first, now took up his whole attention, and described to him the works of art and the paintings in the new baths of Caracalla; they advised him to offer himself as a candidate for the ornamentation of some of the unfinished rooms with frescoes, and led him to expect their support.
— from A Thorny Path — Volume 10 by Georg Ebers

Meantime, Maude found a home with her future father-in-law, who was delighted to welcome as a daughter the child of his trusted friend; and Puck found no lack of employment among the busy builders, who wondered sometimes what made the work progress so quickly.
— from Fairy Circles Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites, and Hobgoblins by Villamaria