It is a sad illustration of the condition of this country, which boasts of its civilization, while it sanctions laws and customs which make the experiences of the present more strange than any fictions of the past.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. (Harriet Ann) Jacobs

My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a month.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Whereunto I answered, For our parts, father, we are men also, newly come hither, and swallowed up ship and all but yesterday: and now come purposely within this wood which is so large and thick: some good angel, I think, did guide us hither to have the sight of you, and to make us know that we are not the only men confined within this monster: tell us therefore your fortunes, we beseech you, what you are, and how you came into this place.
— from Lucian's True History by of Samosata Lucian

" Captain Hunnewell then took Drowne by the button, and communicated his wishes in so low a tone that it would be unmannerly to repeat what was evidently intended for the carver's private ear.
— from Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Without a word, she turned and went swiftly up the stairs, whilst I stood like an idiot gaping after her.
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

At night my Lord came home, with whom I staid long, and talked of many things.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

I am now going to claim the protection of some friends, whom I sincerely love, and of whose favour I have some hopes.’
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“No, but what I should like,” added he, munching a pie in his moist-lipped handsome mouth, “would be to slip in over there.”
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed On to their blissful bower: it was a place Chosen by the sovran Planter, when he framed All things to Man's delightful use; the roof Of thickest covert was inwoven shade Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub, Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower, Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin, Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought Mosaick; underfoot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone Of costliest emblem: Other creature here, Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none, Such was their awe of Man.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

Living with it so long and so closely you’ve lost your sense of it; you know it’s there, but you’re indifferent, and you cease even, as of old, to have to whistle in the dark.
— from The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James

The complaint which modern vegetarianism brings against the religious flesh-eaters is that which the humaner philosophy made, centuries ago, against the carnivorous stoics: "Who is this censor who is so loud against the indulgence of the body and the luxuries of the kitchen?
— from The Logic of Vegetarianism: Essays and Dialogues by Henry S. Salt

The victory of Rome was incomplete so long as its right of dispensation was implicitly denied by a recognition of Elizabeth's legitimacy, and Mary longed to avenge her mother by humbling the child of Anne Boleyn.
— from History of the English People, Volume IV by John Richard Green

John Russell is very much annoyed by the disparaging tone of the articles in the "Times," which, while it supports Lord Aberdeen, attacks him [Russell] and the Whigs.
— from Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. In Two Volumes. Volume II. by Henry Reeve

Then came the heavy roar again, which I had taken for guns, but it did not cease as before, when it sounded like a sudden explosion.
— from Blue Jackets: The Log of the Teaser by George Manville Fenn

M is a sheet of thin mica wound in several layers around the stem s , and a is the aluminum tube.
— from The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla With special reference to his work in polyphase currents and high potential lighting by Thomas Commerford Martin

As for mourning, I leave that to my executors hereafter nam'd; and I do not desire them to give any to whom I shall leave a legacy….
— from The Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield by Edward Robins

In a word, I should like...” “Ah, mother, how can he answer all that at once?”
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Those evening bells, those evening bells,” which used to frighten all the dogs and old women in the parish, and which used to make me wish were suspended round the ringers’ necks, shall utter sweet music and respond delightedly to lovers’ vows and tales whispered in shady lanes and groves, in the vicinity of your beautiful town.
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 2 (of 3) or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone

If we could call down Fust and Gutenberg to witness that within twelve hours after dessert and commonplaces are finished, an account of the dinner, as long as three epistles of St. Paul, would be about the world in something like a hundred thousand copies, such a celebration would have a strong point of interest about it.
— from Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 96, August 30, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

That is what I said [ looking at her husband ].
— from Three Plays by Brieux With a Preface by Bernard Shaw by Eugène Brieux