You know a student's life is of necessity somewhat circumscribed and narrow and crowds out almost everything that is not in books.... TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ACADEMIC BOARD OF RADCLIFFE COLLEGE 138 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Mass., May 5, 1900.
— from The Story of My Life With her letters (1887-1901) and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy by Helen Keller

‘There was a lady in our neighbourhood,’ said Mrs. Nickleby, ‘speaking of sons puts me in mind of it—a lady in our neighbourhood when we lived near Dawlish, I think her name was Rogers; indeed I am sure it was if it wasn’t Murphy, which is the only doubt I have—’ ‘Is it about her, mother, that you wished to speak to me?’ said Nicholas quietly.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

She has no home or people of her own; whether she likes it or not, she must walk and listen to their talk.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Whether she liked it or not, she was obliged to live on the proceeds.
— from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Not that Natásha liked solitude—she did not know whether she liked it or not, she even thought that she did not—but with her pregnancies, her confinements, the nursing of her children, and sharing every moment of her husband’s life, she had demands on her time which could be satisfied only by renouncing society.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

‘There’s luck in odd numbers, says Rory O’More.’
— from Pierre and His People: Tales of the Far North. Complete by Gilbert Parker

"My life is of none such great value; yet I believe in thy good-will, boy, and I thank thee for it.
— from In Taunton town : a story of the rebellion of James Duke of Monmouth in 1685 by Evelyn Everett-Green

The principle of life in organic nature seeks in all ways to express and to perpetuate itself.
— from Ways of Nature by John Burroughs

'It is n't our business whether they like it or not,' said he; 'the public wants it, and what the public wants it's bound to have, and we are bound to furnish it.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works by Oliver Wendell Holmes

LEWIN, LEPIDUR, INSECTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 18 coloured Plates. 4to. 1805 COCKBURNE ON GONORRHŒA VIRULENTA, c. 1. col. London, 1721.
— from Notes and Queries, Number 65, January 25, 1851 by Various

But, after all, he was going to Hunston, whether he liked it or not, simply because Uncle Elbert had asked him.
— from Captivating Mary Carstairs by Henry Sydnor Harrison

But the good Lord will comfort you, if no one else will.' 'It is so dreadful to have to live, whether you like it or not,' said Clare, in that little burst of confidence she sometimes showed to strangers, though never to her sisters.
— from The Carved Cupboard by Amy Le Feuvre

"We have made other arrangements for the laboratory," and the professor picked up a paper from his desk and looked it over, nice subtilties evidently being lost.
— from The Glory of the Conquered: The Story of a Great Love by Susan Glaspell